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EUGENE Public Works Maintenance 1820 Roosevelt Boulevard Eugene, Oregon 97402 ( April 21, 1993 503) 687 -5220 Charles 0. Porter 132 East Broadway, Suite 314 Eugene, Oregon 97401 Subject: Morse Ranch Park Dear Mr. Porter This memo is in response to your letter of March 18, 1993 to Library, Recrea- tion and Cultural Services Executive Director Jim Johnson. In Jim's March 29, 1993 reply to your letter he stated that he was forwarding your letter to the Public Works Department for response to those issues not within the ju- risdiction of his department. While we discussed each of your questions on the telephone, at your request I will also respond below to these questions in writing. (1) Is there a critical problem with the federal government about compli- ance with their standards and a threatened loss of $100,000 contributed to the purchase of the property ? ". The short answer to this is "no ". We are not aware of a movement by anyone to declare any of the on -going uses occurring at the park as being "not in compliance ". There are restrictions to a part of the funding that requires the park to be used for park and recreational purposes. This has the possi- bility of posing a future problem if we expanded a solely historical or non- public use within the facility, however, we are not aware of any current problems of this nature. (2) "We're going to spend our money to paint and repair the explanatory sign near the entrance to the house but we need to figure out a way to restore the old wooden horse fencing and how to get it painted white and kept neat." Current parks budget restrictions make it unlikely that we will be planning a city fencing project at Morse Ranch Park in the near future. However, as we discussed on the telephone, there are strong possibilities that we could be of some assistance to a volunteer group who wished to take on this type of project. For example, our participation could possibly involve purchase of materials. (3) "We are strongly opposed to the continuation of their use of the proper- ty for off leash dogs. We want an opportunity to be heard in this matter administratively and, if necessary, go through all the exhaustion of adminis- trative processes before, if necessary, taking the issue to court." We have no plans to reopen the dog off -leash use issue at this time. Staff continue to monitor the program. For your information I have also enclosed a recent memo which was sent to the City Council regarding the dog off -leash