The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers kept Tom Lee Park designers on a short leash as a park transformation concept was revised last during the winter and spring.

In addition to putting about half the park off limits to all but minor topographic modifications, the Corps raised “significant concern” about one of the more dramatic proposals: an elevated boardwalk in a nature habitat area on the south end.

The agency said the boardwalk, called the Canopy Walk, should be “flexible” and built without additional fill material underneath. It cited potential for further shifting of an area where a section of stone dike collapsed after the expansion of Tom Lee Park in the early 1990s.

Corps officials participated in at least five in-person and virtual meetings and numerous email exchanges and calls with project designers between January and May.

Details came to light in documents provided by the Corps June 18 in response to a May 12 public records request by The Daily Memphian.

The responses shed light on how Corps of Engineers’ concerns about the physical stability of Tom Lee Park and its function as a river control system are informing the design process.

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Changes to the park require a Corps of Engineers permit because of the river stabilization project.

The design, led by Studio Gang architects and Scape landscape architects, restarted after city-ordered mediation in early December settled a dispute between the project organizer, the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP), and the Memphis in May (MIM) International Festival.

The mediation negotiated a path forward for the $60 million project so the park can be improved for year-round use while adequately serving signature MIM events, the Beale Street Music Festival and World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest.

City officials wanted to put a Corps representative on a steering committee overseeing the redesign, but the Corps declined, saying that would violate federal ethical rules, the documents show. Instead, the Corps assigned liaisons to the committee.

“There are obviously proponents and opponents (of the project) and that’s not our role,” said said Donny D. Davidson, Jr., deputy district engineer for programs and project management for the Memphis District.

“Our role is to make sure that we take care of the infrastructure and the projects that we’ve built and that serve the public interest. We make sure anything that is built on any federal project does not impact its usefulness or its functionality,” Davidson said.

“Generally speaking, we’re trying to protect the dikes that lie underneath that berm, and largely that’s around any extreme changes in weight or topography,” Davidson said. “Our interest is in certain design criteria that could negatively affect the stability of those dikes that lie below all of that fill.”

Davidson said, “We’ve been working closely with the city and the Partnership to make sure those criteria are used as they move forward with their conceptual and engineering documents.”

No cut, no fill zone

Tom Lee Park was expanded to about 25 acres from 5 acres starting in 1989 as part of a Corps project to stabilize the eastern bank of the Mississippi River and protect it from being undercut by powerful river currents.

The Corps built a stone dike out into the river, and fill material was placed behind the dike to raise the land’s elevation so it could be used as a city park.

In the Jan. 13 meeting, a Corps official whose name was redacted “provided historical pictures and information on the background of Tom Lee Park construction to illustrate how sensitive this site is,” a meeting summary said.

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Corps restrictions on the redesign, as presented in a Feb. 18 meeting, included no modifications to the stone dike wall, no concentration of water flows over the dike wall, no areas of cut (removing dirt) in the park, restricting any fill to 150 feet inland from the dike wall, and no structures extending over the dike wall.

The swath of park closest to the river is described as a no cut, no fill zone in project documents.

Among a list of “allowances,” the Corps said it would place no restrictions on park structure locations, Riverside Drive alignment, the park walkway network and types of landscape plant species.

The previous design concept, which was debated so hotly that mediation was ordered, included plans to cut and fill throughout the park to create variation in a basically flat landscape.

The south end

The concept also called for decorative drainage ditches and water features directing runoff to the river’s edge, river viewing overlooks on the bank and a habitat tower in the sunken area at the southwest corner.

The latest concept, unveiled May 20 by MRPP, ditched the habitat tower but added the Canopy Walk in its place. It would be an elevated walkway extending from higher ground at Ashburn-Coppock Park, the southern gateway to Tom Lee, looping out over the sunken area and returning. The walkway would look down on trees that have filled in the sunken area.

One option for construction of the Canopy Walk was to build it on foundations, while two others called for fill material at its base.

“During the April 1 call the Corps expressed significant concern for a few of the concepts proposed for the tail out trail located on the south end of Tom Lee Park,” a Corps official wrote in a May 6 summary of design issues.

The agency was concerned about “placing significant fill on previous slope stability failure. We advised the design team that fill placement of any kind in this area should not be considered as it could jeopardize the stability of the containment dike in this area.”

“Additionally we advised that the structure proposed in option 1 would be designed to (be) flexible as they should assume that the area on the south end could creep with time,” said the summary, written by the Memphis District’s geotechnical engineering branch chief.

Corps’ officials’ names were redacted for the most part in about 50 documents responding to the Freedom of Information Act request.

A couple of documents identified Davidson and engineer Tanya Wells, a permit coordinator with the Memphis District, as participants in the process.

City of Memphis Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen leads the city steering committee.

Attempts were made to involve Memphis District Commander Col. Zachary L. Miller in meetings, but it was unclear from the records whether he participated directly.

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The Corps took a wait-and-see position on some questions about what will and won’t be allowed, setting the stage for ongoing dialog as schematic design and Corps permitting processes move forward.

Continuing oversight

The MRPP has said it wants to complete schematic design by late summer and start construction on the first improvement, a wheelchair-accessible walkway from the top of the bluff at Vance Park, in November.

Memphis in May is scheduled to return to Tom Lee Park next May, but the city wants the festival to relocate for an approximate two-year construction process after that.

In the area where the Corps would allow fill material, the design team asked for guidance on how much cut and fill would be allowed. Designers said they want to create ridges and plant micro-forests, raise Riverside Drive and incorporate storm drainage.

“What are the fill limitations – what is acceptable order of magnitude? 3 feet to 5 feet or 10 feet to 12 feet – flexible but want USACE to give limitations,” designers asked during an April 15 conference.

“Request design team to formally submit and USACE to reply in writing. Give USACE time to think thru options,” the Corps responded.

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The revised park concept calls for three large lawns — suitable for Memphis in May events — among four clusters of development devoted to park activities ranging from playground to walk-in fountain to open-air Civic Canopy.

The Active Core in the center of the park would use stacked stones to create a raised area for river viewing and children’s play area including a slide and climbing surfaces.

“Concentrated stacked stone could be heavy,” the Corps noted. “Need to present actual concept before providing decisions.”

In the area along the river’s edge, between the top of the bank and top of the stone dike, the Corps said it would permit perennial grasses to be planted and addition of up to two feet thickness of riprap, but no large stones such as boulders. Riprap is loose stone used to stabilize banks of bodies of water.

The Corps’ May 6 summary said, “In general the design group has incorporated the Corps of Engineers design constraints regarding fill placement within 150 feet of the top of the bank of the river with their proposal,” but designers did ask to add limited fill in that buffer zone as part of drainage improvements.

The summary’s author said the Corps “might consider less than 6 inches of fill but wanted identification of problem areas and what they proposed prior to agreement. They also indicated that they would also consider underdrains and pipes to eliminate ponding.”