The Philomath Park Advisory Board on Dec. 2 reviewed the city’s Parks & Trails Master Plan and directed staff to prepare a focused amendment and project addendum rather than funding a full, citywide rewrite.

"At this point, we think that the most useful thing to do would be to do, like, an amendment to the park master plan rather than budgeting to a full redo," said Speaker 2, a parks staff member leading the work session. Staff recommended using facility master plans for City Park, Marys River Park and a Natural Area/Carbon Park to produce cohesive, phaseable project lists that can be carried to developers and the City Council.

The staff presentation emphasized updating the appendix project list and adopting that as an amendment so the board and council have an actionable short-term priority list. Staff also noted that many trail proposals rely on future development or easements across private property and that some trail connections are more feasible when built as part of adjacent development or within road rights-of-way.

Board members pressed on site-specific constraints. On Westbrook Park, members said steep grades and seasonal flooding complicate access and any effort to replace play equipment with accessible structures would need a site-access assessment. On Flossie Overman Park staff said recycling receptacles may not be feasible given ongoing dumping; instead the town will explore alternative trash solutions and a landscape refresh.

Staff reported several near-term project updates: an exercise station ordered for City Park is expected to be installed next year, and a reader board at the Applegate 'Y' (Dale Collins Park) will be replaced because the existing software is end-of-life. On funding, Speaker 2 said the city recently secured a large Oregon Parks & Recreation grant — "we got an $800,000 grant" — for the Sherman Park project and recommended pausing pursuit of another large grant immediately so other communities can access awards and staff can focus on implementation.

The board approved the meeting minutes by voice vote early in the session (Speaker 3: "I approve.").

Next steps: staff will refresh the project list into an addendum and bring the revised project list and recommended facility-master-plan scope back to the board for a formal recommendation to city council during the council’s upcoming strategic-planning cycle. The board agreed not to meet in January and to set the next meeting in the board’s regular schedule for later review of the draft addendum.