To see more maps and renderings, visit: http://tinyurl.com/pdnlincoln.
PORT ANGELES — A transformed Lincoln Park could include ribbons of bicycle and walking trails, reshaped and airport-friendly ponds that birds would be less attracted to than those in place now, water-filtrating wetlands and an orchard, according to a proposed master plan for the park.
The number of trees proposed to be removed from the 147-acre park — because of disease or because they hamper pilots’ runway approaches to adjacent William R. Fairchild International Airport — won’t be known until mid-May.
That’s the date the approximately $150,000 Port of Port Angeles-funded plan will be more fully developed, landscape architect and plan author Juliet Vong said Wednesday night.
Vong presented the draft master plan during a 35-minute PowerPoint presentation to more than 60 people in the Port Angeles City Council chambers at an open house in City Hall.
The port is proposing that most of the trees in the park, which is owned by the city of Port Angeles, be removed in 2013 or 2014 to maintain a safe landing approach for a runway at the airport, which is owned by the port.
The Federal Aviation Administration has said some trees that have grown into the flight path must come down to maintain the current landing approach for runway 26.
Since the trees are in a city park, on city property, the city has the final say on what happens to the park.
Some residents have objected to the removal of trees at Lincoln Park.
Options for dealing with tree removal will be part of a final draft plan that will be presented at another open house, also in the council chambers, at 6 p.m. May 16.
“We want to be able to come to the council with options on how to address tree removal,” Vong said.
A final plan will be presented to the city Parks, Recreation and Beautification Commission, which will make a recommendation to the City Council.
Vong said Thursday that putting together a park master plan presents particular challenges when the park sits next to an airport.
“It’s definitely one of the more challenging aspects of designing a park system,” she said.
The park was dedicated for public use in 1904, while the airport opened in 1933 and now can handle up to a Boeing 737.
“Traditionally, you want open spaces that attract wildlife,” Vong said.
“Being next to an airport, you need to try to provide a natural experience to users of the park, but you need to do it in a way that reduces the attractiveness to wildlife.”
According to the draft plan, a BMX track, the fairgrounds and the existing ballfields would stay put, and a dog park would still be built later this year.
Here are some features of the draft plan, which Vong said were included in the report in response to public meetings, a Web survey of citizens and the need to accommodate airport activity:
■ A three-trail system with a primary trail for walking and biking that would encircle the park, a mountain-bike trail that would offer various degrees of technical difficulty and a trail solely for walkers.
■ Two fishing ponds that would be reshaped into less round configurations so they look smaller to passing birds, and a wetland would be expanded, which could bring grant funding to the city, Vong said.
A boardwalk would be built over the wetland.
“We want the trail system to be integrated into the different components of the park,” Vong said Thursday.
■ Parking areas that would more than double in size.
■ At least two playground areas.
■ A new concession stand that would be relocated to an area more central to the ballfields.
■ Two restroom facilities.
■ A new clubhouse.
■ A local food garden, a nature art walk, a plant identification area and signage explaining the importance of wetlands, and an education-meeting area.
■ Four wayfinding stations.
■ Trees that would provide a canopy but not one thick enough to attract wildlife.
■ A non-berry-bearing orchard or, Vong said, a grove of hazelnut or other kinds of trees.
There was no formal question-and-answer session, but Vong answered questions from meeting participants who reviewed draft master plan drawings and photos that were set up in the City Hall hallway.
Dave Taylor of Sequim, a member of Transition Port Angeles, which promotes locally grown food and the concept of sustainability, said he liked the orchard part of the proposed park’s makeover.
“It’s a good plan and meets a variety of needs,” said Taylor, a retired engineer.
Roger Hoffman of Port Angeles, an Olympic National Park mapping specialist, said the plan that was presented had “a little more PA, less Seattle design.”
Vong had said during the meeting that a suggested botanical garden in the park “was too formal, too Seattle.”
But Taylor and Hoffman had the same concerns about the plan, and they centered around money.
“Hopefully, they will have the funding to do it all,” Hoffman said.
Vong said cost estimates for the project will be presented at the May 16 meeting.
Port of Port Angeles Commissioner Jim Hallett said the port “has gone on record saying they will commit funding” for the bulk of the project through the FAA.
“The [port] commission and the City Council will decide to accept or modify the design, then decide what the funding is on this,” he said later.
“We all have to get busy.”
Hallett said the harvesting of trees at the park could begin some time in 2013 and that major portions of the park could be reshaped by 2015.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
