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East Holladay Park dog run moves forward

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Portland Parks & Recreation landscape architect Patty Freeman displays the East Holladay Park master plan during the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association meeting held last month.
MEMO PHOTO: TIM CURRAN
Portland Parks & Recreation is preparing a master plan for the development of East Holladay Park, beginning with an off-leash area for dogs on adjacent land to the north owned by Portland General Electric.

In fact, Portland Parks & Recreation landscape architect Patty Freeman told the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association last month, for the time being, the dog park and a parking lot to serve it will be the only facilities at the six-acre tract at Northeast 130th Avenue and Holladay Street.

The draft plan calls for the off-leash area on vacant land owned by PGE north of the Portland Parks-owned land and south of a substation that front on Northeast Halsey Street. Most of the park itself would be an open meadow surrounded by a loop trail. At the south end of the park will be a parking lot for 12 cars, a basketball court and a play area for small children.

Bureau staff and an advisory committee developed the plan. A survey distributed at various locations asked the public at large to choose what they would most like to see from a menu of possible elements. There were 20 responses.

Mark Leo, a neighbor, asked why the off-leash area was being funded when it received a comparatively low level of support. Of those voting, eight supported the dog area, seven opposed it, one gave the idea-qualified support, and three said they didn’t know. This compared to the loop path and the central meadow, which received 17 and 16 votes, respectively, and only one vote in opposition.

While conceding that the choice seems somewhat “counterintuitive,” Freeman said that the dog park was the only feature for which there is now funding, as part of a citywide effort to provide off-leash facilities. “For years dogs in parks have been a chronic problem. People have been letting their dogs run free anywhere.” As a result, the Portland City Council allocated funds to establish off-leash areas in appropriate parks and vacant lands. “This is a citywide need,” she said.

Asked by Leo about the sentiments of the nearest neighbors Freeman said, “There were several people in support, and no adamant opposition.”

Hazelwood board member Bob Earnest suggested that PGE, or some future owner of the utility, might ask the city to vacate the dog park and if this would mean the facility would be placed on some other part of the park.

“If we lose (use of) the property, we’d have to reconsider, and I don’t think we can make any assumptions,”

Even without funding to implement it, having a master plan in place had advantages, she said. It could help in securing funds through grants or levies, she said. Also, she said, “If someone says, ‘This would be a great place for a pyramid,’ we can say, ‘It’s not shown on the plan.’ We can nip some ideas in the bud if they’re not supported by the community.”

Another neighbor pointed out that with the parking lot at one end of the park and the off-leash area at the other, owners would be walking their dogs through the non-off-leash areas. “You’re right, it is an issue,” Freeman said. In terms of obeying the rules to keep their dogs leashed at such times she said, “What makes it work is peer pressure.”

Hazelwood board member Linda Robinson, who participated in the citywide off-leash planning, pointed out that placing the off-leash area anywhere else in the park would mean children would have to walk through it to get to the play area.

Robinson questioned whether a basketball court had ever been mentioned as a possible park feature in public discussions. “We did, and most people thought it was a good idea,” Freeman said.

The plan will go to City Council for authorization sometime in February.
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