A team of Portland State University grad students will join local groups in charting the future of a proposed park in west Hood River.
Planned for the corner of Fairview and Belmont, diagonal to Westside Elementary School, the park would create a 20-acre mixed use “community park.”
The public gets its first chance to weigh in on “Westside Park” at an open house Saturday, March 5, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the school’s library. Next up will be a community design workshop at the school on April 16.
Three entities have spurred planning: Hood River Valley Residents Committee, Hood River Valley Parks and Recreation District, and now Agora Planning, a group of six PSU Masters students.
HRVRC recently teamed up with the Parks District on an application to PSU’s Masters of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program — a competitive program where students choose the projects they want to take under their wing. In return, the six-month workshop culminates their Masters degree.
A MURP group, Agora Planning, announced this week they’ve chosen the Hood River project.
“We were excited to have the opportunity to help Hood River residents envision a park that is reflective of their community values, that they will want to use, and that they can pass down to future generations,” said Grace Stainback, the group’s communications lead.
Stainback said what drew the students in an academic sense was “the interesting dynamics at play between environmental integrity, land use, and long-term planning implications.”
HRVRC first pitched the idea of a park at Fairview last fall.
According to an early mock-up, the park would settle along the pre-existing Westside Trail, which cuts north/northwest of the school. Proposed elements include ball fields, sports complexes and a designated wetlands area at the property’s core.
Plans focus on a pair of rural residential-zoned parcels — one owned by Jeff Blackman and Erin Burnham, the other owned by Jim and Jackie Skakel — which would host the park. As of fall, the asking price was $100,000 per acre.
Parks Director Lori Stirn said no prices are on the table, but most of the funding for the park will likely come from development charges, which the Parks District collects from new construction and grants.
The $484,000 grant originally intended for Barrett Park expires in October, well before groups expect the park plans to be ready. Therefore, the Parks District is looking at other avenues on which to spend that money, such as improvements at Golden Eagle Park, a mostly barren 3-acre parcel next to Hood River Valley High School’s ballfields.
As for Westside Park, Stirn said HRVRC and the PSU group will steer public visioning and land use applications.
Some issues that will need to be worked out include transportation, wetland mitigation and permitting in the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, she said.
“We want to make sure it’s a park that meets the goals of our master plan,” Stirn said.
Heather Staten, HRVRC executive director, said input from the public marks the first stage of the permitting process, given that Hood River County land use applications require a concept site plan. Sketching out that plan will feed off ideas from the public.
“To get a site plan for a public space like this, we need a robust public process that analyzes community wants and needs,” Staten said.
As for the PSU group, they’ll helm the public meetings and bring diverse urban and regional land use planning skills into the mix, Stainback said.
“We can’t wait to see what we come up with together,” she said.
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The public is invited to two public sessions regarding the proposed “Westside Park:” an open house on Saturday, March 5, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and a community design workshop on Saturday, April 16 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., both at the Westside Elementary School library.
The groups are already gathering input from the community. An online survey is available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/westside-park.
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