Accessibility committee backs Holland Park improvements, approves support letter for state grant

The City of Bend Accessibility Advisory Committee voted May 28 to approve a letter of support for the Bend Park & Recreation District’s Holland Park improvement project, enabling the district to include the committee’s endorsement in an application for state Local Government Program (LGP) lottery funds.

The committee’s backing follows a presentation from Rachel Colton, a park planner with the Bend Park and Recreation District, who described the 16-acre community park in northeast Bend and the project’s goals: reworking parking to meet current ADA standards, adding seven compliant accessible parking spaces, installing a permanent ADA-compliant restroom in a new plaza, constructing about a half-mile paved accessible loop trail, improving accessible connections to the event barn, and formalizing an interpretive historic walk at the site.

Why it matters: The district plans to apply for competitive LGP lottery funds (the presenter said the program typically distributes about $15 million statewide). A letter of support from a local advisory committee can strengthen an application and signals community endorsement of the project’s accessibility priorities.

Colton told the committee the project is informed by a 2010 master plan and subsequent outreach; staff reported roughly 58 written comments, nearly 200 survey responses and more than 70 people signed up to receive project updates. She described design decisions including the tradeoff of losing about 10 general parking spaces to reconfigure the lots and create accessible routes.

Committee members asked technical questions about the design. "It's six foot wide," said Ian Isaacson, the project designer, describing the perimeter trail’s asphalt width. A committee member who uses a wheelchair asked whether paths would be provided inside the off‑leash dog area; the project team said they plan to provide accessible "lollipop" paths from the west entry into the dog area so users can reach picnic areas and interior features while limiting turf impacts and preserving ADA grade requirements.

The dog-park fencing proposal — to fence roughly 3.25 acres of the existing off‑leash area — drew note as a fairly polarizing item during outreach, Colton said; the design seeks to maintain similar acreage while directing dogs away from the perimeter trail.

During review of the draft letter of support, committee member Liz Steven proposed two minor editorial changes: replace the phrase "ADA accessible" with "ADA compliant" and remove double spaces. "I move that we approve the letter with very minor changes of changing ADA accessible to ADA compliant and just looking for double spaces and removing them," she said. A second was offered and members indicated approval by raised hands.

Outcome and next steps: The motion passed and staff said they would finalize the letter with the agreed edits before the grant submission deadline next week. The committee’s approval is limited to a letter of support for the LGP application; no funding was committed by the committee.

The park planner emphasized that the grant does not fund improvements to historic structures on site; the project focuses on site accessibility, parking, pathways, an accessible restroom and maintenance planning. The project team also plans to produce a maintenance inventory to inform future work.

The Accessibility Advisory Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for June 25, 2026, where members expect to continue follow-up items on the work plan and charter language.