Project Advisory Committees for Beech and Gateway Park and Urban Plaza hold open houses next month.
Memo photo/Tim Curran
To hash out design details, the Project Advisory Committees for Beech and Gateway Park and Urban Plaza have begun a series of meetings that stretch over the next two to three months. Those PACs—one for each park composed of volunteers from the community—began their series of meetings last month. Although PAC meetings are open to the public, the main venue for receiving community comments will be at community forums or open houses, with two for each of the parks. At the first community forum, design consultants present three options based on ideas from PAC members from their previous meetings. “Those design alternatives will be presented to the public for their feedback in terms of what they like, what they don’t like, what resonates, what’s working, what’s missing,” said Hun Taing, community engagement coordinator for Portland Parks and Recreation and PAC meeting facilitator. Design consultants compile that information, check in with the PAC members, and then revise the park’s design. “Eventually you get a final schematic design where a lot of the details are spelled out,” added Taing.
PAC members are initially reviewing copies of the master plans for both parks, which provide a general outline of proposed features but are devoid of most details. “So there’s a lot of work to do in terms of getting public involvement and input on the characteristics, the look, the feel, the sense, the colors,” Taing said. “It’s a very limited master plan so there’s a lot to do in terms of defining and refining the various elements so that the neighborhood folks in that area can make it unique to them and reflective of them and their needs.”
Along with project managers for each park, consultants from landscape design firms working on the parks give presentations. PLACE consultants are designing Gateway Park and Urban Plaza, while 2.ink Studio is designing Beech Park. Project manager for Beech Park is Britta Herwig; George Lozovoy fills that role for Gateway Park and Urban Plaza.
Gateway Park is on a 3.2 parcel at Northeast 106th Avenue and Halsey Street. Beech Park covers 15.7 acres of former farmland next to Shaver Elementary School on Northeast 131st Avenue.
Gateway Park & Urban Plaza February Meeting Schedule:
PAC #2: Tuesday, Feb. 10 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Review/Revise Design Options from PAC input
Location: East Portland Community Center, 740 S.E. 106th Ave.
Open House #1: Tuesday, Feb. 17 from 5:30-7:30pm
Present Design Options to the Public
Location: Sacramento Elementary School
Beech Park Program Advisory Committee February Meeting Schedule
PAC #2: Thursday, Feb. 12 from 3:30-5:30 p.m.
Review/Revise Design Options from PAC input
Location: Shaver Elementary School, 3701 N.E. 131st Place
Community Forum #1: Thursday, Feb. 26 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Present Design Options to the Public
Location: Shaver Elementary School
