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Parks get sparkle: $25 million bond measure pays for development and upgrades -The Rel... Page 4 of 6 <br /> city's general fund for improvements - anything from <br /> resurfacing of tennis courts to irrigation system repairs. <br /> After the 19-year drought in new park development, city <br /> officials viewed large "youth sports parks" built in conjunction <br /> with local schools as a cost-effective and expedient way to <br /> make up ground. Three of them - including ball fields, <br /> basketball courts, picnic areas and other amenities - have gone <br /> on Eugene School District property at Churchill and Sheldon <br /> high schools and Cal Young Middle School. <br /> Large, regional parks that are planned or under construction in <br /> Santa Clara and Bethel will fill a similar hole in the local parks <br /> puzzle. <br /> "It doesn't take long to drive around the city and see where <br /> the young families are," says Mayor Jim Torrey, who sees <br /> Bethel and Santa Clara prime examples of such areas. "I <br /> think we shortchange kids at the time they need it most, if we <br /> don't have park facilities out there." <br /> Lack of vacant land <br /> The biggest current concern in the massive parks program is a <br /> lack of suitable land in Santa Clara for a regional park that may <br /> include athletic fields, basketball and tennis courts, jogging <br /> low paths, picnic areas, a community center and a swimming pool. <br /> River says the city will need at least 40 acres for the park, and <br /> Torrey sees it covering as much as 100 acres. <br /> But the Santa Clara area has developed so rapidly during the <br /> past 20 to 30 years that no such parcels remain available <br /> within the city's urban growth boundary. That means the city <br /> may have to buy land outside the boundary and then have the <br /> line redrawn so urban services such as sewer, water, streets <br /> and sidewalks can be extended into the new park. <br /> Such an alteration in the growth boundary would almost <br /> certainly trigger opposition from groups concerned about <br /> sprawl and orderly growth, so Torrey hopes to forge a <br /> compromise such as an offsetting reduction in the boundary <br /> south of Eugene. <br /> "It would be almost impossible, politically, to suggest that we <br /> expand the UGB without a corresponding reduction," Torrey <br /> says. "But one way or another, I think there is a solution out <br /> there for dealing with the Santa Clara park." <br /> To date, the city has spent or allocated about $19 million of <br /> Cor the $25.3 million bond measure on specific projects - the <br /> biggest chunks being $4.4 million for the Amazon Pool <br /> renovation and $4 million for the three new youth sports parks. <br /> http://www.registerguard.com/news/2002/08/18/1 a.parkprojects.0818.html 8/26/02 <br />