The city of Ukiah is hosting a picnic Saturday at the site of a proposed new park at the east end of Norgard Lane.
According to the staff report prepared for the July 8 meeting of the city’s Public Space Commission, the picnic will be held at the park site, located at the east end of Norgard Lane, from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“There is a property at the end of Norgard Lane that the city owns that could be turned into a park,” Community Services Director Neil Davis told the Public Spaces commission earlier this year describing the parcel as technically outside the city limits currently, but “within an area that the city likely will annex.”
Most of the surrounding property that the city also owns will be used for activities connected to the nearby Waste Water Treatment Facility, Davis continued, “but there is quite a few acres there, about 2.5 of which that could be made into a park, and there is also room along the Russian River to the south for us to put in a trail that would go down to the east side of the river.”
Another possibility Davis said was that the trail going south along the river could connect to a larger park at the bottom, “so we could theoretically have a 2.5-acre park (at the top) with a trail connecting it to another 12-acre park (at the other end).”
“Right now, we have a lot of bird enthusiasts who come through that area to do bird-watching,” said Davis, noting that it has become so popular with local birders that they call it “the Ukiah Wetlands.” He also acknowledged that the “team that manages the WWTF isn’t super crazy about people coming through the area to access (the wetlands), so we realized that there is a gravel road that comes around the side, and we think we can put in a little parking lot that would allow people” better access to the area, and might even expand the hours that they could look for birds.
When asked how residents in the area felt about the plan so far, Davis said that he had “primarily heard positive feedback, but we haven’t done outreach (to the extent) that would allow me to say” definitively whether or not the community is in favor of having a park there.
Heading toward the river from the barn, Davis said there is already a path to the water, and the spots there include a swimming hole, adding that “a lot of us floated down the river from Riverside Park last summer, and it was super pleasant.”
After his presentation, most people addressing the commission either online or in-person said they were enthusiastic about having another park, particularly one with river access, but that they did have concerns about how much parking would be created, and one nearby resident pointed out the current access road was quite narrow, and that having a lot of people visiting the area could create safety issues.
“The road is really narrow, so that is definitely a challenge,” Davis said, adding again that while it is currently a “county-maintained road, the city is hoping to annex that area. And again, this is all first steps, so this is exactly the kind of thing we need to hear about, especially from people who live in the area.”
For those who cannot attend the picnic, a survey can be filled out online: www.surveymonkey.com/r/PX97LQC
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