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TBE REGISTER-GUARD•SUNDAY,AUGUST 18,2002
<br /> PARKSContinued from Page One
<br /> Work on the 33-acre Bethel Community
<br /> Park just south of Meadow View School has Izst k
<br /> begun with completion of a four-field baseball i -
<br /> complex and groundbreaking last month on
<br /> what will be the city's third skateboard park,
<br /> while city officials are still shopping for land '
<br /> in Santa Clara. .'
<br /> Other projects that already have come untr
<br /> -
<br /> der the bond measure's umbrella include in-
<br /> stallation two years ago of all-weather football
<br /> and soccer fields at each of the Eugene Schooli'
<br /> District's four high schools,improvements toi`� r+m
<br /> 20 Eugene and Bethel school district sports r A sC
<br /> fields used by Emerald Kidsports and Amen „�i1 F, lz
<br /> can Youth Soccer Organization children saI l
<br /> teams, and the wildly popular renovation a ,4-4.-F:a 's"4"" id a+Jro ,�•
<br /> year and a half ago of Amazon Pool. ' I r z """' ,
<br /> Among the work still in progress or yet to ; n ,z �" ` '` Eft 'y t Y
<br /> come is a restoration project at the Delta ''- s _ "�" 5 & ` '1` i"°'
<br /> Ponds near Valley River Center that may in -='N'..-4=-5",-;",...,.to+ 4"'A its I -_ .� 4
<br /> dude hiking trails and other recreational com- '" - ' -
<br /> ponents;the purchase of perhaps 300 acres of f
<br /> additional land on south Eugene's ridgeline i • wa
<br /> and in other parts of town;and assessments of
<br /> and tweaks to some of the city's existing re- - _
<br /> gional parks — Alton Baker, Skinner Butte
<br /> and Amazon. -- ...',•,r. '
<br /> Parks planning a top priority ` t '
<br /> In all,the upgrade program encompasses 531 d
<br /> separate park acquisition,development or im-
<br /> provement projects. _
<br /> "This has pretty much been our life around __ _
<br /> here for the last 31/2 years,"says Andrea Riner - � ''. -"= ;-ate -es
<br /> the city's parks planning manager,whose of 'ak+ =1-..--,:.;.',',-1!;,-;,; .�•' - _
<br /> fire is awash in schematic drawings, master c- ,
<br /> plans and other residue of the city's headlong -' "1 ^•
<br /> plunge into parks renovation. ;.,„ _ vc #,.' "4.-= 7 �- ,
<br /> It's telling for a couple of reasons that her ,' r '
<br /> staff has grown to six planners from the two � f a. '• -r ,---T.::47,-.•'
<br /> who were employed before the bond measure . f: t -''�.-,.1;:•:'",-
<br /> passed
<br /> s,-
<br /> passed—elevating parks planning,as Riner :1:-&:.1,„.- 4,,..:* s-, ;.,',i-f.4"-,7,--.===„I.--7-::-..r,,,,,,.: „ f
<br /> says, from"a subsection of a subsection in x /
<br /> the city's Public Works Department to a full zr ?,-----,-� ' r
<br /> section of the Parks Division. -
<br /> Not only does the elevated status hint at rye s `4. i .r T'® `-
<br /> the magnitude of work expected to continue . „,4"....-..;,.. y for at least the next three construction sea 1 �.....4110”.
<br /> '' 1 'y 'f ' E +'
<br /> sons,but it's an indication of the priority now / a .s h... `+ " mss:
<br /> given to parks planning and development with. --'• - -- -• 'e - - - .." w ..c xa at —
<br /> in the city organization.
<br /> The bond measure
<br /> AGer husband NICOLE DeVnO/The Register{
<br /> can be used only to pay An improved Irwin Park was a welcome addition to the Bethel neighborhoodmber Robbins, and three children mo
<br /> for capital expenses—acquisition and devel- into four years ago.Robbins helps her son,Samuel,2,down from the play area-
<br /> opment of park land—so the additional plan-
<br /> ning positions have had to draw from the ,. .. space,so there's almost a seamless transitic
<br /> city's overall budget,at a time of cutbacks in "i think we shortchangefrom the school to the park and vice versa,'
<br /> many service areas. Torrey says."I will tell you,that is very
<br /> kids at the time they need unusual in Oregon."
<br /> "Really, what (the bond measure) recog- ,
<br /> nized was 20 years of funding deficit,"Ritter it most,if we dont have park It was Torrey who formed a special
<br /> says."It was seen as a way to catch up with facilities out there." citizens'committee that prepared the city's
<br /> growth that had occurred to date.Fortunately, t �-,' game plan for parks upgrades and
<br /> we had an excellent park system 20 years ago." JIM TORREY • ,1 recommended the 1998 bond election—a
<br /> Before 1998, the city's most recent bond Eugene mayor . committee that was called back together thi
<br /> measure to pay for general parks developmentlirP' summer to begin looking at how to shape tt
<br /> `"' - future of Eugene's parks,once the facilities
<br /> and expansion came in 1979, and was for$4 -.. `
<br /> million.That's why the city's older neighbor- are able to handle present-day demands.
<br /> hoods—those around to benefit from the 1979 Santa Clara for a regional park that may ``: Torrey says he campaigned for the meas
<br /> bond—have generally been in better shape include athletic fields,basketball and tennis 1*: four years ago along with other community
<br /> than more recently developed areas. courts,jogging paths,picnic areas,a activists and even"kids with a skateboard i
<br /> Since then,the city's systems development community center and a swimming pool. one hand and a'Vote for the Parks'sign in
<br /> charge—a fee earmarked for parks expansion Riner says the city will need at least 40 - ,. - other."
<br /> that's placed on all new-home building permits acres for the park,and Toney sees it covering In fact it was those contacts,along with
<br /> —has financed any incremental additions to as much as 100 acres. "--"•""- �_y survey conducted at Cal Young Middle Schc
<br /> the park system.The fees have typically getter- But the Santa Clara area has developed so "' ` - that convinced the mayor of the popularated$500,000 to$700,000 per year. rapidly during the past 20 to 30 years that no demand for skateboard parks and made him
<br /> Additionally, parks receive about$300,000 such parcels remain available within the city's Brandon Robbins, 4, drinks water before strong advocate for Eugene's young
<br /> each year from the city's general fund for urban growth boundary.That means the city returning to the playground at Irwin Park. skateboarding public.
<br /> improvements-anything from resurfacing of may have to buy land outside the boundary "I did not expect the(survey)answer I g
<br /> tennis courts to irrigation system repairs. and then have the line redrawn so urban to upgrade 15 youth athletic fields at local but the answer I got was overwhelmingly ft
<br /> After the 19-year drought in new park de- services such as sewer,water,streets and schools,but economies of scale and various we need a skateboard park,"Torrey says.
<br /> velopment,city officials viewed large"youth sidewalks can be extended into the new park. partnerships have allowed completion of 19 Concrete skateboarding bowls have sinct
<br /> sports parks"built in conjunction with local Such an alteration in the growth boundary upgrades with a final one planned at Jefferson become part of the Churchill and Cal Young
<br /> schools as a cost-effective and expedient way would almost certainly trigger opposition from Middle School.The measure also anticipated youth sports parks,with the city's third suc
<br /> to make up ground.Three of them—including groups concerned about sprawl and orderly adding 232 acres to the parks inventory,but facility now under construction at the new
<br /> ball fields,basketball courts,picnic areas and growth,so Torrey hopes to forge a compromise the city has acquired more than 200 acres Bethel Community Park.
<br /> other amenities — have gone on Eugene such as an offsetting reduction in the already—mostly in south Eugene's ridgeline Stephanie Mohler and Geth Noble—
<br /> School District property at Churchill and boundary south of Eugene. —and anticipates several more purchases. co-owners of Airspeed Skateparks,the
<br /> Sheldon high schools and Cal Young Middle "It would be almost impossible,politically, "We're going to exceed our target acreage, Florence-based general contractors for the
<br /> School. to suggest that we expand the UGB without a and probably beable to accomplish more," Bethel skateboard project—were at the sit(
<br /> Large,regional parks that are planned or corresponding reduction,"Torrey says."But Riner says."We get to do more work than we building a drainage system and doing other
<br /> under construction in Santa Clara and Bethel one way or another,I think there is a solution said we were going to do,and that's a good preparation work recently.They intend to
<br /> will fill a similar hole in the local parks out there for dealing with the Santa Clara thing." have the bowl completed by Oct.15.
<br /> puzzle. park. Skateboarders needspace,t00 "This park's going to be different than it
<br /> Skateboarders"It doesn't take long to drive around the To date,the city has spent or allocated toother two in town,"Molder says."Free-fora
<br /> city and see where the young families are," about$19 million of the$25.3 million bond Also contributing to the overall project's shapes,really organic.There'll be somethini
<br /> says Mayor Jim Torrey,who sees Bethel and measure on specific projects—the biggest success has been a spirit of cooperation among for everyone—all levels of skating.
<br /> Santa Clara as prime examples of such areas. chunks being$4.4-million for the Amazon Pool jurisdictions. "We already had a meeting with all the
<br /> "I think we shortchange kids at the time they renovation and$4 million for the three new The Eugene and Bethel school districts (Bethel-area)skaters,"she says."And we
<br /> need it most,if we don't have park facilities youth sports parks. have chipped in on projects involving their skated with them awhile."
<br /> out there." But money remains for each of the projects property,and the U.S.Army Corps of Twelve-year-old Samuel Troxel,riding hi
<br /> Lack 0 vacant land originally envisioned under the parks measure, Engineers is working with the city on the board at nearby Meadow View School,says
<br /> and in some cases the dollars have stretched Delta Ponds restoration. can't wait for the finished product.
<br /> The biggest current concern in the massive further than was hoped. "We've really been working with the school "It'll give something for skaters to do,"h
<br /> parks program is a lack of suitable land in For instance,the measure included$750,000 districts to integrate our parks into their says."Now,I'm just stuck here in Bethel."
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