Eugene, as the wooden greeting sign on Franklin boasts, is well known for its outdoor beauty and recreation.
And anyone who has ever spent a day pedaling along the Willamette through Alton Baker Park, or spent an afternoon picnicking at Hendricks Park, is well aware of the value that these spaces bring to our city.
Now the City of Eugene’s Parks and Open Space Division is looking to acquire even more parks and expand existing ones as part of a new parks acquisition project that is funded with almost $28 million from a 2006 bond measure.
“I think that community parks are absolutely essential to a good city,” says Philip Richardson, a Parks and Open Space (POS) landscape architect. “Studies show that being outside and having that play time is actually very important developmentally for kids and adults alike.”
While Eugene is proud of its large-scale, community-oriented parks such as Alton Baker or Westmoreland, the main focus of the new acquisition project is to provide neighborhood residents with a park that is no more than half a mile’s walking distance from any residential home site.
To date, POS has purchased over 565 acres of new land with the 2006 bond funds, although that land has primarily been for Ridgeline and community park expansions, including one in the Santa Clara area near Madison Middle School. Additionally, various schools around the area – including Meadowview Elementary, Willamette High, Spencer Butte Middle, and the Jefferson Arts & Technology Academy – have received new all-weather synthetic sports fields.
“The bond measure included funding to develop these all-weather fields on 4J school properties. They are multi-purpose sports fields for football, soccer, ultimate Frisbee, etc., and are a kind of artificial turf that can take year-round heavy use,” said Richardson. “In our wet climate, a grass field really can only be heavily used in summer time, and even then we sometimes have to close fields to allow them to recover. These [new] fields can take multiple games on a single day no matter what the weather is, so their ‘recreational value’ – at least for organized team sports – is really superior.”
POS has also developed portions of Golden Gardens Park, including the addition of a bridge and other safety improvements. One new neighborhood park, “Ruby Park,” has already been purchased and several other potential sites are currently under negotiation.
The Parks and Open Space’s goal of a nearby park for every neighbor is still in the works. However, you can help! If there is a spot that would be perfect for a neighborhood park in your community, email the Parks and Open Spaces Division or contact them at (541)682-4800.
For more information, watch the video below and learn more about the comprehensive plan for local parks, recreation, and open space and how the city classifies and defines different park spaces including neighborhood parks.
Video by Rebecca Pollard
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