Willamalane adopts 20-year parks plan.Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard SPRINGFIELD - Last time the Willamalane Park & Recreation District tried to adopt a comprehensive plan, the process collapsed in chaos. Scores of residents objected to what they feared was future condemnation of their property for bike paths and parks. The plan finally was shelved. That was in 1986 - but the district still hasn't forgotten the rancor and acrimony ac·ri·mo·ny n. Bitter, sharp animosity, especially as exhibited in speech or behavior. [Latin  crim the planning process created.
The district board's Wednesday night public hearing to adopt a new 20-year plan was a lovefest by comparison. The board easily passed its Park & Recreation Comprehensive Plan on a 4-0 vote in less than an hour. Exactly three people spoke at the public hearing, all in favor. One of those who spoke was Rob Adams, who was on the board in 1986. He said he was called a "communist" and worse in the previous planning process. Unlike its idealistic i·de·al·is·tic adj. Of, relating to, or having the nature of an idealist or idealism. i  de·al·is predecessor, the new plan, Adams said, sets
realistic goals based on lots of discussion with local citizens.
"It is a Springfield document written by Springfielders," he said. The old plan "tried to do too much. It tried to incorporate all the open space in Springfield, which is not Willamalane's mandate." Springfield 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 Christine Lundberg also supported the new plan at the hearing. "I was also at those meetings way back when," she said. "That plan really did have some significant flaws in it." The new plan, an inch-thick document, stresses partnerships with other agencies and with private nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. groups. It calls for development of more than 500 acres of new parkland by 2022, including the community sports park being built on 32nd Street; a Glenwood riverfront riv·er·front n. The land or property along a river. park on the Willamette River Willamette River River, northwestern Oregon, U.S. It flows north for 300 mi (485 km) into the Columbia River near Portland. Oregon's most populous cities are in its valley. The Fremont Bridge, a steel arch with a main span of 1,225 ft (373 m), crosses the river at Portland. ; and neighborhood parks Neighborhood parks, which generally range in size up to 30 acres, serve as a social and recreational focal points for neighborhoods and are the basic units of a park system. Many include a playground. in the Jasper-Natron area. It also proposes a new community center and administrative offices to be built by 2015, replacing the aging Memorial Building at 765 A St. The plan will now go to the city of Springfield and Lane County for inclusion in the Metro General Plan. |
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