The Waterfront Advisory Committee was appointed by Mayor Dorm Braman in 1969 as a policy advisory body charged with assisting a consultant hired to who was hired to develop an urban design plan for the central waterfront. The consultant was hired to provide recommendations for siting a waterfront park, planning street and pedestrian traffic, creating more effective links between the waterfront and downtown, and completing an economic analysis of potential private uses of the waterfront. The Committee was also charged with representing public opinion to the consultant.