Help Plan Path System at McKay Community Park; Morningside Plan at Commission

I've been remiss in mentioning this, but the City's been planning improvements to McKay Community Park, and there will be a meeting Wednesday, December 4, at 6:30 p.m. in McKay High School Commons to review the concepts.

McKay Park off Lancaster

Just off Lancaster and I-5, and placed between Silverton Road and Sunnyview, and in the no-man's land on the border of County and City, this is a challenging part of town for biking and walking connectivity.

Bike and Walk Salem shows a series of low-traffic connections along an east-west route midway between Silverton Road and Sunnyview. (It's not clear whether this is envisioned as continuous; two gaps are shown, plus there's the interstate.)

At any rate, with the school, a connection through the park is pretty important.

Bike and Walk Salem shows path through park
generally aligned on Beverly, but with odd breaks -
a low-traffic alternative would be useful
between Silverton and Sunnyview

Right now the City has four alternatives posted to the project page. There's a light on Lancaster at Beverly, and so a path connection is logical there, but Bike and Walk Salem shows the connection veering north at Carolina.  Alternative 1 and 2 have connections at Beverly, the others have connections only at Carolina.

Alternate 1 shows path connections at Beverly and Carolina

Those with local knowledge will best be able to say what is most important.  Just looking at the map, the connection at Beverly looks desirable - but if you live nearby, you'll know best.

Also:  High Quality Bike Parking.  The alternatives show over 100 surface car parking stalls.  How about we start making covered and secure bike parking standard at new parks?

So if you haven't contributed, speak up and let the City know what you think!

Planning Commission

At the Planning Commission tonight, December 3rd, is the Morningside Neighborhood Plan.

Draft Morningside Neighborhood Plan

Not sure there's anything significant to say about it at this time.  The plan is something of an incoherent wishlist, with competing visions and values jostling up against one another, listed and unreconciled. There's a ton of interpretive slack, and so it's all about how it gets interpreted in future decisions. It's potential energy. If you're interested, it'll be at the Planning Commmission with a recommendation to forward it to Council for adoption. (Here are some notes from earlier this summer.)