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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAdmin Order 58-94-25 ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 5B - Cf4 - 25 of the Public Works Department City of Eugene, Oregon Adopting the Amazon Park Development Plan. that: The Executive Director of the Public Works Department of the City of Eugene finds A. Pursuant to the Eugene Charter of 1976 the City Manager is the administrative head of the City of Eugene, and as such, has authority to administer the development of City parks or to delegate that authority to others. B. The City Manager has delegated to me, as Executive Director of the Public Works Department, authority to administer the acquisition and development of City parks and parkland, consistent with adopted City policies. C. On July 10, 1989, by Resolution No. 4127, the City Council adopted a Parks and Recreation Plan (Master Plan) for the City, which contains adopted goals and policies for development of City parks. The Master Plan also contains guidelines to be followed in making administrative and budgetary decisions about parks and recreation acquisitions, development and management consistent with those adopted goals and policies. D. Consistent with the above authority, the Amazon Park Development Plan (July 1994), a copy of which is attached as Exhibit A hereto and incorporated herein by reference, has been prepared, taking into consideration the following goals: (1) Meeting the existing and future needs of the community through orderly and systematic planning, implementation, and evaluation programs; (2) Making a wide range of parks, programs and facilities available for citizens and visitors of various ages, cultural backgrounds, abilities, interests, ioncomes, and participation levels; (3) (4) facilities; Ensuring safe and convenient access to recreation lands and facilities; Involving the community in the planning of parks and recreational (5) Coordinating the provision of recreational and cultural services with the plans and programs of other public agencies and private organizations; Administrative Order - 1 (6) Enhancing the environmental quality and visual character of the community; and (7) Maintaining, remodeling and upgrading park, recreational and cultural facilities in order to respond to changing uses as well as attaining and preserving operational efficiency. E. Development plans for Amazon Park have periodically been prepared, most recently in 1983. Proposed development not consistent with that plan required that the plan be updated. G. In order to solicit public input, two meetings were scheduled and announcements mailed that afforded citizens and other public and private agencies an opportunity to become acquainted with the park history, current proposals and issues, and to express their concerns, objections, or support for various proposals or submit new proposals for consideration. H. In response to oral, written and telephonic comments received from the public, preliminary and draft revisions of the Amazon Park Development Plan (Plan) were prepared. The final draft of the Plan was publicly posted for four weeks, and all interested parties were notified by mail of the Plan and supplied with background information that had been considered in decisions relating to the Plan. I. Since the final posting of the Plan several written and oral comments have been received. While some of those comments pertain to details appropriate to address during various implementation phases of the Plan, none offer new information or ideas that would indicate any inconsistency with other public comments received or previously adopted plans governing development of this park. J. Existing plans related to park development contain various goals and policies, those supporting preservation, and those supporting development of recreational amenities. The final draft plan for the development of Amazon Park as attached hereto balances those conflicting goals and policies. K. The Plan, presented in graphic form, is conceptual. The exact locations of various improvements and their design and construction details will. be addressed at the time of implementation. Now, Therefore, THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF EUGENE ORDERS AND DIRECTS THAT: In addition to the above findings, which are hereby adopted, I have reviewed the Amazon Park Development Plan attached as Exhibit A hereto and incorporated herein by reference, and Administrative Order - 2 find that it is consistent with the goals and policies of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan and other adopted City policies and therefore, the attached Amazon Park Development Plan is hereby adopted, and shall be implemented in a manner consistent with the Master Plan. Dated this ~ay of September, 1994. ", / Q ~r . . - _ . (/4 /r:;r;iU-lA' t', '~. a/LA,{/ L4.'(_ "'hristine Andersen, Executive Director Public Works Department Administrative Order - 3 I ! I I I I I;, It EXHlerT "A~ . ---, ~~~2l@~ . . ~ L lffi"D~~~~m L-_~l7 {- 1. Dog Off-lush ArQ - more .... trfts, water spigots, =2~2==~~ , r- benches, r~n shelter ARKWAY L I I I I ! i : ; I: I i 2. Parking Area - 42 cars, construction in FY 95 ~~ 3. Restrooms 4. Natural Resource Preserve/Management 5. Wetland Creation 6. Entry Plaza /29th Avenue Terminus !-PARK I SCHOOL BOUNDARY\ ~~c:JC:.:;tf I ["'-"J'j ,_. t.' ~ ' /-.;-, L I -I', I , I .....LL I, ,JJ I . TENNIS ! '}-~F'; 'I COURTS , IL, L[T~l':J fMiJ, '-' I ~~,rj /---., am I T--'" i: I .. i l. ~LJ 7. Amazon Parkway Widening - near intersection with 24th Avenue and north 8. RebuildlReorient Ball Diamond - downsizing from full sized to youth ~Usoftball ~./ 9. New Sportsfield - could also accommodate 2 youth soccer ! ~,./;.- 10. Overflow Parkint - on turf, summer only ......:: ' 11. Short-term Trail Turnaround - for west side lipted mile ~ 12. Amazon Creek - wetland / riparian zone enhancements ~ /) 13. Bridges to accommodate the moving of trail from east ed&e / ~ ash forest to east side of creek '~ 14. Benches and shade trees aIona bike path and ioainI trail bflO#' ' .__--- Pol' ..----- (l-i' ,.//"' , // [-- ----.... .......1 -_.._-~--"._~___I YOUTH SOCCER FIELDS [---------_._--'----- --..---- - _. - ._--_.--- --..---'" .---~- 15. Path connection to the Hilyard Center 16. Additional Tennil Courts 17. Year-Round Amazon Pool - when reconslnlction .11 necesur 1 f :1 J r I I i I I wi :) ~ ~ z: :; N l r II - "I 'l ~ JII I -- ~-- ~ --~~II --=-- :., / ClTYDF -- I I ( PUBlIC WOIlICS ___ I I PARKS PLANNING SECTION I JULY 1194 I , ~ July 22, 1994 AMAZON PARK DEVELOPMENT PLANNING CRITERIA AND CONSIDERATIONS BEHIND THE PLANNING DECISIONS The act of planning for how Amazon Park will be developed was essentially an exercise of balancing competing needs for park space within the community. The adopted planning documents that govern in this situation (Oregon Statewide Planning Goals, the Lane County Metropolitan General Plan [Metro Plan], and the Eugene Parks and Recreation Plan) all contain goals and policies that are often, to some extent, in conflict with each other. Briefly, all plans speak to the need to preserve and enhance the community's natural resources, and all plans speak to the need to provide a variety of recreational opportunities in ways that make them accessible to the population. The oral and written input received in the Amazon Park planning process affirmed that those conflicting goals and objectives exist in the community. Fortunately, there is a natural way these interests sort themselves out: Areas of high natural resource value tend to have not been disturbed at this point because they have been the most costly to access and develop. The areas of low natural resource value include those areas that have been disturbed by past use of the land or grading in conjunction with various projects and park improvements. The proposed plan generally focuses new development in the disturbed areas, proposes managing other areas for their natural resource value, and suggests opportunities for recreating wetlands in areas that were filled years ago. Not all recreational amenities that were suggested by the public are being included, and not all suggestions for expanding natural resource values are included. What follows are a series of "findings" that are pertinent to Amazon Park. Following that are a series of discussions about each planning decision, and how the findings have affected some of the planning decisions. FINDINGS History: Citizens of Eugene, raising money through the Century Fund, acquired Amazon Park in 1946. Early planners had visions for developing the entire park with greater recreational offerings than are planned today. Before Amazon Creek was engineered for flood control purposes in the late '50's, there was frequent flooding. Some rural development along the west side of Hilyard Street had existed during pre-park days, primarily involving livestock grazing. 1 A chronology of the major improvements within the park includes: 1954 1956 1958 1959 1960 1962 1964 1973 1973 1975 1983 1985 1989 1989 1991 Amazon Softball fields built Century Field (baseball) built Creek channeled Swimming Pool opened Playground and picnic area constructed Tennis courts constructed (on 4-J property) Amazon Parkway extended to 30th and Hilyard Street Amazon Community Center opened, surrounding area landscaped Bike path installed from 24th to 29th Avenue Jogging path installed Hilyard Street and Parkway south of 29th widened. 29th Avenue through the park was removed to mitigate widening in park areas. Lane Transit District transfer station opened Hilyard Center opened Sports field adjacent to Roosevelt School constructed. Skateboard bowl opened Topography: The park is approximately flat. Some grading of open areas was done to facilitate drainage at the time the channel was engineered, and during the construction of the Amazon Parkway. New material was added when streets were constructed in the immediate vicinity, and during park and recreation facility construction. Such areas exhibit pronounced mounding. Some undisturbed areas within the ash groves allow ponding of water during the wet season. Amazon Creek drains the south part of Eugene. The area south of 29th Avenue that drains to the creek totals about 5.4 square miles. The bulk of the park which is the focus of the current development plan is centrally located to the south part of Eugene as defined by the surrounding hills. It is part of a drainage system and riparian corridor that stretches another 12 miles northwesterly to Fern Ridge Reservoir. Animal Life: Urbanization and channel modifications have undoubtedly impacted some species within the area. This can be mitigated if conditions are restored. As the creek channel was modified during maintenance operations, water fowl returned to the creek. The growth of riparian vegetation has improved the habitat for various animals. Views and vistas: People value certain views and vistas found in the park, including Spencer and Skinner Buttes, the surrounding south hills, the Amazon Creek and natural areas free of urbanization. The size of the park and the ability to perceive great distances and spaces within it is important for some people. possibilities exist for enhancing views and vistas by mounding. 2 Geology: A hydric soil (Bashaw) prevails throughout the park, except where soils have been imported as excavation spoils or for landscape development. High in clay, they have a capacity for great shrink and swell according to moisture content, and are therefore problematic for construction without deep footings. Vegetation: The native vegetation of the park is characteristic of wetlands. The most notable is the Oregon ash, which exists in one large and several smaller groves. Also notable is the a small plant in the parsley family, Bradshaw's lomatium, which is classified as an endangered specie. Park maintenance practices in recent years have been modified to better support the habitat of this plant. Other non-native plants have been introduced, both casually and by design with park development. The Bashaw soil by itself is not a growing medium for many types of ornamentals without being heavily amended by loamy soils and humus. Citizen Needs: The citizens of Eugene look to park land to meet a variety of needs--recreational, social, educational and spiritual. Each of those needs can be met by both preservation of natural resources, and by facility development. Collectively, the citizens want a balance of natural resource preservation and facility development to meet those needs. Goals and objectives exist that encourage provision of such opportunities locally so as to make them accessible without having to travel greater distances. Utilities: The park has been the path of least resistance for various utility systems. Electric, telephone, water, natural gas, storm and sanitary sewer lines cross the park in various places. The ash groves that were penetrated by sewer construction are gradually filling in. Some utility locations are constraints to wetland and creek enhancements, not easily relocatable without substantial expense. Transportation: Streets surround and cross the park, from which one gains visual access as well as physical access to the park. The park as seen by people passing in vehicles is an important experience. The bicycle path system, designed with both recreation and transportation in mind, is important to the alternative mode transportation objectives of Eugene. SURROUNDING LAND USES: CONSIDERATIONS OF THE PLAN FEATURES The following numbers are keyed to the legend on the plan. 1. Dog Off-Leash Area--This area, earlier planned for an athletic field, was filled on two different occasions and does not qualify as a wetland. As an off-leash area, it has proven very popular, and therefore deemed worthy of additional 3 improvements, such as more shade trees, water spigots, benches, hard surfaced entry paths, and rain shelter. Its location does not adversely impact other park activities, but the activity is open to view, and appreciated by some people passing by in cars, bicycles, or on foot. 2. Parking Area--This has been envisioned over more than 20 years of park planning as a way to better accommodate people arriving from the west, and to accommodate people recreating at the south end of the park. Its dual use as a park-and-ride for bus patrons should make it a well used, dual purpose lot. As such, it helps meet Eugene's objectives of generally reducing auto traffic, and parking needs in the downtown area. The location at 29th Avenue is appropriate due to the presence of traffic signals existing points of ingress and egress. Other locations in the park would impact areas of higher natural resource value, existing park and recreation improvements, and or be closer to residential neighbors of the park. 3. Rest rooms--two locations. The only rest room currently open year round is at the ball fields north of 24th Avenue. Other rest rooms are open when community centers are open. A small, obscure rest room is open at the east end of the pool building on a seasonal basis. The areas where rest room demand is not being met are at the south end of the park near the LTD transfer station, the playground area (when buildings are closed), and the athletic fields west of the Hilyard Center. The first location is central to several park activity areas, and would further serve Lane Transit District (LTD) patrons and drivers. LTD has offered to fund a portion of the building to meet their needs. The highly visible location is seen as a benefit in terms of minimizing vandalism or other inappropriate behavior. The second location, shown west of the pool, would be central to both the picnic/playground area (during times when buildings are closed) and to the athletic fields. It is possible that this facility could be incorporated into a reconstruction of the Amazon Pool if plans progress in a timely manner. 4. Certain natural resource areas are to be retained or enhanced. They include the ash groves, the largest prairie or meadow areas, and the riparian zone along the creek. These are generally the least disturbed areas of the park, or have recovered the most from past disturbance to exhibit natural qualities and characteristics worthy of maintaining or enhancing. Most of the areas are in locations that are less conducive to people access, particularly at the point in time when the jogging trail can be relocated to the east side of the creek to further isolate the largest ash grove. Specific maintenance practices and enhancement details would be developed in a separate plan 4 specifically focussing on that objective. 5. Create new wetlands/reestablish old wetlands--by removing mounds created 30 - 35 years ago. Both locations shown for creation--south and southeast of the major ash forest--are opportunities to expand the largest block of wetland in the park. Enlarging an existing area is judged preferable to creating a new non-contiguous area. Some of this work may be done in conjunction with mitigation requirements for the park-and-ride facility. 6. Park entry plaza/29th Avenue terminus-- Landscape architectural treatment is desirable to create the park entrance and visually terminate the street. A more formal design with opportunities for ornamental floral display would be appropriate. 7. Amazon Parkway widening--necessary a short distance south of 24th Avenue to go with widening the parkway between 24th and 19th Avenues. This project, not scheduled, is included in the City's transportation plan to accommodate increases in southbound traffic to 24th Avenue, at which point a significant portion turns east or west. The lane alignments on the south side of 24th will have to adjust to the east, displacing the current approach to the jogging trail, and requiring a bridged approach to the trail about 200' - 300' upstream. 8. Century Ball Field--to be reoriented when rebuilt to better fit with other improvements and boundaries. The old backstop is deteriorating and needs replacement. The diamond will be downsized to a maximum 80 foot base path for youth baseball. It can also accommodate 70 foot baseball and 60 foot softball base paths. A new softball diamond, shown to the south of this field in earlier plans, is not included in this plan out of consideration for activities desiring large open spaces, such as kite flying events. 9. New multipurpose sports field--The area between the Century infield and Amazon Bike Path is large enough to accommodate one adult sized multipurpose athletic field, or two youth sized soccer fields. This area, regraded twice during the history of the park and semi-improved for athletic play, has potential for wetland restoration. Because of previous disturbance (graded twice during the history of the park), and because of surrounding development and usage by both park and school activities, this area is not judged to be a high value natural resource area, and therefore appropriate for continued and enhanced athletic fields. Athletic field lighting, once proposed for these fields as a replacement of lighted fields at Chanced Park, is not a part of the final proposal. Staff feel that the cost of adding lights to the proposed fields, which can not be arranged for efficient 5 lighting on this site, should be directed to developing new fields at existing park sites or a future site. Lights for night play at those fields would be needed to fully replace the playing capacity that Kincaid Field had. 10. Overflow parking--west of the Hilyard Center, needed in the summer when the pool is operating. The rough mow turf and access points makes for parking convenient to pool users and athletes using the fields. Without that parking, the areas designed for use by Hilyard Center patrons parking are taken over. The field area was only graded once, at the time of creek channelizing, seeded to a course fescue grass, and rough mowed. Close mowing in recent years has allowed athletic play on part of the area. Given the nature of the soil, any compaction is released during the shrink-swell cycle--within one year. 11. Jogging Trail Turnaround--A loop is to be constructed at the south end of the adidas Jogging Trail so that one mile can be run on the half mile of trail proposed for immediate illumination. At a point in time when a second bridge would allow the east half of the trail to be moved to the east side of the creek to a lighted bicycle/pedestrian corridor, the loop could be removed. The 1500 meter loop turnaround, shown in the June draft with an associated curbside path along the parkway, has been deleted due to lack of support from the running community. A separate start/finish point will allow 1000 meter runs during trail illuminated hours. 12. Amazon Creek Riparian Zone Enhancements--The creek may be widened at various locations as conceptually shown on the plan; final plans would probably vary from what is shown. This will be done under the objectives of expanding biological diversity, and creating biofiltration capacity for improving the water quality in the creek. Some opening of storm lines as they outfall into the creek could be a part of this enhancement. 13. Bridges over the Amazon Creek--will accommodate relocating the east half of the jogging trail to the east side of the creek. The benefits of this are: 1. to remove an impact to the natural relationship between Amazon Creek and the ash forest; 2. combine the jogging path into a corridor that will eventually be lighted as part of the bicycle transportation system; and 3. allow an uninterrupted expansion of the main ash forest south and east across the creek. 14. Benches and trees along the bike path and jogging trail-- to provide opportunities for resting. Some proposed trees shown in the June draft have been removed to further accommodate kite flying. 15. Path connection to the Hilyard Center--for improved accessibility between the center and the bike path. 6 16. An additional bank of four tennis courts are proposed in the Eugene Parks and Recreation Plan for construction on School District 4-J property, and are shown immediately south of the existing four courts. Like the existing courts, they will be lighted to allow for night play until about 10:30 p.m. Parking associated with this addition would utilize the parking area across the street by the ball field, or the one street (curbside) parking. 17. Amazon pool--rebuilt as a year-round aquatic center when deteriorating conditions demand major renovation. As an aquatic center, it might expand beyond the present fenced area, but not so much as to impact other above grade park improvements or activity spaces. 18. Connection of 30th Avenue sidewalk from Ferry Street to Amazon Bike Path--Not on recent plans, this was shown in earlier park development plans, and is needed for both bikes and pedestrians. Sight distance and grade considerations suggest that a small piece of adjacent property may need to be acquired to allow for a properly designed solution. The July draft plan has four other graphic symbols describing the following: A double square represents lights along the west half of the present jogging trail that would be funded by donations and volunteer efforts in the near future. Fixtures and poles would be identical to that used outside the Hilyard Center, 2580 Hilyard Street. Lighting the "street side" of the trail was seen as an acceptable compromise, leaving the creek side of the trail unlit so as to not adversely impact nocturnal animal life. Further, lights would be on a photocell with timer override so that lights would remain off between 9:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. To reduce the impact of the light on the natural areas, the lenses facing the woods would be silvered. Lights would be spaced at 3 per 100 meters to serve as distance markers for runners. A single square is shown that represents lighting along other paths in the park. This would be the same fixture, but installed as part of the transportation system, and not be installed until other funding is obtained. As a part of the transportation system, it would operate all night. Respective of the nocturnal animal life along the creek and woods, the lenses facing in those directions would also be silvered to reduce lighting those area. Treed areas highlighted with diagonal hatching are targeted areas for expanding the ash forest. Numerous arrows are shown where significant view sheds exist and should be preserved by not planting trees or erecting structures. Included are views to Spencer Butte, Skinner Butte, the 7 surrounding south hills, and a particularly long view into the park from just south of 24th and Amazon Parkway. The Amazon Park Development Plan will serve to guide improvements in the park for the future, which is an undefined time frame until a conflicting new use or major change is proposed. Examples of minor changes that would not require public review are the addition if various small improvements--park furnishing, planting, path extensions, etc.--that would not interfere with an existing or plapned activity. At such a time as a major change was proposed, a public review and update of the plan would be required. 8