City, college set park plan on fast track

TIMELINE -- University wants to begin its $8 million makeover of Forest Grove’s Lincoln Park by February 2007

By John Schrag

The Forest Grove News-Times, Nov 15, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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Pacific University officials pitched their ambitious proposal to upgrade the sports facilities in Forest Grove’s Lincoln Park last week and made it clear that if the fields of their dreams are to become a reality, the city will need to hustle.

The Forest Grove Recreation Commission responded Wednesday by authorizing city staffers to work with the university on getting the proposal ready for a presentation to the city council later this month.

The plans, which include an Olympic-sized track with a synthetic infield suitable for soccer and lacrosse, would dramatically change the face of Forest Grove’s largest public park (see map and stories in this week’s sports section).

The plans also would require unprecedented collaboration between the university and the city, as they balance the needs of the public, wanting access to public park space, and the needs of Pacific’s sports teams, which need a place to practice and compete.

Tom Gamble, director of the city’s and recreation department, stressed at last Wednesday’s meeting that although Pacific would pay for the improvements, the city would retain ownership of the existing 22.5-acre park and ensure that local residents and recreational sports leagues would be able to use the public space.

“We’re not in any way, shape or form talking about selling the property to the university,” said Gamble, who noted that the city already allows Pacific’s baseball and softball fields to use the park for practice and games.

“With the new facilities, we’re probably in a better position to share the facilities with the community.”

Those new facilities include a regulation-sized soccer field and a smaller practice field, two softball fields, a baseball field, a walking trail, play structure, bathrooms and at least 100 additional parking spaces.

Darlene Morgan, Pacific University’s vice president for finance and administration, said the school hopes it can get everything it wants for $8 million.

That’s a $2 million jump from the amount budgeted for the university’s longtime plans to build a sports complex on property it owns on Cedar Street, Morgan said. The gap, university officials said, would be closed by the sale of that property, known as “Cannery Fields,” and fundraising (See “If they build it … ” page 1B).

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