Cool Spring Reservoir Facilitation,
Wilmington, DE

HFA facilitated the development of the Memorandum of Understanding (M.O.U.) between the City, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and the Delaware State Historic Preservation Office regarding this project. HFA prepared an RFP to secure Industrial Archaeology services to document the Gatehouse equipment, evaluated the responses, and supervised the resulting contract. HFA also drafted the Cultural Resource Documentation about the historic Reservoir and Gatehouse. 

Early in the project, HFA identified key stakeholders who would be affected by the tank construction and worked with the Cool Spring/Tilton Neighborhood Association (CSTNA) to form the Cool Spring Reservoir Working Group to act as a liaison between the community and the City. HFA organizes regular Working Group meetings and workshops, presents construction updates at CSTNA meetings, and sends frequent updates to the Cool Spring Working Group via e-newsletters. 

In an effort to generate the best concepts for the design of the Reservoir Area and the adjacent Cool Spring Park, the City of Wilmington commissioned HFA to manage a Landscape Architecture Design Competition. HFA worked with the Working Group to develop design guidelines for the competition. HFA wrote the RFQ, evaluated the responses, prepared the “Invitation to Participate” for selected designers, and fielded questions from potential designers. HFA also organized two public workshops to discuss design ideas, and summarized public comments to help the City of Wilmington’s Architecture & Engineering Board select the winning design team.

Click here for the Cool Spring Reservoir Facilitation project sheet

In July 2008, Angie Dixon and Sean Duffy (City of Wilmington, Department of Public Works) presented a comprehensive explanation of community relation issues and public outreach methods associated with the Cool Spring Reservoir Project at the first Delaware Office of Drinking Water's State Revolving Fund Borrowers Conference in Magnolia, Delaware. A PDF of the presentation is available here.