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Liberty Park neighborhood finally gets some love Bob Shand points out abandoned houses Tuesday in the Liberty Park neighborhood in Medford. [Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch Tuesday Jan 30, 2018 at 5:57 PM Jan 30, 2018 at 7:19 PM Damian Mann Mail Tribune @reporterdm A poor neighborhood that didn't previously get much love from Medford revitalization efforts could get up to $50 million worth of low-income housing, sidewalks and possibly even a pedestrian bridge over Bear Creek. An advisory committee for the Medford Urban Renewal Agency has held two meetings to offer ideas to renovate the Liberty Park neighborhood just north of downtown. "Liberty Park ended up being a poster child for MURA," said Bob Shand, who heads the Liberty Park Neighborhood Association. "In 2002, the city came up with a Liberty Park action plan. The plan resulted in little action." Shand is a member of the advisory committee tasked with finding projects for a majority of $19 million in urban renewal dollars, which will be leveraged with grants and other sources of income to potentially put $40 million to $50 million into the area, also called the Beatty-Manzanita neighborhood after the two streets that bisect it. The committee will hold an open house at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Kids Unlimited gym to get ideas from neighborhood residents and discuss some of the proposals the committee has come up with during two recent meetings. Shand, walking with his dog Bruce, strolled the neighborhood pointing out boarded-up houses that need a lot of work, as well as other homes or apartments that attract the attention of Medford police. One proposal that has gotten a lot of support is to create a low-income housing complex. Urban renewal dollars could be used to attract developers by acquiring properties, doing site preparation or by paying for city fees and permits. Shand says the neighborhood lacks sidewalks on well-traveled streets, which would make the neighborhood safer, particularly Manzanita Street, which has an open ditch. An area along Riverside Drive, behind a number of stores, is a popular hangout for homeless camps. Shand said cleaning that area up and connecting it to the Greenway with a pedestrian bridge would go a long way to helping lessen these kind of problems. On a personal note, Shand said he'd like the Liberty Park neighborhood, named after a small park, to be changed to Liberty Village. Some of the most popular ideas from the committee include a program to provide some kind of funding program for low-income residents to improve their houses. In addition, the committee suggested some kind of assistance to help homeowners with failing sewer pipes that connect from the house to the street. Councilor Kevin Stine, who heads the MURA board, said any big housing projects would be helped by urban renewal but would ultimately be built by developers. "It would be us working with a developer and making it work," he said. Stine said creating housing anywhere in the city, particularly with low rental vacancy rates, would be a popular effort. But he cautioned that the list of suggested projects isn't set in stone. "It's not putting-a-check-in-the-box formula," he said. "We want real input and comments from people." Former Medford Mayor Lindsay Berryman, who is on the committee, said she'd personally like to see large-scale housing developments in the neighborhood, though she wants them to be designed in a way that's compatible with the cottage-style architecture of many of the existing houses. "A big, multifamily complex could set a really nice standard in the Liberty Park neighborhood," Berryman said. "But we need design standards." To encourage ownership of homes, she said, she would support assistance to upgrade existing single-family houses. "There are many areas there with deteriorating housing stock," Berryman said. Kelly Madding, deputy city manager, said more than 100 houses in the Liberty Park neighborhood could be eligible for new sewer lines. Many existing lines are clogged by roots and other debris and have to be cleaned out on an annual basis, she said. Madding said replacing sewer lines from the house to the street likely wouldn't be eligible for matching grants, but other projects being suggested might be. "We will certainly be looking to leverage our money any way we can," she said. Madding said she's hopeful local residents will come up with a solid list of suggestions to help the neighborhood. "I think we will be able to make some substantial improvements with the money we have," she said. — Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on www.twitter.com/reporterdm.