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;W," Public Works <br />Maintenance <br />1820 Roosevelt Boulevard <br />Eugene, Oregon 97402 <br />(503) 687 -5220 <br />February 27, 1996 <br />Jennifer Schmitz <br />Laurel Hill Valley Citizens Association <br />2988 Chandler Avenue <br />Eugene, OR 97403 <br />Dear Ms. Schmitz: <br />Your letter to Councilor Swanson - Gibskov, dated January 23, 1996, has been forwarded to me <br />for a response. I share your interest in the condition of the irrigation system at Laurel Hill Park <br />and appreciate this opportunity to share with you the results of our analysis of its condition and <br />our plan to correct its deficiencies. <br />Many of your other comments regarding the effectiveness of the irrigation system at Laurel Hill <br />Park are accurate and well - taken. However, I would not typify the system as "deteriorating ". <br />The underground piping is not bad and in need of replacement such as is the case at Washburn <br />Park. Here the PVC piping is basically sound, however the irrigation system was designed in the <br />`60s and requires an obsolete type of irrigation head that is no longer available. <br />With increasing concern over water consumption, the irrigation industry has moved steadily <br />toward producing irrigation heads that deliver water where it is needed with greater precision and <br />less loss. The old heads at Laurel Hill Park were very sloppy and poorly conserved water by <br />modern standards. In other words, a large volume of water was delivered but much was lost due <br />to evaporation and runoff which didn't benefit the turf and trees. Due to the modern heads <br />requiring a closer "head -to -head " spacing than did the older ones, turf areas not being covered <br />by irrigation have resulted when we have replaced the old heads with the modern ones. <br />Our staff is committed to solving this problem. We are working with irrigation equipment <br />vendors to determine if we can locate new heads which have both a greater area of coverage, <br />while still maintaining good water conservation. If we are unsuccessful, we feel the problem <br />can be solved by adding additional heads onto the system and adjusting the others as required to <br />compensate for spacing. Since this process requires us to relocate most of the existing heads it <br />will be time - consuming for our maintenance staff. Due to this we would schedule to complete <br />the project in two phases. The first phase would occur this summer and the remaining work next <br />summer. Turf grass renovation could follow irrigation system renovation in the same phased <br />approach. <br />The connection of the park to our computerized irrigation control system is an integral part of our <br />plans for Laurel Hill Park. By providing greater control over the irrigation system we can make <br />optimum use of the existing irrigation system. The computerized control allows us to run <br />different parts of the system independently and, for example, use multiple shorter run times for <br />the zones in the uphill portions of the park, reducing runoff which will both improve watering <br />