Public weighs in on white-water park plan
Spokesman Review
Carley Dryden
August 15, 2008
While Spokane has an abundance of natural rapids, it’s on its way to providing adventure-hungry residents some artificial white water as well.
The city Parks Department and Friends of the Falls gave the public a chance on Thursday to comment on a proposed white-water park near the Sandifur Bridge.
The park is one of 15 priorities identified in the Great Spokane River Gorge strategic master plan, an idea first proposed by the Olmsted Brothers, noted landscape designers, in 1908. They envisioned a “Great Gorge” greenbelt stretching from downtown to Fort George Wright with connecting neighborhood parks. Friends of the Falls revived the idea through a revised master plan in 2005.
Steve Faust, Friends of the Falls’ executive director, said the plan aims to bring more people to the gorge area, which is little used and used inappropriately. Nearly $1.2 million in donations and grants has been collected for the project so far.
The white-water features of the park – including U-shaped arrangements of native boulders that would create drops, waves and pools – would be created below an existing paved trail that crosses the river near the confluence at Hangman Creek.
Historic concrete pillars, the remains of the Union Pacific Railroad’s “high bridge” trestle, will be removed, as will two nearby willow trees.
Mike Harvey, project manager for Recreation Engineering and Planning, made clear that, as evidenced by the 60 white-water parks in the United States, these facilities are not just for kayakers or rafters. The area will be a community gathering place.
“Any and all sorts of crafts will be in the water,” he said.
One resident, a new kayaker, worried about boating safety.
“Is there somewhere to get out or will I have to get out at Riverside State Park?”
Harvey said the park will be open to people of all capabilities.
“People with skills just above driftwood can make it back up the river,” he said.
Harvey said the artificial white water should not negatively affect the river’s natural flow, the spawning activities of the native fish population or the area’s natural look.
Many residents were not convinced.
Some Peaceful Valley residents voiced concern that the influx of visitors would add to neighborhood parking woes and that the stone construction would take away from the natural feel of the area. Although the park will not encompass the full width of the river as initially proposed because of concerns for the fish population, a representative of Trout Unlimited said the lack of exhaustive studies has him worried the redband trout might have to “bear the potential risk of this project.” Chase Davis, who lives by the river, is feeling “shell-shocked” by the plans for this park and Kendall Yards, a mixed-use urban redevelopment project, both near his home. Davis said he wasn’t notified of Thursday’s meeting until a neighbor mentioned it.
“I don’t want it to be done the Spokane way – ‘Here it is’ – I want it be done the right way,” he said.
The park is still in the preliminary design phase. The project needs at least six permits before the plan can go forward. Thursday’s public meeting satisfied the first step of the conditional use permit for shoreline development.
Davis said hopefully the project’s design and implementation still has a long way to go.
“I think there’s a lot of room for improvement on these initial design plans,” he said.
“I’m not convinced after this meeting that they’re committed to doing it to the best of their ability or to the standards that the Spokane River deserves.”
He suggested that the city overlooked several details, such as lowering the speed limit around the park and paving the last portion of the nearby Centennial Trail.
“I think they’ve done a great job conceptually,” Davis said. “I remain hopeful that they will go back and solve a lot of concerns they heard at this hearing tonight.”