First Forty Feet held engagement meetings to get specific feedback and expectations about future development of the site as an open, public space from groups and individuals identified by City staff as key stakeholders: Friends of Heritage Square, Astoria Downtown Historic District Association, Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce, Heritage Society, Astoria Sunday Market, Astoria Senior Center, Clatsop Behavioral Health, Consejo Hispano, Astoria Cruise Hosts, Astoria Visual Arts, and Astoria's City Historian John Goodenberger. Other stakeholders, including the American Legion Post 12 and the Clatsop-Nehalem and Chinook Tribal Organizations, were invited but opted to not respond to outreach to participate in the stakeholder process. Public meetings were held and based on feedback received First Forty Feet drafted three design options that were provided to stakeholders and the public. First Forty Feet carefully analyzed all feedback and summarized key points of emphasis in order to develop a draft concept design that was presented to the Parks Advisory Board on February 26 and used feedback provided by Parks Board members to refine the concept. The Parks Advisory Board was unanimous in its support of the design as presented, though members expressed apprehension about the anticipated use at the new public site and concerns about upfront and ongoing costs, impacts to Parks Maintenance operations, challenges with the addition of a public restroom, and difficulties maintaining added landscaped areas.

After the Parks Advisory Board meeting, an online survey was posted to offer community members a chance to critique the final draft concept and share their concerns as well as what they liked about it. All public feedback has now been incorporated into the proposed final plan that was presented to City Council on March 17. First Forty Feet's subconsultant, OTAK, has estimated a potential cost of ~$2.4M - ~$4.3M for engineering and construction of the presented plan; as well as an estimated ~$2,600 - $6,200 in anticipated in monthly maintenance/upkeep costs.