Are you wondering what’s going on after the Heritage Park Workshop back in April? I was, and my curiosity finally drove me to call up the City’s PR contact for the project, Veronica Villegas. She reported that the City was planning a press release as soon as they had firm plans to report, at least in terms of doing a feasibility study on the project that the workshops showed the people want.

Here’s the thing: the workshop turned up a strong desire to see an upgrade and repair on the entire Heritage Park site, all 112 acres, not just the Heritage Plaza, the part designed by Lawrence Halperin. Even doing a study on how to accomplish the updating will cost millions.

Villegas explained that the entire Heritage Park site extends from the Main Street bridge down to where the new TCC Downtown campus has been built, encompassing the bluff where the original Fort Worth settlement (a fort, of course) stood as well as the site of the meeting between the West and Clear forks of the Trinity River. Naturally, a park this large cannot be developed on a shoestring.

The City, then, is working on a plan to restore the plaza and transform the park into an important Fort Worth destination. The problem that may prevent this, not surprisingly, is money. However, currently a number of partner agencies have been working to move the project forward. These include the Amon Carter foundation, Downtown Fort Worth Initiative, Historic Fort Worth, Fort Worth Public Art, Streams and Valleys, Tarrant Regional Water District, Tarrant County College and even Tarrant County itself.

Olin Studios, who conducted the workshop, has provided the City with a proposal. The city has not yet signed off on the project, however, as they need some idea of how to pay for it.

“It will be years” before the project can be completed, Villegas said. The project may be phased, with the most critical elements coming first. One would think this would mean Heritage Plaza, but there are no safe assumptions in city government or municipal planning.

In conclusion, Villegas said, “The project will need a lot of community support and very likely some private funding.” Will the plans the citizens asked for at the workshop come to fruition? It’s impossible to tell, but if you care about this project, you might agitate through your City Council member.