Public asked for parks comments

Master Plan up for review in Leaburg Thursday night

LEABURG: The Parks Division is asking the public’s opinions on how to manage 70 different properties scattered throughout Lane County. A number of public workshops on the 20-year kicked off this week, including one  at McKenzie Fire & Rescue’s  Leaburg Training Center on Thursday night.

Public input submitted so far included comments about a number of McKenzie River area sites, like the Hendricks Bridge Park in Walterville. One note from Lynn Moore cited concerns of neighbors who worry that adding an RV slots there would increase and traffic impact safety. “We will have more accidents, crime, and we do not want this park to become a campground,” she wrote.  

Traffic was also on the minds of people living in the Nimrod area, where the department had listed the Eagle Rock  Park for development work. Some said changes would negatively change that property’s tranquility and the “spiritual presence” of the nearby Eagle Rock monolith.

For Susan Glassow and Terry Brix, the proposed changes caused them to have, “Difficulty imagining how the highway with its narrow corridor along the canyon could possibly accommodate RV traffic without a major and very expensive re-engineering,” for people “maneuvering toward twenty-six RV sites, eight cabins and eight group camping sites.”

Others, like  Dawn Linn had little to be concerned about. She noted that, “Trees are losing branches, sometimes on the swingset and large ones fall down in Deerhorn Park. Her short list of improvements mentioned moving picnic tables out of the woods to be more visible and lowering swings for shorter people to use. “otherwise the park is perfect! “ she added.

Rather than extensive development, Pat Gripp felt the Eagle Rock Park could benefit from, “an informative kiosk, a wooden walkway with an observation deck similar to the one at Silver Creek Landing, and an informative trail\ walk through the woods.”

The Leaburg meeting was set for April 27th, from 6 to 7:30  p.m. A schedule for other workshops and an on-line survey are available at http://www.lanecounty.org/parksplan, as are other comments from the public.

VIDA: One of the most visited sites on the River, Ben & Kay Dorris Park, offers picnic sites, a boat ramp, walking paths and flush toilets on a 33-acre site that is largely undeveloped.