The public can comment on the City of Battle Ground’s master parks plan during an online open house throughout the month of January.
One proposed park included in the master plan is Remy Park on the north side of Southwest Scotton Way near Walmart.
Battle Ground communications manager Alisha Smith said the park’s future is in the initial development phase, and public comment is crucial at this stage.
The virtual open house presents ideas for improvements or additions at sites such as Remy Park, which includes a trail. The park’s land under consideration further sits alongside a large wetland area of Battle Ground. It features 80.2 acres with only a fraction of that considered developable.
“Accessibility to recreation in and around individual neighborhoods is important and, of course, the one thing that you can’t do with land, is you can’t create new land,” Smith said. “So being able to maximize what we have access to so that we can fulfill that accessibility is definitely something that was of interest when looking at the Remy Property.”
In the parks master plan, design elements shown in the graphics can be mixed and matched for the final park plans, Smith said.
For Remy Park, concept one is labeled as a “nature exploration.” The design includes an off-leash dog park, native plant demonstration area, improved trails and more.
Concept two for Remy Park is labeled as a “wellness adventure” and would feature an obstacle course, outdoor fitness stations, pickleball and basketball courts and other features.
“The open house gives city staff the opportunity to present the design concepts as a starting point for discussions with our community, so they may share their wants and desires for each specific property,” Smith stated.
Additional considerations, such as the physical and planning constraints of each site, will be considered as the final plans are developed, Smith added.
The parks master plan will be completed in phases and overall cost and funding sources top considerations, Smith stated.
Key features for the proposed parks will be up to the residents of Battle Ground during the virtual open house.
“I think we’re going to look to our citizens to see what they’re most interested in, but there are certain recreational trends with trails and paths [that] are at the top of the list in our citywide plan,” Community Development Director Sam Crummett said.
People are encouraged to visit the master plan open house at cityofbg.org/1002/Sub-Ar ea-Planning.
The Parks Master Plan was guided by the city’s Community Vision and Strategic Action Plan, cityofbg.org/724/VisionStrate gic-Plan, and the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan.
The city of Battle Ground currently owns 72.84 acres of park space along with 206.03 acres of open space. Of the city’s 22 parks, seven remain undeveloped, and only one of the five open-space properties has been developed.
“The city really hasn’t done a whole lot in terms of building new parks or making significant improvements to existing parks, so I think this is exciting because we are in a place now where I think we can do that,” Crummett said. “And that goes back to doing the planning such as what we are doing right now and also being in a healthy budget position.”
