In the late ’80s and early ’90s, the West University Neighborhood Park near East 14th Avenue and Hilyard Street was one of the more dangerous parts of Eugene.
Crime rates were high, and the park had a reputation for being the site of numerous drug abuse offenses. Over time, the various trees and other structures that provided hiding places for offenders were removed from the park.
“It suffered a slow death,” said Robin Hostick, a landscape architect with Eugene Parks and Open Space.
West University Neighborhood Park eventually closed in 1995.
Now, after 11 years and continued effort from area residents and the Eugene City Council, development began in August to reopen the park to the public, possibly within three years.
The current construction is scheduled to prepare the land by September 2007, after which the grounds will turn back over to the city of Eugene and the public for park development.
“I think there’s interest with the city and the neighborhood association for sure to begin right after that,” property owner Bob Quinney said.
Quinney has owned the property of the former park site with his wife since 1990. In order for the park to be considered for reopening, he said, the layout of the park area had to be altered for added safety.
Before its closure, the park’s grounds provided access to a back alley off 14th, making the area more secluded and allowing for an easier getaway for those taking advantage of the park for illegal activities, said Adam Walsh, the 2005-06 ASUO president and chair of the West University
Neighbors association during the same year. He said the park’s layout only encouraged such activity.
“It literally wasn’t safe to walk alone at night,” Walsh said. “The neighborhood was not looking too good.”
WUN community members, working alongside Quinney and the Eugene City Council, were largely responsible for the initiative to reopen it, Walsh said.
Quinney said the only way to gain the support of Eugene police was to change the park’s layout, so he made a proposal to a Eugene Parks committee to execute a “property swap” that increased its frontage along 14th and cut off access to the alley. After the idea was proposed, he said, planning took off.
“It was kind of like a light bulb went on with the Parks,” Quinney said.
The idea then went to the City Council, where it found strong support, Walsh said.
David Kelly, a city council member who lives in the West University area, said WUN was adamant about the idea when he
began attending its meetings in 2003.
“One of the first things that was on people’s list of priorities was how to reopen the park,” he said. “We were making progress with potential ideas.”
Hostick said the community will have a say in the park’s design after preliminary construction is completed next year.
“We’ll basically just work through the process with the neighborhood and make sure we meet as many people’s needs as possible,” Hostick said.
Quinney said the park’s final design could be completed and open to the public as soon as 2009.
Hostick said the finished product will likely include irrigated turf, a small playground, extra lights for safety, art and possibly a wireless Internet connection.
“We’ve never done that in a park before,” he said.
The main goal of planning, he said, is to prevent the kind of illegal activity that occurred before the park’s original closure.
“We want to really promote positive usage of this area,” Hostick said.
But before any planning goes further, he said, the issue of funding must be resolved. Hostick said one potential source could come from a neighborhood matching fund. Under this program, the West University community would raise as
much money as possible, and then the city of Eugene would match it and add it to the total.
“If that happens, I think that could be a legitimate trigger for planning to begin,” Hostick said. “They’re well aware of that.”
There is some concern among planners that the park could go right back to the way it was and promote crime in the area. Even in 2005, 10 years after the park’s closure, the West University neighborhood still ranked fourth out of 25 listed neighborhoods in Eugene for property crimes, according to data released by Eugene police. The neighborhood also accounted for 120 drug abuse crimes last year, which also ranked fourth in the city.
“People are cautiously optimistic,” Hostick said. “There’s a chance it could go back to the way it was, but we’re going to try to keep that from happening.”
Quinney said he was still happy with the progress and looks forward to seeing the end result.
“There’s a good chance it’s going to work,” he said.
“I think we’ve all pulled together pretty well to pull off a good thing.”