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Parks board reviews multi‑year implementation document; many projects remain placeholders without funding
Summary
Board reviewed the parks implementation/budget document and prioritized a master plan. Several projects — including pickleball courts, Harbor Heights sports fields, Memorial Stadium improvements and marina dredging — have line items but lack full funding; staff outlined grant-seeking and subcommittee assignments.
In a parks-board workshop, Speaker 3 presented the parks implementation document and walked members through planned projects, current funding and next steps for a parks and recreation master plan.
Speaker 3 said some projects on the capital list are complete (Portland Lewes in the park) while many others are placeholders or partially funded. He told the group that REIT and park impact fees currently supply portions of some projects; for example, $50,000 from REIT was previously directed toward pickleball courts, and $368,000 has been identified for sports fields at Harbor Heights but that project is on hold.
"We have 368,000 or so for sports fields, for Harbor Heights," Speaker 3 said, but added that the broader Harbor Heights conversion to full sports fields would be cost‑prohibitive: he estimated a full buildout could reach about $60 million with the access road alone costing roughly $9–$11 million. Because of access and cost constraints, the board discussed interim approaches — nature trails, disc golf or segmented park uses — and working with the school district to preserve field capacity by shifting some school fields to Memorial Stadium.
Speaker 3 outlined Little League field renovation estimates — material and installation work the department now estimates at tens of thousands of dollars per site — and said placeholders for playground equipment renovations (three sites listed with $68,250 each in later-year planning) should be aligned to neighborhood needs rather than cookie‑cutter replacements. He urged the board to direct the department on priorities so staff can fold them into the biennial budget process and pursue grants (RCO, RCED, TAP) and other alternative funds.
The board assigned members to subcommittees (communications, inclusive-playground planning, funding/budget, rules and policies, unused‑opportunities) and asked staff to prepare an RFP scope for the master plan and to bring experts to future meetings for short briefings. No formal council appropriations, motions or votes were taken in the workshop; the presentation served to frame staff recommendations and the board’s next steps for the master plan.
