Eugene's dream for park unfolds.Byline: Real Estate Notebook By Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard A long-closed pocket park in Eugene's west university neighborhood may be headed for a new lease on life, thanks to some creativity by an adjacent property owner, a local housing developer, the city staff and the City Council. A land swap agreement has been signed by the city and property owner Robert Quinney that will change University Park from a narrow isolated swath down the middle of East 14th Avenue between Patterson and Hilyard streets to a wide, shallow park along the street front, making it easier for neighbors to use and for police to monitor. Quinney will build an apartment complex of about 20 units along the alley alley an area in a cow barn identified by its particular purpose such as a loafing alley, a walking alley or feeding alley. behind the newly configured con·fig·ure tr.v. con·fig·ured, con·fig·ur·ing, con·fig·ures To design, arrange, set up, or shape with a view to specific applications or uses: parkland, eliminating the "back door" to the park that in the past made it easy for drug dealers and other miscreants to escape after committing crimes. The main windows of the apartment units will overlook the park, lending even more community eyes and ears to what happens in it, said Eugene builder Gordon Anslow, who has been working on the project with Quinney. "I think it has a chance of being a successful park now, especially with a three-story apartment building full of kids with cell phones," Anslow said. It won't happen overnight. Under Quinney's agreement with the city, the housing units must be finished by September 2007, said Robin Hostick, a landscape architect in the Eugene Planning Department who has been working on the proposal. "The park won't be developed until the housing has been finished, so it could be sometime in 2008 before that happens," Hostick said. "Under the agreement, the city will use some money paid by Mr. Quinney through the swap to put in turf turf: see lawn. turf In horticulture, the surface layer of soil with its matted, dense vegetation, usually grasses grown for ornamental or recreational use. and irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. . But, other than a couple of picnic tables A picnic table (or sometimes a picnic bench) is a modified table with benches expressly for the purpose of eating a meal outdoors (picnicking). In the past, picnic tables were typically made of wood, but modern tables can be made out of anything from recycled plastic to , right now there isn't any money to do any other development in the park." Still, to those who have chafed chafe v. chafed, chaf·ing, chafes v.tr. 1. To wear away or irritate by rubbing. 2. To annoy; vex. 3. To warm by rubbing, as with the hands. v.intr. since 1995 at not being able to use the park at all, just having it open and available to area residents seems like a dream come true. "People are excited about it," neighborhood group chairman Adam Walsh said. "Everyone's hopeful that it will work this time because of the visibility from both Hilyard and 14th (streets) and the fact that there won't be alley access any more." However, people also understand that there were problems before and there may be again when the park reopens, Walsh said. Since 1995, it has been against city law to set foot in University Park, following years of rampant drug use, drug dealing, loitering Loitering (IPA pronunciation: ['lɔɪtəˌrɪŋ] is an intransitive verb meaning to stand idly, to stop numerous times, or to delay and procrastinate. , fights and a full range of public indecencies. While most people applaud the chance to reopen re·o·pen tr. & intr.v. re·o·pened, re·o·pen·ing, re·o·pens 1. To open or be opened again: Officials reopened the airport after the snow was cleared. Schools reopen in September. the park - "Like every other neighborhood, the west university neighborhood needs to have its own park," City Councilor coun·cil·or also coun·cil·lor n. A member of a council, as one convened to advise a governor. See Usage Note at council. coun David Kelly  This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.You can assist by [ editing it] now. said - a few have reservations because of its location in one of the city's most densely populated pop·u·late tr.v. pop·u·lat·ed, pop·u·lat·ing, pop·u·lates 1. To supply with inhabitants, as by colonization; people. 2. and transient A malfunction that occurs at random intervals and lasts for a short duration such as a spike or surge in a power line or a memory cell that intermittently fails. See spike and power surge. transient - 1. neighborhoods. "If it were up to me, I would never have the park open again at all, just because of its history - as far as I'm concerned, all pocket parks are failures, but in Eugene, this is the only one that has been closed down and mothballed," said Eugene police officer Randy Ellis, who works out of the West University Public Safety Station. "But it's high on the agenda of the West University Neighbors, and it's something (Councilman) David Kelly wanted to get done for the neighborhood." Reconfiguring the shape of the park through the land swap, giving it a lot of street frontage and removing the alley access, "will make it easier to police," Ellis acknowledged. "But if it fails - if it ends up with the same problems - it will be closed down again, and I think it's a crap shoot whether it will succeed or not." If it doesn't work, the City Council has the option to permanently close the park and sell the land - possibly to Quinney - for development, Ellis said. That's one of the aspects of the agreement that bothers west university resident Zachary Vishanoff, who would rather see the newly configured park first turned into community gardens and then gradually redeveloped if criminal activity remains under control. "There are a lot of things that I don't like about this land swap deal, and that's one," Vishanoff said. "I think this is a conspiracy to get the park away from us and turn it over for a higher-density use." |
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