A Legacy Park for Hood River?

Parks District Shocker

Hood River Valley Residents Committee advocates for protection of our best farm and forest lands while supporting wise planning that makes our urban communities more healthy and livable.  We –and a much larger community of local citizens– have been working with Hood River Valley Parks and Recreation District for the last six-months to create a large park –Westside Park– on one of the last sizable parcels left next to town, a 20-acre piece at the corner of Fairview and Belmont, catty corner to Westside Elementary School. So it is with great disappointment that we find the Parks Board abandoning pursuit of a large park next to town and instead return their focus to a former orchard property on Barrett Drive more than three miles out of town. Yes, that Barrett! See our Hood River News Op-Ed on why that is a terrible idea.

Westside Community Park Concept Plan Presentation
Wednesday June 8th at 6 pm
Hood River Aquatic Center, 1601 May Street

Since January, hundreds of Hood River residents have worked together to formulate ideas for a 20-acre park–Westside Community Park– at the corner of Belmont and Fairview.

For the last month, the PSU planning team has been hard at work synthesizing data and public input to come up with a community driven plan for the park. We are excited to share it with you and with the Hood River Valley Parks and Recreation District board of directors, who will be the ultimate decision makers as to whether the project moves forward.

The Concept Plan is composed of two parts. The Vision document is geared to the community and outlines a vision for the park, the Technical Report entails practical recommendations, regulatory review, and detailed outreach results. These are big files so may take awhile to load:

Westside Vision

Technical Report

Along with reviewing the PSU plan, the Parks District will also be gauging public support for the park. Help keep the momentum going by joining us at this important presentation.  We need your support to turn ideas on paper into real playing fields, trails and picnic tables. We hope you can join us on June 8th.

Parks District Sets Sights on Fairview Property

Thanks to the tremendous outpouring of public support, the Hood  River Valley Parks and Recreation District will pursue developing a new public park on a 20-acre property at the corner of Fairview and Belmont Drive, catty corner to Westside Elementary School. The Parks District has asked the Residents Committee to partner with them on the land use permitting process which will include development of a site plan for the property. See Hood River News article.

We are happy to announce that Portland State University’s Masters of Urban and Regional Planning has chosen our park for a planning workshop project. A team of six graduate students —Agora Planning–will conduct a six-month long public outreach and park design process culminating with a plan for the new park. The planning process has just started and we hope you will Get Involved.  There are community visioning events planned for Sat. March 5th and Sat. April 16th. 

A Community Park for Future Generations?

As our city grows it’s important to preserve open space and parks close to our neighborhoods that people can safely reach by foot, bike or a short drive. We should create parks that people love, use frequently, and future generations will be thankful  for. A park near the people means a lower carbon footprint which is how we need to design our communities now and for the future.

We think this 20-acre property located at the corner of Fairview and Belmont could be just such a park. The City of Hood River is expected to grow by 4,500 people in the next 20 years. Most of those new people will find homes in the westside of Hood River that is starting to be developed now. These new neighborhoods would benefit greatly from a conveniently located and beautifully designed park. But it would also be a park that would draw people from all over the county to use its ballfields, playground and picnic tables.

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions for more info.

What do you think? We would love to know your thoughts and what you, the public, want. Contact Heather Staten at heather@hrvrc.org or 541-490-5225 or to share your ideas and questions.