Hood River - Money for Parks?
Engage the Gorge
Published · February 24 at 8:49 PM ·
Hood River City Councilors gave a lot of "love" to parks during their February 6th work session. As a practical matter, they seemed to agree placing a bond measure on the November 2022 ballot to help fund land acquisition for parks (before the land for city parks is gone) was an important step to take.
If you'd like to see what else the City Council did with parks, here is the February 22nd discussion on spending "System Development Charge" (SDC) money . SDCs in Oregon are one-time fees charged on new development, used to help finance water supply, flood control, transportation, and parks and rec.
On Monday night, the councilors decided to spend money on to acquire 2 to 5 acres of land on the west side of the city, plus land easements for trails.
In the second discussion Park & Rec Director Mark Hickock asks for $400,000 to help with a potential 20-acre park site near the West Side Elementary School, along with extending the Indian Creek Trail south side connector around the east side of the Sieverkropp Development. Given that the Sieverkropp development got no park whatsoever, this seemed reasonable to councilors. Listen to both discussions here: https://youtu.be/zkNv4iZsHIA