Sean C. Morgan
The city Parks Board wants to know what the community thinks the city should do with Sankey Park in light of its questionable reputation, while recognizing the reputation may be largely undeserved and more a matter of perception.
The board is moving a recommendation to the Public Safety Committee and, ultimately, to the City Council to commission a study of what the community would like to do with the park, something like the community process used this year to develop a new master plan for Strawberry Park.
“City Council has asked us to look into Sankey Park, into safety and cleanliness up there,” said Planning Services Manager Laura LaRoque. “I think we’re all aware that Sankey Park has some challenges. We’ve all been out there working hard to keep it clean and get people active in that park space but there’s always room for improvement.”
Angela Clegg, a member of the Parks Board and the coordinator for the South Santiam Youth Watershed Council, which adopted lower Sankey Park, said there have been improvements.
“Since we adopted the lower portion of it, we have had less trash each time,” she said, noting that this has been the case even after a switch to a bi-monthly cleanup schedule.
It takes the group about half an hour to clean up the park. That doesn’t mean every cigarette butt is cleaned up, but it’s a big improvement, she said.
“There is spots that are definitely spots we have to go, usually under the bridge over by where the little gathering areas are,” Clegg said. With the trees removed this summer, other spots have improved.
Police Chief Jeff Lynn shared statistics about police calls to the park. In 2014, Sweet Home Police Department responded to the park on 95 calls. So far in 2015, police have responded 85 times.
The majority of the calls are for reports of violations of park rules – complaints of people sleeping in the park, alcohol violations and people there after hours, for example. The park had 38 in 2014 and 25 in 2015.
Complaints about drug offenses, typically involving marijuana use, paraphernalia and a group suspected of using marijuana, were the second largest category of calls, with 18 in 2014 and 2015.
But in 2015, the total number of suspicious circumstances calls reached 19 compared to two in 2014.
The majority of the activity is from May to September. That trend was even more pronounced in 2015, with 17 calls in July, while in 2014, the busiest months were May with 13 and September with 12. Thursday is the busiest day for calls to Sankey Park.
“I’m just actually happy to hear most of it is just perceived,” said Nancy Patton, a member of the Parks Board. “It’s not really that bad of a place.”
Councilor Ryan Underwood said perception of the park is “the biggest issue.” He said a solution is to publicize the statistics for the park. “We had zero major crimes in the last two years.”
Lynn agreed that perception is a problem.
“I think a lot of the concern is there’s a perceived risk factor with the park,” he said. “Over the last two years, nobody’s getting jumped. Nobody’s getting assaulted, mugged, raped. None of that activity’s actually happening. The fighting that’s happening is known associates are having a disagreement and fighting.
“We’re looking at a perception issue in my opinion. It’s perceived as risky. How do we go about improving that perception?”
Recently, Lynn attended training that included a segment on urban parks, he said. Improving parks is not just a policing issue. Other facets included maintenance and park design.
“I think the new park rules really give us some extra teeth to curtail some of the activity that’s going on in there,” Lynn said, referring to the ban on alcohol except by permit and smoking only in designated areas.
“What I think needs to happen is that the park, if you look at it, it looks dark, it looks dreary,” he said. “It looks risky. When you can stand out on 14th in the street and you can’t see the playground equipment back there, that doesn’t bode well for somebody wanting to take their kids over there. Even if you’re in the gravel parking area, you can’t see much more.”
“With the all the trees, there’s a lot of issues with that. In my opinion I think it needs to be opened up significantly. As you let more sun in, I think you’re going to improve the perception of it. The design aspects of the park need to be dealt with, as far as opening it up, clearing much more of the brush out. Some of the trees need to come out. The gazebo that’s in the middle has deteriorated significantly.”
Clegg agreed with Lynn’s assessment about perception and reality.
“When I first moved here, I was told never to let my kids go to Sankey Park,” Clegg said. “I have been in Sankey Park a million times in the last year, and a lot of the stuff people complain about aren’t there. I’ve walked up the creek, I’ve been in every aspect of that park.
“I think it’s that changing of perception plus opening it up. How do we change the perception. This is actually a really beautiful park. People have this perceived notion of what it is, and it’s not really that any more. There’s enough of us now that are going in and doing activities.”
Underwood asked Lynn about Northside Park. Lynn said Northside probably averages a call a month.
LaRoque said Northside has a lot of community buy-in. Residents hang out there, and they don’t “let a lot of stuff fly.”
Northside is more open, while Sankey Park is closer to the high school, with a lot of places to hide and ways for people to escape when police enter the park, said Geoff Hamlin, school resource officer.
Clegg said she didn’t want to get rid of all the trees, although she recognized a need to open up the park more. With salmon and steelhead potentially spawning in Ames Creek, which runs alongside the park, her group will work to stabilize the banks and prevent erosion.
“There are problems with having all those dark trees in there,” Clegg said. “If we can find a way to use those trees for other things, I think it would be better perceived than everybody thinking we’re just taking out a bunch of trees.”
The Youth Watershed Council might use wood from the park to help with bank stabilization, she said.
Public Works Director Mike Adams suggested rethinking the park’s function.
“What if we consider changing the type of park it is?” he asked. “To me, it looks and feels more like an arboretum, wetlands, wildlife, tree arboretum – more so than just a public park. I think if you have it as a different type of park, perhaps you could put different rules and regulations to it to control more of the regular ongoing access. Still allow it to be accessible by the public but more of a controlled environment. If you’re driving by, it looks and feels unkept.”
“I think that’s good point,” Lynn replied. “What’s the community want? Do they want an open space where families are going to come and have an open environment and that community feel? Really, this is a unique park in that it’s really central in our community.”
LaRoque said people are rediscovering that park through activities such as the movies in the park programduring the summer. She noted that part of the Strawberry planning process took place at Sankey Park.
“We’ve seen a lot of success with the activities we have had,” she said.
For more information about Sankey Park or to get involved, contact LaRoque at the city planning office, 1140 12th Ave., or call her at (541) 367-8113.