Public asked to help redesign Blue River Park

BLUE RIVER: People are invited to take part in a community discussion on plans for redeveloping the Blue River Park, which was severely damaged by the Holiday Farm Fire. Details of what may be possible are included in a 15-page master plan for the property developed by Audret Rycewicz, a student with the Masters of Landscape Architecture course at the University of Oregon.

The Blue River Park Board says it will the virtual open house to learn gain more public input and "help redesign the park into a space for the whole community."

In advance of the virtual event, they're encouraging people to go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BlueRiverPark.There they'll find a 5 to 10 minute survey designed to get feedback to help guide the redevelopment of our community's park.

In the master plan developed by Rycewicz are a number of suggested features and design approaches. Some of those ideas include using permeable paving in the parking lot and constructing a rain garden to reduce pollution from runoff. Off the main paved area people could travel along a foot path with leading through an interpretive area with signage that tells the story of the area ranging from native peoples to gold mining, logging an the construction of dams.

Other features of the proposed plan include a natural play area for children, gardens, a stage, dog park, pet memorial garden, soccer and baseball fields, BBQ areas.

The virtual event is set for to start at 10 a.m. on Saturday and last for about two hours. The Zoom link for the meeting can be accessed at https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/9276635286.