The West University Neighborhood Park, once known as the closed and decrepit strip of land on East 14th Avenue, is being redesigned and redeveloped with assistance from University students and neighborhood residents.
University students from the architectural student group Design Bridge and the American Society for Landscape Architects hosted an intensive design and planning session, known as a design charrette, to come up with ideas for redeveloping the public garden.
Graduate architecture student and Design Bridge member Nora Diver co-organized the Saturday event at the Central Presbyterian Church after learning about the plans to reopen the park, which she had studied in a class.
“Our goal is to connect with the community and to connect the design resources of the school to work with the community,” Diver said.
The main purpose of the charrette was to brainstorm ideas and create a park with a sense of ownership and community for the neighborhood, she said.
The city-owned park, located on East 14th Avenue between Patterson and Hilyard streets, closed in 1995 because it was a site for crime and drug use. The park bordered the alley between 14th and 15th Avenues, making it easy for people to enter and exit the park.
The opportunity to reopen the space came in 2006, when property owner Bob Quinney swapped land with the city to build a new set of apartment buildings along the alley side.
The park will now border the entire 14th Avenue side of the street, making it more visible to residents. Quinney’s apartment buildings will have lighting and windows and balconies overlooking the park, deterring crime.
Working with members of the West University Neighbors, students drew and presented plans intended to make the park open to students, long-term residents and employees at Sacred Heart Medical Center.
The park is classified as a neighborhood park, meaning it serves all residents within a half-mile walking distance, said Robin Hostick, a landscape architect with Eugene Parks and Open Space. It is the only park in the neighborhood.
Ideas for the park ranged from simple amenities such as benches, ashtrays, pathways and a fountain to an amphitheater, a play area for children, kiosks for food and coffee vendors and Wi-Fi for Internet access.
Any idea for the new park is possible although it’s all a matter of getting the money for it, Hostick said. Since funds for park maintenance are stretched, the city will build as much as they can and wait for funding for the next part.
“This charrette helps get the ball rolling,” Hostick said.
WUN secretary Drix Rixmann said the group will apply for a Neighborhood Matching Grant, a program that gives city grants for neighborhood improvement projects.
The one-third acre size park was designed and built in the late 1970s by a local architecture firm and through a combination of work from neighborhood, city and University volunteers. Known as the park that neighborhood power built, it had a covered shelter, a fireplace, fruit trees, brick walkways and play areas, according to a Register-Guard article from the time.
WUN member Steven Baker said the park functioned quite well until the early- to mid-1990s, when transients from the Oregon County Fair and the Rainbow Gathering would fill the park to “standing room only.”
13th Avenue between High Street and the University was also loaded with panhandlers at the time, who moved into the park after a city ordinance pushed them off the street, he said.
“You always need a few long-term people here to maintain things because of the high number of tenants here,” Baker said. “Here, we fell below critical mass.”
The students and residents will work on finalizing designs for the park on Saturday, Jan. 20 in Lawrence Hall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Diver said. Final designs will be presented at the WUN’s next meeting on Feb. 1.
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