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Phoenix authorizes building of city park By MEG LANDERS PHOENIX - Construction on Blue Heron Community Park - the city's first - may begin as soon as November. The City Council last week authorized Planner Denis Murray to solicit construction bids for Phase I of the project, which includes installing sewer, water, telephone and electricity lines as well as a street and parking spaces. Murray said a wet winter could delay the six-month project until spring. The planning department proposed that the estimated $238,000 project be funded through Parks and Recreation system development charges and the public works budget. Located on the city's south end between Highway 99 and Bear Creek, the park was first proposed in 1993. Mayor Larry Parducci said he's glad the project is finally in the building phase. "We got the 26 acres from the county with the intention of it being a park eight or nine years ago," said Parducci. At that time, a park commission was formed and studies and planning began. Then the flooding of Bear Creek in 1997 put a halt to the project. "The '97 flood changed the floodway, so we had to do an evaluation of that," Parducci said. "We had to scale down the original plan." Project landscape architect Kerry KenCairn, of KenCairn Environmental Design, said she went back to the drawing board and came up with a new design. "It's still going to be a beautiful park; we just lost 60 percent (of the land)," said KenCairn. Letting go of plans for tennis courts, basketball courts and wetlands, KenCairn was able to keep a parking loop, picnic area, playground, a large gazebo and open spaces for additions such as a community center on the 3.5 acres. Once the infrastructure is in place, Murray said, the city hopes to solicit state grants and donations from organizations to build the park features. A possible snag in the project is access. The Oregon Department of Transportation, which grants approval for access off Highway 99, has expressed concern over the effect of park traffic on the highway. ODOT is considering requiring traffic controls such as merge lanes or signals. Despite bumps along the way, Parducci remains hopeful about the development of the park and excited about what it will offer. "It'll give the city another opportunity to have a recreational area," he says. "It'll give the downtown city center a little character." "It's a big project for a city that size," says KenCairn. "I'd like to see it get built." Meg Landers is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.