Went to the St. Patrick's Island Open House.
The design is much further along than I thought it would be. The landscape architecture firm they've procured has a preliminary design in place - and are soliciting feedback for the second iteration.
The big idea is to reintroduce the flow of the river through the Island in two spots as it once was. One of them will be mostly a wetland, the other will be a river-rock bed with the water flow fluctuating depending on the time of year. It will be flooded for skating in the winter, and they're considering a beach on one side.
The earth from the excavation of those channels will form a hill feature in the middle of the Island for sunning in the summer and sledding in the winter.
The east end of the Island (near the parking lot which will be reconfigured) will be the most intense with use. Potentially a restaurant use, small amphitheatre, splash pools and so forth.
A fairly large swath of the Island will be natural - with sections cordoned off for 15-20 years to help regenerate the natural vegetation (with pathways through them).
New York based W Architecture and Landscape Architecture is one of the designers.
http://www.w-architecture.com/
Denver based Civitas is the other design partner
http://www.civitasinc.com/
Construction drawings to be complete this fall. Construction to commence next spring and will last 2 years.