Clark County is keen on green space

The county built 20 new parks from 2006 to 2009, but from 2010 to 2015, just seven parks were built, none last year.

This summer, construction is expected to kick off on Sorenson Neighborhood Park, on Northwest 26th Avenue at Northwest 109th Street in Felida, and Tower Crest Neighborhood Park, on Northeast 54th Street at Northeast 63rd Avenue in East Minnehaha, which will be parks 28 and 29.

“We see an upswing in our parks. They are heavily used, and with the growing population, parks is one of the destination resources here and why people want to live in Clark County,” said Scot Brantley, project manager for the county’s public works department. “Neighborhood parks are very personal to the neighborhoods, and a lot of people buy their homes next to parks.”

Brantley said the parks district has been re-energized in recent years and the county is excited to fulfill the commitment made to the public a decade ago.

The county isn’t the only agency looking to expand its parks presence. Numerous parks are under construction and in the planning stages throughout Clark County, and for a variety of reasons. Whether it’s to deal with a booming population, finally securing some land, or getting back money that had disappeared in recent years, residents can expect to see more greenery in the coming years.

Vancouver’s plans

Perhaps no project is more visible than the Vancouver’s future downtown waterfront park. Some preliminary work, such as laying the base layer of the waterfront trail, is already completed, and more construction will follow this summer.

The 7.3-acre waterfront park will be part of a 32-acre redevelopment project, bringing restaurants, offices and apartments to a site that was once a paper mill.

“It’s going to be a real iconic park,” said Vancouver Parks and Recreation Director Julie Hannon. “It’s going to have a lot of unique features. There’s been no public access down (to that area) for 100 years. It’s going to be great to have that accessible now.”

The focal point of the new park will be the triangular Grant Street Pier, which will be suspended by cables and jut approximately 90 feet over the river. Two restaurants are expected to look over the pier.

An extension of the 5-mile Waterfront Renaissance Trail will run through the park, featuring a sandy play area with granite salmon and ship-themed climbing ropes. The park will also house areas for picnics, biking and riverfront access, as well as an interactive history lesson. Construction is expected to finish around December 2017.

But the waterfront isn’t the only parks work being done in the city.

Hannon said the city will phase irrigation back into parks over the next three years after it was turned off in 2009 due to the recession. Twenty-seven of the city’s 76 neighborhood parks have irrigation, Hannon said, which will allow for drinking fountains and could help keep grass green well into the dog days of summer. It could also reduce complaints the city has received about the state of parks in recent years.

“It’s not very fun playing on dead grass,” Hannon said.

The city has been investing more in parks, Hannon said, which she hopes will help with maintaining the parks already in place.

“If we’re going to open a brand-new waterfront park, we’re going to show we can take care of all our parks,” she said.

Hannon said there’s been an increase in park usage in recent years, which can be monitored through trail counters and by garbage.

“If there are more people, there’s more garbage, usually,” she said.

When Hannon talks to residents, she said they usually don’t want more parks, but instead, “more frequently, we hear that people want us to take care of the parks we have.”

Vancouver’s parks need to find funding for continuous maintenance and repairs, as there’s a backlog of about $9 million worth of repairs to city parks, according to Hannon.

Still, the city will see a few additions to parks this summer. The Cascade Neighborhood Park, 13003 S.E. Seventh St., is undergoing a total renovation, with new playground equipment, new bark and new pathways. The city will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new park this month.

Construction is also in the works or going to start this year on Fir Garden Park, Diamond Park and Oakbrook Park.

More waterfront parks

Vancouver isn’t the only agency building a waterfront park. Both the Port of Camas-Washougal and Port of Ridgefield are in the process of opening recreational areas on waterfront property.

The Port of Camas-Washougal has a new trail in place that connects the port to downtown Washougal, and is constructing a park to surround the trail. David Ripp, executive director of the Port of Camas-Washougal, said the Washougal Waterfront Park should be completed later this year, with a ribbon-cutting sometime toward the end of September or early October. The idea for the waterfront park and 0.8-mile trail came in 2010, when port officials were updating their strategic plan.

“It was just a far-fetched idea,” Ripp said. “We didn’t even own the property at that point.”

The port purchased the land, which sits adjacent to port headquarters at 24 S. A St., Washougal, in 2012 from Killian Pacific, a Vancouver-based commercial real estate development and investment company, and started the cleanup process.

The park will have a picnic area, seating and access to the breakwater fishing and transient moorage dock. On the south end of the park is a large concrete compass built into the pavement that looks out on the water.

“That area is going to be great for having concerts while people sit on the lawn,” Ripp said, adding he hopes other events come to the waterfront once the park is set up.

The 12-foot-wide trail will have stainless steel salmon built in the concrete and will wrap around the park. It also features a non-motorized kayak/canoe vehicle launch, children’s natural play area, viewpoints, interpretive signage and water access trails. The city is currently designing a connection that will link the port’s trail east to Captain William Clark Park.

“The public is super-excited about this and I am ecstatic,” Ripp said. “I’m so excited to finish this so the public can enjoy it.”

Ridgefield

Over in Ridgefield, residents will have to wait a little while longer to see what sort of recreational area pops up along the waterfront. Port of Ridgefield officials are still considering how to redevelop the 43 acres of property known as Miller’s Landing. The property is the former home of pressure-treating company Pacific Wood Treating, which filed for bankruptcy and vacated the space in 1993. After taking it over, the port led one of the largest environmental cleanup efforts in state history.

The area is now clean and ready for reuse. Ten acres of the property is set aside for public space, Port of Ridgefield CEO Brent Grening said.

“It’s always been talked about down here, from the earliest master planning we did with the community, that the waterfront property was always going to allow public access to the river,” Grening said. “That was a fundamental design that the community wanted, that the commission wanted. That was almost a starting agreement. It was just a given.”

Grening said he isn’t sure what the makeup of those 10 acres will be, but he’s sure they won’t be developed. There will probably be some amenities there, such as restrooms, picnic areas, seating and maybe a launch for kayakers and paddlers, but that will be decided later.

“We have not put together a plan for that, but it is our intent that over time we will be adding those amenities to reflect what people want to do on their waterfront,” he said.

In the meantime, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will build a new trail this summer connecting the port property to the Carty Unit in the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. The trail will head north off of port property, follow Lake River to take people back on the north end of Carty Lake and connect into the refuge trail system.

City officials in Ridgefield are also looking to add some parks. The city has a few projects it’s working on at the moment, including an expansion of Abrams Park, which is at the end of Division Street. It’s Ridgefield’s largest park, and last year, the city purchased 4.5 acres adjacent to the existing park.

Earlier this year, Ridgefield opened the city’s first off-leash dog area, which is right near the auto entrance of the refuge, 1071 S. Hillhurst Road. The city has a temporary permit for a fenced 2-acre site, and Ridgefield Public Works Director Bryan Kast said the city will evaluate how things are going within the next two years and figure out if it should be permanent.

Kast said the city is also looking to expand its trail system, and will have work done this summer on extending the Gee Creek Trail north to Heron Ridge Drive.

Last year, Ridgefield was named the fastest-growing city in the state, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, and Kast said the city wants to make sure there are more recreational areas for all the city’s new residents to enjoy.

“One of the biggest ways to expand our parks is through development,” Kast said.

Last year, the city’s new Planned Unit Development code went into place, and for every new development unit, the developer must set aside 25 percent of the property for common open space. Of that space, half has to be in a single piece and half of that has to be suitable for a mix of active and passive recreation areas.

Kast said the city hopes to work with developers to put their recreational areas on adjacent parts of properties to create even larger recreational areas.

Since the code was enacted, the city has had three unit development applications, and through those applications, 35 acres have been set aside for parks and open space.

East county

Over in Washougal, the city agreed to purchase 2036 Main St. at the council’s Dec. 21 meeting. The council purchased the property with hope of turning it into a new downtown park. The city hasn’t planned anything for the 4,800-square-foot site. Suzanne Grover, Washougal’s parks, cemetery and facilities manager, said there is no timetable for a new downtown park, but the city would first like to acquire connecting properties. Downtown is already home to Reflection Plaza, a paved open space with seating.

“We’re building our park footprint by faith right now, hoping that the pieces fall together,” Grover said. “When property becomes available, the city looks to expand that footprint.”

Grover said she thinks the parks have gotten more usage in the last two years, which is part of the reason the city is looking to expand its parks system. Arguably the city’s most-used park is the Stevenson Off-Leash Dog Area, 2801 Addy St., which will close Nov. 1. The park was owned by the Stevenson family, which sold about 15 acres of land, including the park, to East Village Investors in 2012.

Hartwood Park, 2251 49th St., is in the middle of receiving new playground equipment. The playground will be farm-themed, with a barn covering the jungle gym, cornstalk climbers, a playable tractor and standalone statues of chickens and a pig.

The newest park in Camas broke ground on June 23. Cooper’s View, 712 N.W. 27th Ave., is a 2.5-acre park that is expected to be completed this fall, Camas Parks & Recreation Department Director Jerry Acheson wrote in an email. The park will have picnic tables and benches, an open lawn, a nature play area, on-ground slide, climbing rocks, trails and landscaping.

Battle Ground doesn’t have any park construction or addition coming up in the immediate future.