Construction Underway on American River Donor Plaza

It's been a long time coming for the co-creators and developers of the American River Parkway Donor Plaza, but the project is now well underway.

For co-developer it's the culmination of a simple vision coupled with more than five years of planning, politics and bureaucracy. Now a few weeks into initial construction on the plaza, Gorman can finally take a sigh of relief.

"It's great," Gorman said. "I'm walking tall, man. Not only that, it's beautiful!"

Gorman's final design utilizes the natural area to create a 30 square-foot plaza complete with a spiraling walkway made up of engraved bricks. River rocks gathered from the American River will line the walkway. The walkway will end at a foundation that doubles as a bench made up of pieces of smoothed granite rock. The foundation will also act as a tributary for gathered rain water. As the water accumulates it will run naturally down the hill the plaza resides on, back to the river.  

Gorman has been one of the champions for preserving Fair Oaks' portion of the American River Bluffs for more than 25 years, but he wouldn't have been able to accomplish his vision alone. Like so many things, it would take a village.

The 4.5 acres of the American River Parkway, referred to as the Fair Oaks Bluff, was donated to Sacramento County after a long fundraising campaign by a grassroots group of Fair Oaks and Sacramento County residents - Citizens to Save the Bluff. The group raised $1.3 million to purchase the site from private landowners and an additional $40,000 to construct a Donor Plaza to honor the more than 1,500 donors that made the purchase possible.

After turning the site over to the County, the group formed the Donor Plaza Committee (DPC) to design and build the plaza. The committee included co-chairs Marty Maskall and Barry Brown as well as Gorman, Diane Shakal, , Shelley Mathews and Warren McWilliams. Past members included Tracy Shearer and Bob Sours.

Shortly after its formation, the DPC partnered with the Fair Oaks Foundation for Leisure and the Arts (FOFLA) and actively started the design process. A design charrette was conducted with broad participation by local individuals, organizations and businesses and district and county officials. This effort produced the concept for the plaza, which was then visualized by Gorman.

A plan was developed and after many reviews by American River groups, Regional Parks representatives, the Sewer District, SMUD and the Planning Commission. After several years of reviews up to the state level, the new American River Plan was approved and the planned use for the site was allowed.

The $40,000 to construct the plaza has paid for a number of plaques, 350 engraved bricks and interpretive signs along with the necessary stones, mortar and the $25,000 price tag for the contracted work, member Barry Brown said.

"We wanted the footprint to be minimal," Brown said. 

Gorman agrees that to take the effort to preserve the bluffs, it be equally necessary the plaza design blend in with its natural surroundings.

"I wanted it to be comfortable and not ostentatious," Gorman said.

Like Gorman, Brown never imagined so many hurdles would have to be crossed before finally seeing the vision come to fruition.

"If I'd have known how difficult it was going to be, I'd have never joined with FOFLA and the Donor Committee," Brown joked. "We had a vision and we just assumed we'd see it one day."