City of Gresham

Tina Osterink, City of Gresham
Natural Resource Planner

In the spring of 2019, the City of Gresham began a process initiated by the City Council to identify potential recreation improvements for six undeveloped parks throughout the city. The parks identified for future improvements were two community parks and four neighborhood parks, including Columbia View Neighborhood Park.

This exploration of future improvements was initiated by the city to understand community desires for each park, capital costs for potential improvements, and maintenance needs if developed. Community feedback will help prioritize which park improvements will be implemented as funding becomes available.

Staff and a consultant team conducted on-site meetings, surveys and an open house throughout 2019. Community feedback was used to develop high level concept plans for all six undeveloped parks. The plans include a range of design and facility options for each park, including Columbia View Neighborhood Park.

Based on analysis of Columbia View’s unique existing conditions and feedback during public engagement meetings, the following concept plan was developed.

Columbia View Park's Concept Plan

Community feedback throughout 2019 noted opportunities for the park may include play structures for kids, designated off-leash dog areas, improved accessibility for all ages and abilities, education displays, and picnic areas. Constraints include maintenance, safety concerns, a lack of trash receptacles, and concerns with attracting too many people to neighborhood park. Additional feedback from nearby neighbors during a virtual meeting held in June 2020 is as follows:

• Keep this neighborhood park in a natural state with limited upgrades.
• Supportive of trails to improve access and a community garden but wanted staff to consider either eliminating the shelter and courts or at least move those items towards the school.
• Consider natural long-lasting materials for an ADA perimeter path around the park.
• Dog park located under chestnut trees hurt dog paws and in what is now informally known as “the fetch it zone”.
• Some would prefer an off-leash area vs. fenced dog leash area.
• Consider placing amenities closer to H.B. Lee Middle School but engage the school first.
• Concern with picnic shelter location on upslope portion of park that interferes with backyard privacy and could contribute to real or perceived safety concerns.
• Lack of police access into the SE portion of the park near potential amenity placement.
• Further explore feasibility of providing secondary access off NE Pacific St.

During the June 2020 meeting, staff stressed the importance of balancing input from nearby neighbors with meeting the equity, opportunity and access needs for community members who live within the quarter-mile walking and biking service area.

Next steps in the outreach process include meeting with Community Based Organizations to gain their input on the concept plan for Columbia View Neighborhood Park, online review of the concept plan report from July 13 – August 31 and then convene on August 10 at the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association Meeting (online via Zoom).

Additional information can be found at the Parks Planning website and you can reach out to Tina Osterink at Tina.Osterink@GreshamOregon.Gov or by phone at (503) 618-2392.

Project website where the concept plans and draft report can be viewed: https://greshamoregon.gov/Parks-Planning/

Gresham has an interim mayor after council voted unanimously to promote someone from within their ranks Monday morning, June 29. Councilor will serve remainder of year, step aside after November special election

Source: Gresham Outlook, Jun 29, 2020
By Christopher Keizur

Karylinn Echols was appointed to the lead role during a special city council meeting after being nominated by a motion from Councilor Jerry Hinton and seconded by Councilor David Widmark.

"I look forward to working with each and every one of you as we get through the remainder of this year," Echols said.

Council telegraphed Monday's vote last week, when they voiced support for Echols stepping into the interim role. They delayed the decision to this week in order to allow for public comment on the matter.

The decision to name Echols interim mayor was made after the unexpected resignation of Shane Bemis Wednesday, June 17. Council had less than 30 days to name his interim successor by majority vote. With Echols being selected, she will now serve through the remainder of the year, before stepping aside for the person voted for by the public in the November election.

"She brings integrity, clarity and transparency to the city," Widmark said.

Echols has served as a Gresham City Councilor for 12 years, including two stints as council president. She was appointed to Position 3 in 2011 after being appointed to the role unanimously and winning a subsequent election. She also served a two-year stint in 2005.

Read more below this break.

Gresham Mayor, Shane Bemis

BREAKING In an unexpected announcement on social media Tuesday evening, June 16, Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis said he is stepping down from his role leading the city, effective 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Bemis cites difficulties balancing his personal life and business with public service.

Source: Gresham Outlook
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
By Christopher Keizur, PMG

In a post to Facebook, Bemis wrote about the difficulties trying to balance raising a family, supporting a business during the COVID-19 pandemic, and dealing with challenges within City Hall.

"At the current moment, facing a pandemic; a rising, powerful, and necessary social justice movement; and the City's budget woes, all while trying to keep my business afloat, is not tenable," Bemis wrote. "I must fight for my business to provide for my family."

The mayor's seat now will be open in the November election, and Bemis is pushing for entrepreneur and community leader Travis Stovall to run for the position.

"Travis has been intricately involved in the City of Gresham, serving on committees ranging from public safety, to affordable housing and community development," Bemis wrote.

Bemis wrote that he watched Portland Police Chief Jami Resh step aside last week in order to allow someone else to lead the organization. Stovall is a black man who has spoken about the difficulties he has faced in East Multnomah County.

"As a political leader, it is always tempting to see oneself as the solution to whatever problems we may face," Bemis wrote. "However, when I spend time in self-reflection and consider the entirety of the critical work our city and broader society must address, I need to be willing to say I am not the best solution to these specific problems."

Bemis thanked the community for supporting him during his public service in Gresham.

"I came to Gresham as a 15-year-old kid. My family had nothing, and I knew nobody. This community has given me everything," Bemis wrote. "I will never forget your generosity and I will always do everything in my power, in any capacity, to give everything I have to this community."

Read Mayor Bemis' full statement below ...

COURTESY RENDERING: CITY OF GRESHAM - The Downtown Rockwood market hall, middle, has been redesigned to lower construction costs. Click to enlarge.

Source: The Gresham Outlook
Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis voices concerns about completing long-brewing development

By Christopher Keizur

A Rockwood development project that has been brewing for more than two decades is getting a redesign to keep construction costs in line with budget constraints.

The second phase of Downtown Rockwood — originally called Rockwood Rising — was for a market hall with an international grocery marketplace, public commissary kitchen, and small business and pop-up stand opportunities.

The Gresham Redevelopment Commission heard the proposed design changes for the building that had bloated past its cost estimates during a meeting Tuesday afternoon, May 19. The new market hall looks different, and adds 3,000 square feet of restaurant/grocery/retail space; 10,000 square feet of office space; and four additional micro-restaurants.

But officials said it maintains the original intent of uplifting the diverse community of food entrepreneurs who call Rockwood home.

"The new design offers more variety of spaces," said Emily Bower, interim executive director of the Gresham Redevelopment Commission.

COURTESY RENDERING: CITY OF GRESHAM - The new market hall has more space for businesses. Click to enlarge.

The new market hall has more space for businesses.The idea behind Downtown Rockwood is to bring new construction and needed services into the heart of the neighborhood. The Catalyst Site, located between Southeast Stark Street, Southeast 185th Avenue and East Burnside Street, will be a central square with a public plaza and play structures for kids, an innovation hub with services for locals, retail stores, apartments, and the market hall.

The 5.5-acre plot of land was initially purchased by the Gresham Development Commission in 2005 with funds from the city's urban renewal district. The city spent three years, from 2014-2016, soliciting ideas and feedback from residents in the neighborhood.

The project finally broke ground last summer, marking a shift from planning to actually seeing Downtown Rockwood come to fruition. Since then the former Rockwood Community Office Building was renovated and construction of the innovation hub should be complete by July.

Bower said the market hall should be completed by Summer 2021 — a timeline Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis voiced concerns about.

"I feel like we are constantly changing the program and have had the property tied up for years with little steps being made," Bemis said during the virtual meeting. "I want to get this project done and do these things we have been talking about for the last 20-plus years. I am really concerned about hitting timelines and delivering for our community."

Bower said complications the last two years led to the redesign. Developers said the Portland area has experienced historic increases in the costs of construction. That, coupled with new federal tariffs on construction material, led to the need for a redesign. The new building has been simplified to maximize the leasable area within the building to improve finances.

"I am confident we will finish this project in the 2021-22 timeline," Bower said.

This story first appeared in The Outlook. Support community newspapers. Subscribe at http://savinglocalnews.com

Lee Dayfield

Lee Dayfield says Metro-approved parks funding should not be used as an excuse by the city of Gresham to reduce parks funding. Meanwhile, stay-at-home orders ask that you only venture out for essential needs. Notably, access to public parks for exercise and fresh air while still practicing social distancing is among those allowed needs, and for good reasons.

Source: Pamplin Media Group
Thursday, April 16, 2020

If you have been out and about in our local parks and trails this past week you might have noticed how many of your neighbors are doing the same. It is not just the improving weather.

The pandemic has put a renewed premium on proximity to parks and nature. For those of us fortunate enough to have high quality public greenspace nearby, the value is especially self-evident. But long before this pandemic, research has demonstrated what people know intuitively: access to parks and nature is no simple frill or amenity, but an essential determinant of individual and community health.

Unfortunately, Gresham's City budget has made parks a low priority in recent years. Park investments made by Gresham voters a generation ago have not kept pace. To be sure, our community has many volunteers and private donors who make some parks shine.

Friends of Nadaka and the Gresham Japanese Garden are effectively harnessing volunteers and private donations; Ricki Ruiz continues to secure grants to develop futsal courts; and North Gresham Neighborhood Association is poised to build a playground at Kirk Park funded primarily through private donations.

However significant, these isolated projects belie systemic divestment. In recent years, fewer and fewer general fund dollars have gone to parks and recreation. Gresham's almost non-existent recreation programming leaves vital services to underfunded nonprofit organization like Gresham-based Play Grow Learn, which mentors at-risk adolescents using nature-play, urban gardening and athletics in our parks. Relying on nonprofits, grants, private donations, and the generosity of volunteers is not a sustainable path to a vibrant thriving parks and recreation system that bolsters our health and prosperity.

We can do a lot better.
Today, as the fourth largest city in Oregon, Gresham has the lowest per-capita investment in local parks and recreation in the Metro region.

In a hopeful turn, the majority of Gresham voters passed Metro's regional parks and nature funding measure in November 2019. The measure will infuse some additional capital funds into Gresham's local parks system. Public officials should not use that as an excuse to backfill further cuts to parks. Now is the time to launch a parks feasibility study of new local investment options and to give the community greater voice and vote in decisions with innovative tools like participatory budgeting.

As federal stimulus funds become available, Gresham would be wise to creatively invest in the city's backlog in park stewardship and deficient parks programming while putting people to work. The Nadaka Ambassador Program, which employs Rockwood residents to steward the park and garden, is a great model.

In these difficult and uneasy times, we must not lose sight of the value of stewarding our parks and nature which, now more than ever, are helping keep us healthy and connected.

Lee Dayfield is a parks advocate. In 2009, Friends of Nadaka, with Dayfield at the helm, organized the purchase and development of Nadaka Nature Park.

Let's Play Futsal! When: Sun, Mar 01, 2020 5PM-7PM Where: Friends of the Children Gym 424 NE 172nd Ave. Get Map!

Indoor Sunday Futsal youth recreation is open to all students in grades 6-12 on Sunday from 5:00-7:00 pm at the Friends of the Children gym.

• Free
• Open to boys and girls in grades 6-12
• Learn new skills, make new friends, play futsal
• Participants must bring a signed waiver to play
• Adult supervision and mentorship provided by Active Children Portland volunteers

For more information, email Ricki Ruiz at Ricardo.Ruiz@GreshamOregon.gov or call 503-583-0771.

Futsal flier and waiver

Read more about Sunday Futsal.

Get involved, Make a difference When: Tue, Mar 03, 2020 6PM-8PM Where: Council Chambers 1333 NW Eastman Pky Get Map!

Regular Council meetings allow necessary City business to be dealt with, such as citizen recognition, citizen advisory committee reports, bid awards, resolutions, ordinances, public hearings, etc. Regular Council meetings are streamed live on the City's website at GreshamOregon.gov/Videos.

For more information contact the City Recorder at 503-618-2697.

Read more about Council meetings.

Get involved, Make a difference When: Wed, Mar 04, 2020 6:30PM-8:30PM Where: Gresham City Hall Council Chambers 1333 NW Eastman Pky Get Map!

The Design Commission is the primary advising subcommittee to the City Council on design excellence for the built environment of the city. The Commission assists in the development and application of design standards and guidelines, and will conduct hearings as necessary to ensure that proposed public and private projects achieve these standards.

For more information about this event, contact Jamie Thomes, Planning Technician at 503-618-2842 or Jamie.Thomes@GreshamOregon.gov.

Be Engaged. Please Attend When: Wed, Mar 04, 2020 4PM-6PM Where: Gresham City Hall Conference Rm 2B 1333 NW Eastman Pky Get Map!

Join City staff to discuss the first phase of a multi-year program designed to make the Development Code easier to understand, more efficient to navigate, and more responsive to the evolving development climate.

Phase one of this program proposes code updates that are time sensitive, high priority and policy neutral.

At the open house, staff will discuss the Development Code and Process Update (DCPU) project and the propose phase-one code updates as participants arrive. Feel free to drop by with questions, or to learn more about the work underway.

For more information about this event, contact Mary Phillips, Senior City Planner at 503-618-2610 or Mary.Phillips@GreshamOregon.gov.

Read more about the DCPU project.

Let's Go Walking! When: Thu, Mar 05, 2020 10AM-5PM Where: Meet at Gresham City Hall 1333 NW Eastman Pky Get Map!

• Distance: About 5.5 miles
• Difficulty: Easy
• Elevation gain: 50 feet
• Trail conditions: Compact dirt, gravel, and some paved surfaces
• Round-trip travel: 15 miles
• Suggested donation per rider: $2 (no parking pass required)

Planning of the 40-Mile Loop started in the early 1900s and later grew into 140 miles. Obviously, many changes over the century connected the Springwater Trail and over 30 city parks. We will walk 5.5 miles or more of this original 40-Mile Loop Trail in Troutdale, where we will view the newly completed I-84 bridge. Most of the hike is on level surface along the Sandy River, with views of the river.

Lunch will be at some restaurant in Troutdale, to be determined later. Participants are advised to have water, snacks for the trail, and proper clothing for the weather of the day. Sturdy hiking shoes and hiking poles are recommended for this easy hike.

For more information about this hike please contact Kuldip Dhadwal at 805-509-0697 or kuldipdhadwal@hotmail.com.

Senior Healthy Hikers asks that participants be 50 or older. A couple wishing to hike is welcome if one member of the couple is 50 or better.

Pets are not permitted on our hikes or walks.

Senior Healthy Hikers member guidelines