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LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
At a March City Council session last month, Commissioner Nick Fish said there had been a trilogy of significant events for the area east of 82nd Avenue. The first was City Council’s passage in February of the East Portland Action Plan, which Fish called “a tremendous road map” for city policy and action in the area. The second was the opening of the East Portland Community Center’s new aquatics facility. The third was council adoption of three east Portland park master plans, this article’s subject.
The session began with what has become a weekly occurrence: a group of people calling for Mayor Sam Adams’s resignation. Parkrose Superintendent Karen Fischer Gray, in attendance for the park vote said she was moved to praise Adams’s cooperation, and that she looked forward to working with him in the future after hearing such hateful words against him.
As about a dozen speakers — both city staff and community volunteers - acknowledged, there is no money available to develop Beech, Parklane and Clatsop Butte parks in the manner set forth in the plans. However, each speaker urged the city to make these parks’ future development a priority. Moreover, as volunteer Linda Robinson pointed out, the plans are a prerequisite to acquiring some of the developmental funds necessary.
Beech Park, 3599 N.E. 129th Avenue, is 16 acres, two parcels of former farmland to the north and west of Shaver School Elementary. The plan calls for an off-leash dog park, open space, dry and wet children’s play areas and a picnic area on the north parcel; sports fields, natural areas and a picnic area would be in the south. Surrounding both sides would be pedestrian paths lined with beech and fruit trees. Parking would be via Northeast Beech Street and 127th Avenue and from Fremont Street.
Parklane Park already exists as a five-acre park south of Southeast Main Street between 152nd and 157th avenues. The plan calls for a 20-acre addition of a plot that was formerly an airport and gravel pit to the north. Most of this area would be an open lawn, with an off-leash area, skate park and tennis court to the west and an aquatics center and community garden/outdoor education center to the east. There would be parking lots on both ends as well as a system of paths linking the two parcels.
Clatsop Butte is an dormant volcano rising 600 feet above Southeast Foster Road, south of Powell Butte. The park plan calls for most of the 43-acre site to remain in a natural state with some recreation trails. Near the summit would be a fenced off-leash area, a “hard-court” sports area, and a series of lawns and meadows. Road access would be via Southeast 152nd Avenue and Balmore Heights Road.
As Parks Planner Brett Horner told City Council, the three areas represent 340 acres of land in Mid-county that the bureau has acquired since 2001. “While most (of the land) will remain natural areas, we’re also focusing on park development,” he said. “This is an area of the city with some of its most pressing needs.” Build-out of the three plans will bring us (citizens) much closer to full equity, he said. There was an extensive process to develop the three park plans, including a volunteer advisory committee and public outreach.
Planner Kip Wadden noted that since 1984, Multnomah County and the city have promised the Parkrose area a new park. “It was a challenge to provide vehicle access (to Beech Park),” she said. “We needed to buffer the adjacent farms and neighbors from park activity.”
Fischer Gray, who was part of the Beech Advisory Committee, said that Wadden and Doug Brenner generated solid public representation in the planning process for Beech Park. They drafted three development schemes, and the advisory committee selected one. “This is much needed in east Portland,” Fischer Gray said. “There are not a lot of public gathering spaces.”
Russ George, another Beech Park advisory committee member, who also lives next door to the Beech Park property, said he enjoyed his interaction with a succession of farm families as neighbors do. “Parks and Recreation did an excellent job of bringing the community together,” he said, and took the finished product, the draft master plan, to the Parkrose Farmers’ Market, the Shaver School Parents Night and a National Night Out celebration to get additional feedback. “This (the expanded Beech Park) adds a lot to the area, and it was community designed,” George said.
Parks Planner David Yamashita conceded that Parklane was relatively less challenging (than the other two) to plan for, since it is “fairly flat and has good road access.” It is also next door to Oliver Elementary School and a church. “The intent is not to renovate very much since it works well as it is, but to add additional facilities,” he said.
Ron Clemenson, vice chair of the Centennial Neighborhood Association and a member of the Parklane Advisory Committee, lives 100 feet from the proposed new additions, and regaled the council with what it was like to live there when the land was a gravel quarry. Of the planning process he said, “There was great involvement. We got people out. In outer east Portland we’re kind of in the middle. New development here has been intense. We have a lot of new people from other cultures, and a lot of kids. This is really needed. People need a place where they can have a change of pace.”
Advisory committee member Julie Skarphol said, “There is a real deficiency of parks in east Portland. There are very few and most are undeveloped.” In fact, the existing Parklane Park, containing “half a basketball court, outdated play equipment and a few tables, is one of the better developed (parks). If we want to go swimming, play tennis or let the dogs run loose, we have to leave the neighborhood. I’ve really started to see the impact that a lack of parks has, and the impact that a signature park could have. This could be a park where young and old come together.” Referring to implementation of the plan she said, “I understand there’s not a lot of money now, but please somehow make this a priority.”
In contrast to Parklane, Clatsop Butte is a natural area that has meadows on top and heavily forested slopes. It is connected by trails to other natural areas that collectively make up “the Forest Park of the east,” Yamashita said. However, “to get to the site from Foster Road, you have to go through single-family areas. Our challenge was how to minimize the impact on neighbors and the natural resource areas.”
Paul Grosjean, Pleasant Valley Neighborhood Association vice chair and advisory committee member, recalled that the land had nearly been developed before the Parks Bureau managed to acquire it. The advisory committee was “well-balanced for all stakeholders. I was incredibly impressed with the process. The Plan respects the needs of the wide(r) neighborhood, but also those of close-in neighbors.”
Echoing Skarphol’s pitch, Grosjean said, “When CNN became the economy-only network, it was clear there was no money, but that doesn’t diminish the need for this park. I challenge Commissioner Fish and the council to look for alternatives to allow for use of the park (until it can be developed). Now it is only used by ATVs and other illegal users.”
One of the immediate neighbors, Jon Simonson, said, “I was originally skeptical about what would go on up there. I no longer have doubts. The plan is well balanced between passive and active uses ... I bought this house when (my daughter) Katie was two, and now she’s five. There’s the potential for a very nice park at the top of the hill. I’d love to make it a reality.”
Beech Advisory Committee member Linda Robinson said, “Funding won’t be available for a long time, and some projects have been waiting for funding for 20 or 30 years.” However, she added, there may be grant funds available to do improvements in phases; to take advantage of these “we have to have a master plan in place.”
Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who as a volunteer helped develop Southwest’s Holly Farm Park, agreed. “Until we have master plans in place, we can’t go after other funds. It’s not fair for citizens to put a lot of time into planning, and then have the plans sit on a shelf. We need amenities like these in every community.” Both she and Fish praised previous Parks Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who was absent due to illness, for his role in the process.
After praising the staff and volunteers, Fish said, “This was the fun part, now we have to figure out how to fund it. We’ll be as creative as we can.”
Adams ruefully commented, “There was a time when City Council had extra money; it seems so long ago.”
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