Item A: River Road/Santa Clara Transition Project

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There are no recreation services directly (e.g.: at in-City or in-District fee rates) available to non-City Santa Clara residents, as there is no neighborhood parks and recreation district as in River Road and Lane County does not provide recreation services. All Santa Clara residents may use River Road Parks and Recreation District facilities and programs by paying out-of-District fees. Non-City Santa Clara residents can also use City of Eugene recreation facilities and programs by paying out-of-City fees. Transition and Heritage Options River Road Given the apparent popularity with both tax- and fee payers of the River Road Parks and Recreation District, and limited City recreation programs delivered physically within the neighborhood, the City of Eugene and River Road Parks and Recreation District may consider focusing on solutions that perpetuate the District for as long as possible, rather then in negotiating for the end of the District. A viable River Road Parks and Recreation District may also present some opportunities to provide more in- neighborhood recreation services in Santa Clara (see options below). Please note that some of the options discussed herein for perpetuating the River Road Parks and Recreation District may face significant legal and practical limitations. Put most simply, at the point at which properties in the District are fully incorporated into the City, the District would have no property left to tax to generate operational funds. Even if alternative funding could be found, under State statute (ORS 222.510) the continued operation of the District would not be permitted. Any continuance of the District past the point of complete incorporation into the City would have to involve the City withdrawing from providing recreation services to the neighborhood (or the City as a whole), and ceding such services to an expanded District or some other provider (such as Willamalane Parks and Recreation). These and related issues are discussed later in this section of the White Paper. Santa Clara The above discussion regarding on the River Road Parks and Recreation District begs the question of what happens in Santa Clara, which has no comparable neighborhood governed recreation services. At some point in the past, an expansion of River Road Parks and Recreation to include Santa Clara might have been a potential option. The pace of large tract incorporation and new development in Santa Clara, and the other issues surrounding the continuance of the District, even within its current service territory, may render expansion as an idea whose “time has passed”. Alternatively, the River Road Parks and Recreation District could effectively expand to Santa Clara by contracting with the City to take over City recreation services in that neighborhood. Issues mitigating against this is the financial ability of the River Road Parks and Recreation District to undertake any necessary capital improvements (or lease of suitable space) in Santa Clara, the presently limited scope of City recreation programs delivered physically within the neighborhood, and whether a sufficient funds transfer could be obtained from the City so that District taxes collected from the River Road neighborhood were not, in effect, partly “transferred” to Santa Clara to subsidize new programs and/or facilities. Finally, there might be some reaction on the part of River Road residents over “their” parks and recreation district’s attention and finances being “diverted” by Santa Clara expansion obligations. Important note: Although the options presented below are organized into “transition” and “heritage” alternatives and also further sorted by neighborhood, this is only for the purposes of clarity and description. There may be many reasons for two or more options to be selected and combined into an overall strategy for recreation services to River Road and Santa Clara. Transition Options Recreation service transition options are those alternatives that support continued recreation programs and services in one or both of the neighborhoods, but for which the ultimate outcome is the eventual replacement of the locally governed service with a City-wide or regional option. 29 River Road/Santa Clara Transition/Heritage White Paper DRAFT 11-24-05 Service provider Review