Chapter 14

Battle Creek River-Bringing Back the Banks (Douglas Denison, Smith Group JJR, Inc.)

Introduction

Like many large metropolitan areas, Battle Creek historically utilized its river system as a workhorse supplying power and transporting raw materials and products. Economic priorities at the time resulted in extensive industrial development along the banks of the river system. The river served to remove waste materials and stormwater from the land, severely impacting their ecological and aesthetic integrity. Frequently, communities turned their backs to the rivers long ignoring their potential value as public spaces or cultural and natural resource amenities.

The Battle Creek River was a working river in its time. It had become the "back door" to the community suffering from neglect, hydrologic instability, and ecological abuse. Large building complexes infringed on its floodplain and squeezed its banks into narrow channels. Parking lots were built along the riverbanks, and at times enclosed it entirely underground. Vegetation was removed from it banks, eliminating valuable habitat for aquatic organisms and wildlife. Serious erosion resulting from extreme flashiness of stormwater runoff promoted ad hoc stabilization techniques of poured concrete, rock, and debris.

During the 1980s, public and private community leaders began to recognize the potential of the Battle Creek River as an amenity and not a liability. Smith Group JJR developed regional concept plans that focused the community's vision back to the river, providing for opportunities of rehabilitation, redevelopment, and increased public visibility. Projects are now starting to be implemented that provide for pedestrian linkages along the river, removal of parking lot decking to allow the river to be "daylighted" again, and new urban redevelopment.

Utilizing a shared vision of improving the quality of public life in Battle Creek, Smith Group JJR assisted the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in selecting a site for their new world headquarters. The site, located along the eastern edge of downtown, was traversed by the Battle Creek River. The goal of the project was to revitalize an urban commercial block and transform a seldom seen urban stream into a highly used public riverfront park. The rehabilitation of the Battle Creek River included ecological planning of bank stabilization techniques to provide for a more natural edge, recapture lost floodplains, and enhance habitat and landscaping while protecting the banks and buildings from erosion caused by urbanized river flows (Figure 45).

Project Description

In an era when many corporations flee the established infrastructure of the city to new suburban campuses, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation committed to build their new world headquarters on a 14 acre site in downtown Battle Creek, Michigan. This allowed this international foundation to reconnect with and celebrate its community and cultural heritage while assisting in the revitalization of the downtown area. The site is surrounded by both urban and natural settings that provided the opportunity for the public to access a rich environment. The project included a new 280,000 square foot headquarters campus, a new urban park and public square linked by an enhanced streetscape, and a public greenway along the Battle Creek River (Figure 46).

An integral element of this project was the rehabilitation of the Battle Creek River into a public focal point of the Kellogg Foundation and the community. It was critical to establish the stabilization of the banks which provided a soft appearance, access to the river's edge, and enhancement of aquatic and wildlife habitat. The rehabilitation of the river's banks incorporated a biotechnical stabilization technique that utilized sandstone boulders and vegetation to create a "soft" look that invited the public to the river, while providing the necessary protection of the river banks from extensive erosional forces exhibited by a urbanized stream. The design of the bank edges incorporated elements that provided increased wildlife and aquatic habitat. The project greatly expanded public access to and use of the Battle Creek River inside the commercial core.

Regulatory Issues

The rehabilitation of the riverbanks included extensive construction along and into the water edge. State regulatory agencies had permitting authority for the project while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had commenting authority. Michigan Department of Environmental Quality specific authority included: Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act: P.A. 451: Part 13: Floodplains and Floodways; Part 21: Rule revisions of Act 245 of Michigan Water Resources Act; Part 31: Water Resources Protection; Part 301: Inland Lakes and Streams Act; and Part 303: Wetlands Protection. Calhoun County had jurisdiction of the Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control Act 347. The City of Battle Creek completed preliminary and final site plan approvals and issued demolition, utilities, and building permits. The re-grading of the channelized riverbanks to expand the 100 year floodplain was very favorably received by permitting authorities.

Cost

The W. K. Kellogg Foundation privately funded all aspects of this project. The total costs for the site work was approximately $7.5 million. The rehabilitation of the Battle Creek River was approximately $750,000. The majority of the costs was associated with demolition of the concrete walls channeling the river. The establishment of the bank stabilization, including the sandstone rock work, was approximately $300,000.

Post Evaluation

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation's headquarters project represents a highly successful example of how corporate investment in a city can lead to benefits far beyond simply establishing a new home for employees. Their commitment to an improved quality of life, as interpreted and implemented by Smith Group JJR, set the stage for long-term economic growth and reunited the community with its cultural heritage. Elements such as the public greenway along the river reinforce the Foundation's philanthropic goals and its support for the City of Battle Creek.

The Battle Creek River flowing through the commercial core of Battle Creek was a river that had long been forgotten and neglected. Buried beneath parking lots or hidden behind the back doors of storefronts and warehouses, the river was seriously suffering from stream bank erosion, lack of vegetation, and no public access. Today the river is a focal point of both Foundation employees and the community. The rehabilitation of the banks of the Battle Creek River included restoration of a lost floodplain and stabilization of its banks. The project has been very successful. There is no evidence of continued erosion along this reach of the river. The combination of undulating rock edges, deep water pools, and overhanging vegetation adds geomorphologic diversity along the river's edge that was lacking prior to reconstruction. The sandstone created suitable habitat for fish, macro-invertebrates, and mammals that immediately took refuge along this shoreline.

Through the implementation of the linear river park and trail system, the site now affords the public direct access to the river. The public has taken advantage of this newly created open space and public park land utilizing the spaces for summer festivals and passive recreation.

Contact Person

Douglas Denison, Vice President
Smith Group JJR, Incorporated
ddenison@aa.smithgroup.com