Harmony/Three Creeks Park (Northern Clackamas County)

[Adam Schneider]

Some of you may know that I've been hassling the planning folks at Clackamas County for a couple of years now, wondering about the possibility of a disc golf course in a small part of the 100-acre swath of undeveloped land between SE 82nd Ave., Harmony Road, and Hwy. 224, just east of Milwaukie. (map) (http://www.oregondiscgolf.com/map.html?center=Harmony&zoom=14)

There's still no real news one way or the other, but here's the latest e-mail from Michelle Healy, Senior Planner for the North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District:

We are slow, but working. Right now we are going out and
talking to different groups about the vision process. We're planning to
have our first public meeting at the end of Feb. One of the ideas that
we will include in the public discussion is a disc golf course. :-)

That is it at the moment, but I will definitely let you know about the
meetings.


So, end of February (maybe?)... mark your calendars, we need a big turnout from local DGers. Ideally ones from Clackamas County, and even better if they've got cute disc golfing kids in tow. :)

Once they get a firm date for a public meeting, we ought to hash over some talking points for those who plan to attend. (One of my favorites is that for us Southeasterners, it's much more environmentally friendly to be able to play at a course close to town, as opposed to driving 20 miles away; they've been very big on sustainability in their "visioning" process.)

[jevon]

As a new resident/homeowner in SE Portland I will do my best to attend. I'm not in Clackamas but I feel pretty darn close! Make sure to add the point that it will draw people from other counties, to spend money at surrounding businesses of course.

[Adam Schneider]

I honestly wonder whether "drawing people from other counties" is seen as a good or bad thing for a County Park like this. (There could potentially be a sense of "our taxes are paying for this and most of the people using it came down from Multnomah?!") I think we may as well be honest and say yes, it WILL draw tons of people from SE Portland, and let them take from that fact whatever they want.

[LJ Jubner]

One thing to remember about Counties is most of the time they are thinking 2-3 years out (planning ahead) So don't be discouraged by the seemingly lack of movement. They will eventually do get around to it.

So have you pitched it yet or still talking about talking about getting together. We have a successful presentation that was givin to the Everett P/R if you are interested. One thing I can tell you is Hard,color copies of your presentation is key to your success.

I know this sounds dumb but don't be too anxious to get this done by going in on a shoestring and then offering to do the work for free.

It's easy to say no and hard (but not impossable) to get them to say yes.

[Adam Schneider]

Just got an e-mail from someone at a landscape architecture firm:

Michelle Healy from NCPRD gave me your name and email to see if disc golf is something we could accommodate at the Harmony Park site. We currently working with her on a master plan for the area. I'd like to give you a call to see what the requirements would be.


Let's not get our hopes up, but this certainly can't be BAD news... :)

[all2common]

Nice, Adam. Way to stay abreast of this project.

[Adam Schneider]

I just had a good talk with the landscape architect. She said the county is very much leaning toward including disc golf in the master plan, because (a) it's a way to include some recreational amenities without nearly the amount of infrastructure and maintenance that would be required by ball fields, basketball courts, etc; and (b) it would potentially get people moving through corners of the park that wouldn't otherwise have any eyes on them.

Anyway, she's going to keep me posted, and she might invite me down to their office to look at their maps and such. If things look promising for disc golf, we might even walk through a local course or two.


Again, fingers crossed, but I'm hopeful. As always, I think any serious objections are going to come not from the planners but from people who think "low-impact" isn't good enough and want to see ZERO changes to the natural environment.

[Wog]

I'd be glad to hook them up with the Vancouver/Clark County Parks Dept. people if they want to talk/walk at Leverich.

[Adam Schneider]

I thought about Leverich, but I'm hoping to show them one that's got more wooded holes, if it comes to that. Still, it's a good example because of the clearing-out-the-transients issue. Can you PM me the name and e-mail/phone of your contact at Vancouver/Clark?

[jevon]

I thought about Leverich, but I'm hoping to show them one that's got more wooded holes, if it comes to that. Still, it's a good example because of the clearing-out-the-transients issue. Can you PM me the name and e-mail/phone of your contact at Vancouver/Clark?

The more wooded holes, the better. Especially if that's the only way to get into those "obscure" corners of the park. Disc golfers, fighting crime one hole at a time!!!

[Adam Schneider]

I'm hoping for wooded holes, but I think it's going to be all about environmental politics. It's mostly hardwood deciduous forest down there, with VERY heavy undergrowth consisting mainly of small trees. If it turns out that a lot of that stuff is invasive or problematic species, we're in good shape; if we have to work with only the paths that are already there, it'll be very limited.

By the way, she mentioned that there may the possibility of having some holes that are year-round, with an expanded area that's closed during the swampier months.

[PDXDuck]

I'm hoping for wooded holes, but I think it's going to be all about environmental politics. It's mostly hardwood deciduous forest down there, with VERY heavy undergrowth consisting mainly of small trees. If it turns out that a lot of that stuff is invasive or problematic species, we're in good shape; if we have to work with only the paths that are already there, it'll be very limited.

By the way, she mentioned that there may the possibility of having some holes that are year-round, with an expanded area that's closed during the swampier months.

Just came across this topic from what started on ODSA, glad to hear there was some progress and you were able to talk someone directly involved in the project as far as utilizing the space goes.

Even just 9 permanent holes with another 9 open when during the dry months would be fine by me. Obviously the more open year round, the better.

I don't have any hukking children, but I will certainly show up to whatever meetings are held and participate in any way I can in order to put this course in my backyard.

I am envisioning the impact to the environment being a major sticking point.

[Neubauem]

It is great to hear that there is potentially going to be a DG course at the 3 creeks site. I didn't see where anyone mentioned the course at Pier Park. This would be a great way to show what the course would look like and how many people get visit the park since it has the same sort of atmosphere....

[Caped Crusader]

I just recently (two weeks ago) tried this and had a blast. Since I live about 5 blocks from this park, I am very curious what the current status of it might be. Has anyone heard anything new?

[puttmin]

I just recently walked this whole park, they were out there spraying blackberries at the time. Having daily discgolf flow through this park would really alleviate the nasty trashpiles left behind from long term squatting out there. Some spots were really trenched in there for the long haul... There was some pretty big messes to clean up.
The impact of discgolf would take out very little understory and a few lanes in the woods, but this is actually an investment in keeping out the nasty environmentally taxing dumps left out there. A discgolf course here would have a very positive role, which would then bring in more hikers, nature lovers, and trailriding. Its a beautiful place, with exellent recreational opportunities.
Good course planning would minimize vegetative disturbance, offer an exceptional, challenging course, and elevate the health of this property overall.