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Gateway Park plans complete except for financing

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Shown is landscape architect Carol Mayer Reed's rendering of the new Gateway Park proposed for Northeast Halsey at 106th Avenue. The three-acre park incorporates a large public plaza, multi-purpose lawn, children's play and adventure areas, with the northwest corner of the park set aside for residential or mixed-use development.
The Portland Development Commission and the Portland Bureau of Parks and Recreation completed their work last month on a master plan for a proposed new Gateway Park. A date for formal City Council adoption was not available at press time, but PDC Senior Project Manager Justin Douglas estimates it will occur in late January.

The proposed three-acre park on Northeast Halsey Street at 106th Avenue will have an open public plaza on its east side, a large multi-purpose lawn in its center, and a wooded area on its west side. Scattered through this will be children's play equipment, as well as a skateboard “skate dot” designed for young children. Landscape architect Carol Mayer Reed, the park's principal designer, was particularly happy with this feature, saying that children could wander through this part of the park and create their own adventure space.

Those who attended the third and last public open house on the project were generally enthusiastic about the park, and particularly so about the play area. Their one reservation was that this part of the park be visible enough that there would not be hiding places where criminal and anti-social activity could occur. Some business people were concerned about the impact of park users on area parking. Reed felt that providing off-street parking for the park, which would be unused much of the time and inadequate when needed, would be a waste of money. She noted that the park will not have sports field or special attractions likely to draw many people from outside the area, and its heaviest use is likely to be on non-business hours. One of the few changes made to the original design was a curb cut on Northeast 106th Avenue; this will allow equipment to be brought directly into the public plaza for special events.

An acre of the site, on its northwest corner along Halsey, is set aside for a residential or mixed-use development. Current plans call for retail space along Halsey, a restaurant on the east end adjacent to the plaza, live-work space on the south side, and apartments on the floors above. Project staff sees the park and building as being synergistic. On one hand, the apartments will provide “eyes” on the park, which lacks the residential development most parks have on their periphery. On the other hand, development of the building will be difficult, consultant Brian Vanneman said, “and having the park there will really help.”

In answer to a question, staff said it was unlikely that the Parks Bureau would try to build the park in phases. To do so would be “like buying three tires for a car,” committee member and park architect Bob Boileau said.

Still to be developed is a plan to finance development of the master plan, which PDC and Parks Bureau planners estimate will cost between $3.6 and $4.7 million. Kathleen Wadden of the Parks Bureau told the project's Citizen Advisory Committee at their final meeting last month that the likeliest source of funding would be a citywide parks levy. A master plan is a prerequisite for obtaining either public or private funding for park development.

Douglas noted that creating a Gateway park has been on the drawing boards since at least 2003, and the master plan process so far has taken two years. Committee member Linda Robinson, a member of the Citywide Parks Committee, said this process has been known to take as long as ten years.
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