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News Release

International "Excellence on the Waterfront" Award
Goes to Trinity River Vision Uptown Plan

SAVANNAH, Georgia - The "Trinity River Uptown Plan" of Fort Worth, Texas, won the top honor award for planning in the Waterfront Center's 19th annual Excellence on the Waterfront awards program on November 11, 2005. Two primary awards were issued at the dinner ceremony: the second was for a completed project that went to Wuxi Li Lakefront Design, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.

The Waterfront Center Annual Awards Program is a juried competition to recognize top-quality urban waterfront projects and comprehensive waterfront plans. Winners of the prestigious award receive international acclaim and awareness. This year, the committee received 74 entries for the planning award which were restricted to comprehensive and long-range waterfront visions that had received official approval by a relevant government entity and that had demonstrated accessibility to the general public.

"We're incredibly honored with this award," commented Vic Henderson, acting president of the Tarrant Regional Water District, the lead sponsor of the Fort Worth project. "We salute our design firms of Bing Thom in Vancouver and Gideon Toal here in Fort Worth for their excellent work in this dynamic project."

In selecting the Fort Worth project as the recipient of the top award, the jury commented: "This plan, at once wide-ranging, comprehensive in scope and finely detailed, is an exemplary piece of design emphasizing several elements of urban redevelopment - environmental restoration, transportation planning, parks and school facilities - that reflect both the complexity of and responsiveness to urban waterfront opportunities." The jury also praised the plan's water-quality management strategies that deal with water odors, flushing, nutrient runoff and waste-water reclamation.

The awards jury considered a wide array of work from around the world, attesting to the vigor and strength of the urban waterfront regeneration movement - increasingly a global phenomenon. One notable trend the jury discussed is an emphasis on the ecological considerations and whether nighttime and seasonal uses were considered in the plan.

Another theme evaluated was the connectivity not only with the water, but with components of the city or town being redeveloped. Finally, the vibrancy of the water's edge and its integration in the plan was reviewed.

Additional criteria that the Trinity Uptown plan demonstrates included sensitivity to water, quality and harmony of design, civic contribution, environmental contribution, and educational contribution in terms of waterfront heritage and natural resources.

Other awards the Trinity River Vision project has received include the CLIDE award in 2003 from the Center of Development Excellence, sponsored by the North Central Texas Council of Governments. The CLIDE Award - Celebrating Leadership in Development Excellence - recognized the Trinity River Vision in Greater Fort Worth for its planning and policy excellence. Also, the Tarrant Regional Water District earned a Citation of Honor in 2005 by the Texas Society of Architects for its role in developing the Trinity Uptown plan and its significant contributions to the architectural profession by improving natural and built environments in Texas.

"While receiving statewide and international awards are certainly a source of pride," Henderson noted, "our primary goal is helping to improve quality-of-life issues in our hometown. It's gratifying that well-respected professional and governmental organizations point to us as role models for other communities."

The Waterfront Center is a non-profit, public-interest educational organization working to assist waterfront communities make the wisest long-term use of their urban waterfront resources. Based in Washington D.C. and consisting of members throughout the world, the Center uses workshops, community consultations, conferences, awards programs and publications to help communities understand and plan how their waterfront resources can contribute to community economic, social, recreational, and aesthetic vitality. The Excellence on the Waterfront Awards program was initiated in 1987 and now accepts entries from around the world to honor and recognize high-quality waterfront projects and plans. For more information, visit www.waterfrontcenter.org.

The Trinity Uptown plan of the Trinity River Vision is a community-based initiative to combine needed flood protection with needed urban revitalization to help reconnect Fort Worth with the Trinity River. It is sponsored by the Tarrant Regional Water District, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and Streams and Valleys, Inc., a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing the Trinity River.

For more information, visit www.trinityrivervision.org.