Eugene residents convened at a design forum Saturday to identify community needs and form a future vision about parks, recreation and open spaces in the city.
The meeting, designed to collect neighborhood-specific feedback about planning and creating new parks and recreational opportunities, took place at Churchill High School.
City parks and recreation staff gathered the input as the latest step in the Eugene Parks, Recreation and Open Space Comprehensive Plan. Staff members will compile and present findings from the forum to the 13-member PROS Mayor’s Committee during its May meeting, Parks and Open Space Planning Manager Andrea Riner said.
Riner said the city has already involved nearly 3,000 residents in the planning process. She said a door-to-door survey of more than 400 residents showed about 95 percent of Eugene citizens “strongly believe parks and recreation services and open spaces are important to Eugene’s quality of life.”
Riner said the city’s goal is to make use of current facilities.
“Our top priority for all people we talk to is to improve our existing parks,” she said.
Ward 8 City Councilor Nancy Nathanson, PROS Mayor’s Committee chairwoman, said the forum will benefit future residents and current citizens.
“We’re planning for the future of Eugene parks for today and for the next generation,” Nathanson said.
Nathanson said she would personally like to see more neighborhood parks, greenways and bikepaths. She also wants every region in Eugene to have a community center and pool.
Plans resulting from the forum will determine how the city will use normal revenues, along with money from potential future bond measures, Nathanson said.
Residents interested in the City Central region, which covers much of the downtown region and the University campus, suggested several ideas, including the possibility of monthly park walks and converting school parks to city parks as schools close. The group talked about a new downtown pool that would serve as a safer alternative to swimming in the Willamette River, and it discussed creating new skateparks in the area.
Senior Caroline O’Leary said West University Neighborhood residents would like the West University park, which is currently closed, to be reopened and moved to a more visible location.
Outdoor Program Trip Facility Manager Ed Fredette discussed his plan to transform the Alton Baker Canoe Canal into habitat for endangered aquatic species and a paddling and board-sports park. His Habitat Restoration and Recreation Development Proposal for the canal, which he developed as his master’s thesis at the University, would create more suitable habitat for several endangered species that once thrived in the area. Fredette also said the area would be a unique and safe area for kayakers and other water-sports enthusiasts to enjoy their activities.
Because the benefits would be two-fold, finding funding and support will not be a problem, Fredette said
“I have no doubt in my mind at all that this project will happen,” Fredette said.
Fredette said he attended the meeting to get his project on the master plan for parks.
“It’s very sexy, it’s very glamorous — it’s Eugene,” Fredette said.
Assistant Landscape Architecture Professor Liska Chan attended the meeting to promote her idea for converting the Eugene rail yard into a city park or open space. Chan said her plan would ask the city to zone the yard, which remains unzoned, as an open space. Zoning would result in higher cleanup standards. She said the park would benefit neighbors in a low-income area with few parks.
Fredette said the results of the planning meeting will ultimately benefit students.
“The reason a lot of people came to the UO is because of the outdoor recreation opportunities in the area. They come because they like to be outside,” he said.
Carolyn Weiss, park planner for Eugene, agreed that creating a plan is important.
“We’re trying to create a vision for the next 20 years,” she said. “If we don’t make a vision now, we’ll lose it because we’re growing so fast.”
University graduate Tulsi Wallace said the forum was a unique opportunity.
“It’s very valuable that the city is constantly revisioning and improving on the resources that it already has,” she said. “If students ever come to these events, they would see that Eugene has a very innovative planning process.”