Hercules, California is located 16 miles east of San Francisco along the eastern edge of San Pablo Bay in Contra Costa County.  Once a thriving waterfront town built around the Hercules Powder Company, modern Hercules now struggles with issues that are familiar to all of the growing municipalities in the region, including a loss of natural scenic open space and sense of place, a rising tide of traffic, threatened environmental systems, spiraling housing costs, and the scramble for needed municipal revenue. To reestablish the city core and the economic engine of the waterfront, the Hercules Redevelopment Agency commissioned a study for the Central Hercules District, comprised of 427 acres of prime brownfield land at the center of the City and on the shore of the Bay.  In 2000, Dover, Kohl & Partners was selected to design a master redevelopment plan and code to guide the regeneration of the heart of the City.  Additional contributors to the Plan included Gibbs Planning Group, Fehr & Peers Associates, UrbanAdvantage, and Zimmerman/Volk Associates.