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Council approves Jackson Park grant application; parks department reports higher satisfaction and Greenway improvements
Summary
The council authorized the Parks and Recreation Department to apply for up to $1,000,000 in state grant funds for Jackson Park renovation and reviewed a parks maintenance survey showing improved citizen satisfaction and improvements to the Bear Creek Greenway.
The Medford City Council on Wednesday authorized the Parks and Recreation Department to apply for a State of Oregon local government large grant of up to $1,000,000 to renovate Jackson Park in West Medford, with the city budgeting up to $1.4 million as a potential match.
Rich Rosenthal, Parks and Recreation Director, told the council the department proposes using the city match to strengthen an application for the Oregon Lottery–funded grant administered by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. "As much local funding as we can list as a match really helps our chances," Rosenthal said. The council noted the budgeted $1.4 million match is currently planned in the coming biennium; Rosenthal said if the grant application is unsuccessful the project would likely be delayed into a later biennium.
Councilor Kevin Keating moved approval of council bill 2025-17; Nick Card seconded. A roll-call vote recorded seven yes votes (Kevin Keating, Nick Card, Jessica Ayers, Garrett West, Zach Smith, Mike Kerlinger, John Quinn); the resolution passed unanimously.
Rosenthal also presented the department's annual park maintenance survey. The presentation included staffing and investment metrics (the department reported an average investment of $6,430 per park acre and roughly one full-time employee for every 26 acres of parkland) and year-over-year satisfaction gains at several parks. Highlights from the 2024 survey presented to the council included:
- Prescott Park moved to the top spot in visitation rankings and rose to about 97.6% "satisfactory or better" in resident responses. - Bear Creek Park satisfaction rose from 70.8% to 91.2% following reconstruction of a playground that had been damaged by arson. - Overall park maintenance scored 87% satisfactory or better in 2024, a recovery from a dip the department reported in 2023. - Restroom cleanliness improved about 20% after the city brought restroom maintenance in house rather than contracting it out.
Rosenthal said the Bear Creek Greenway appearance has shown measurable improvement since the council approved a camping ordinance and the city expanded livability-team enforcement: "You now see a year and a half into that decision ... you're seeing the needle being moved in terms of how the Greenway looks," he said.
Council discussion touched on drainage and trail damage at Prescott Park, restroom maintenance workload, and continued concerns about safety at some parks and greenways raised in open-ended survey comments. Rosenthal confirmed the department is prioritizing projects and hoping state match funds would accelerate renovations.
The parks authorization and the survey presentation were informational and procedural items; both passed or were accepted with unanimous council support.
