Thatcher Park May Get Upgrade in Plan Change

By Jill Rehkopf Smith, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Feb. 1–FOREST GROVE — Pacific University’s plan to upgrade city-owned Lincoln Park may end up improving a second city park as well, after part of the original plan fell through.

City and university officials say a property owner just north of Lincoln Park was not interested in selling his land, which Pacific needed for a sports field that was part of its $8 million proposal to improve the park.

Plan B involves moving that field a couple of miles away to 26-acre Thatcher Park, on the southwest corner of David Hill and Thatcher roads, across the street from where 1,300 homes are being built.

The Forest Grove Parks and Recreation Commission could meet as early as vote Monday to vote on whether to recommend the new proposal to the City Council.

A few months ago, Pacific proposed adding a 1,100-seat stadium with a nine-lane, NCAA championship track and high-quality artificial turf field to Lincoln Park. The proposal also called for adding a grass soccer field and upgrading softball and baseball fields. To make way for the other work, the university wanted to move a combined soccer/softball field to the park’s north end.

The city would retain ownership of the park, but would schedule events in cooperation with Pacific’s sports program.

The new plan calls for placing the combined soccer/softball field at Thatcher Park, along with a second softball field paid for by the university.

Local sports officials said they welcome Pacific’s addition of another field to its proposal. And Tom Gamble, Forest Grove parks director, says the sloping Thatcher property offers a chance for a bowl-shaped facility, where hillside spectators could enjoy sweeping views of the sports fields, the landscape and Mount Hood.

But Pacific Athletic Director Ken Schumann says the slope might make it harder and more expensive to install a field.

The scope of Pacific’s commitment to development at Thatcher Park remains under negotiation. Pacific has committed to paying for the fields and the lighting that would have gone in at Lincoln Park’s north end, plus the extra softball field — but a dollar amount has not been set.

Gamble thinks Pacific might be able to do more, particularly because the university is saving money by not buying property for the fields, as it would have had to do at the north end of Lincoln Park.

But it’s difficult to negotiate a commitment when neither Pacific nor the city has reliable cost estimates. Gamble doesn’t want to agree to a certain sum from Pacific, only to find after bids come in that it won’t cover costs. “Then we’re out a soccer field and two softball fields,” he said.

Schumann said he hopes to bring a draft of a contract to a parks and recreation commission meeting for members to vote on whether to recommend the project to the City Council. Gamble hopes to bring a preliminary master plan design for the Thatcher Park site and perhaps a rough cost estimate.

Pacific needs the council to approve the project at its Feb. 12 meeting if it is going to begin construction in time to have facilities ready by fall, Schumann said.

But Gamble doesn’t want to tear up Lincoln Park until he is sure the city’s interests are protected, even if it cramps the university’s schedule. “Pacific has put us in this position,” he said, “and I’m not going to be rushing in to solve their problems.”

—–

To see more of The Oregonian, or to subscribe the newspaper, go to http://www.oregonian.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.