08/11/1982 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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\ .. . Responding to a question from Councilor Hamel regarding the neighbors' concerns for development of parkland before acquisition of new land, Mr. French said that he had explained to the neighborhood associations that separate funds were used for park development and acquisition. e Councilor Ball referred to statistics on parkland available in various parts of the City and noted that the BethellDanebo area only has one-quarter of the amount of parkland identified as lIaveragell for City neighborhoods. He expressed concern that the policies and proposals in the refinement plan update for parks not be treated as though they were listed in order of priority. Mr. Ball was especially concerned with Policy 2, regarding encouraging private developers to set aside land for parks, which he felt was an unrealistic expectation. Councilor Ball was concerned with the inadequate provision in the plan for parkland, particularly in proximity to the development node in the area north of Barger between Highway 99 North and Beltline Road, with its designation of sizable pieces of property for medium and high density residential use. He felt that the large numbers of people who would be living in these nodes required provision of additional parkland. Mr. French said that the City did own parkland in this area and was currently negotiating to purchase additional land to create a parcel of approximately five acres of parkland. He also pointed out that development of land in these nodes through the Planned Unit Development process would include provision of usable open space. Councilor Ball said that he was concerned with the Planning Commission's consideration of addition of a seventh policy in the Parks section of the plan, which would make development of existing parkland a higher priority than acquistion of additional land for parks. Ms. Decker said the intent of the Planning Commission was that, in the early stages of reviewing the Parks Master Plan, the e City should consider identifying park development as a priority for the Bethell Danebo area. She said the Planning Commission believed this responded to the concern of residents of the area that this issue be addressed early in implemen- tation of the Master Plan and that the commission had not intended to indicate that further acquisition was any less important than development. Councilor Schue said that the issue of selling Bethel Park land and using the proceeds to enlarge Golden Gardens Park had also been raised. She said that this had been a recommendation in the Parks Master Plan and that residents of the area had testified to the Joint Parks Committee in opposition to this action. Ms. Schue said it was her recollection that, as a result of this testimony, the committee had decided to change this recommendation. Returning to the earlier comparison of amounts of parkland in the BethellDanebo area with amounts in other areas of the City, Councilor Miller said she believed that the figures were skewed, since much of the land used in arriving at the figures was not neighborhood parkland but regional facilities, used by the entire City, such as Hendricks Park. She felt that statistics for usable neighborhood parkland would be considerably different. Councilor Miller expressed her appreciation to the Planning Commissioners for their efforts to provide clear, straightforward wording in the plan update. p.m. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Work Session August 11, 1982 Page 3