City parks initiative petition gets go-ahead

Meanwhile, for the second time in two years, an appeal has been filed to reverse the city decision to rezone Morrison Park for a housing development. The notice of appeal was received and acknowledged on May 14 by the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.

According to a press release, the appeal was filed by Hood River resident Susan Crowley, one of a group of local park advocates who have battled the city’s attempts to rezone Morrison Park for over two years. 

“It’s frustrating that a minority of one can hold up the will of elected leadership of the city, but, having said that, land use laws are important and this is part of the process,” Mayor Paul Blackburn said.

He added about Crowley that “she’s the only one who has filed an appeal against our decision.”

Petition filed

Backers of the initiative must gather a minimum 276 signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot. If approved by voters, the initiative would amend the Hood River City Charter to require a public vote before the city can dispose of any designated city park.

Tracey Tomashpol, one of the two chief petitioners, noted in an email press release,  “Hood River already falls far short of the state’s suggested minimum park area for a city of our size.  We can’t afford to lose any of our park land.”

Brian Carlstrom, the second chief petitioner, expressed similar concerns: “Preserving the city parks we have now is critical. Once we lose a park to development,  it’s gone forever. This initiative will enable the citizens to determine whether they want to have parks available for themselves, their families and future generations.”

The initiative is supported by Protect Our Parks, a Hood River nonprofit park advocacy group.

 For more information, contact info@protectourparkshoodriver.com.

Blackburn said, “I respect the right of advocates to put this on the ballot. I’m disappointed it disregards the council’s primary goal of moving ahead with providing affordable housing, and it may face another hurdle.”

Second appeal

In late 2016, the city filed its first application to rezone the park to allow development of housing on the site, and later made overtures to sell it for $1 to the prospective developer.  Crowley appealed that rezone decision in 2017, arguing at that time that the city had violated its own rules protecting city parks.

In September 2018, the Oregon Court of Appeals agreed with Crowley and reversed the first rezone, sending it back to the city.

On March 11 of this year, the city initiated a second attempt at rezoning the park.

After a single hearing, the council finalized the decision on April 22.

 “This is déjà vu all over again,” said Crowley. “The City Council persists in making the same legal mistakes and the same bad policy decisions.Our parks are not low-hanging fruit ripe for the picking by developers.

“We can all agree that housing is needed,” she added, “but the ever-growing demand for it will never be satisfied. It’s short-term thinking to sacrifice parks to feed it. We’ll never get them back.” 

Morrison Park has been lightly developed with walking paths and a disc golf course. “The city could find other public lands for housing if it chose to shift focus away from this park,” said Crowley, “and so could the county. We care about our parks, and will fight to keep them open for everyone.”

Mayor responds

Blackburn has been criticized in Letters to the Editor for his characterization of how much land has been rezoned for housing within the 5.2-acre Lot 700, located on Wasco Avenue near 20th, across from Rotary Skatepark

He said Monday, “What council has decided is that a portion of the lot would be used for housing, and a lot of discussion of that was whether to put it as a percentage of the parcel or a numerical figure and 2.76 (acres) is we’ve used for affordable housing.”