Three options proposed for East Main Park; public expresses concerns about traffic flow, safety and bike pump track

By Sydney Seymour, Ashland.news

Around 80 individuals — from neighbors who have lived in south Ashland for years to cyclists from Ashland DEVO, a youth mountain bike group — overflowed the chairs at Ashland Senior Center for an open house about East Main Park hosted by Ashland Parks & Recreation on Thursday evening, Aug. 14. 

Before the meeting started, attendees gathered around posters mapping the initial design of the 6.5-acre park on East Main Street just east of Clay Street, and two of the three options the city proposed to cut costs in light of the park going $500,000 over budget according to the latest estimate.  

In November 2024, the park’s total estimate exceeded $5 million — double the $2.5 million budget. The parks department divided the project into phases, starting with phase one: constructing a parking lot, dog park, paved pump track for cyclists, restrooms, and street improvements. 

Additional features, like a playground, community garden, sports court and even electric car charging stations, would have to wait for phases two and three.

In July, however, they determined the estimate for phase one had increased to $3 million from $2.5 million. 

To revise phase one to meet budget requirements, parks staff brainstormed three options for public feedback: either revise the project, move some elements from phase 1 to phase 2, or increase funding. 

Option one: revise the project

Ashland Parks & Recreation Director Rocky Houston proposed moving parking access from East Main Street to Abbott Avenue to lower street improvement costs by $750,000 to $1 million. 

While Abbott requires fewer street improvements, East Main would require constructing a “complete street” with sidewalks, bike lanes, and tree irrigation. However, city code may still require improvements on East Main regardless of if parking access is moved. 

The public immediately expressed concern about increased traffic and the safety of wide emergency vehicles on Abbott, a “narrow through road not designed for traffic.” One illegally parked car, for instance, could be detrimental, one member of the public said.

Some, however, preferred Abbott as a less expensive alternative on a slower, kid-friendly neighborhood road. One resident noted Abbott Avenue matched the width of the Perozzi Street entrance to the existing Ashland Dog Park and nearby BMX track, pushing back on painting Abbott as “this narrow little street.” 

“It’s an accident waiting to happen, if the park is coming off East Main. Even though Abbott is not a wide street, it’s not a 40-mile-an-hour zone,” another commenter said. 

Others suggested using the East Main entrance, but working with the city to reduce the posted speed limit to 20 or 25 mph. While it would be costly, some called for a bike lane and a left turn lane for safety’s sake. One parent favored this to help her kids safely bike or walk to the middle school.

Option two: scope reductions  

The second cost-cutting option presented was using porta-porties instead of building restrooms in phase one, saving $200,000 to $350,000, and delays the parking lot to phase two, saving about the same. But removing elements tied to the state grant may risk losing that portion of funding. 

While the majority of the public agreed that it didn’t make sense to take out community assets and lose funding, a few thought it was important to reduce the scope of phase one. One commenter suggested taking out the restrooms and porta-potties entirely. 

Ashland resident Barb Magee suggested scaling back in multiple ways, including removing what takes up 55% of the grant budget: the pump track. This could risk losing support and funding from Rogue Valley Mountain Bike Association, which currently plans to help pay for the track. 

“We need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that this is a neighborhood park,” Magee said. “Because of the complexity of services and activities at that park, it’s no longer and wasn’t as soon as the idea of the pump track and skills park was added. If we really want a neighborhood park, make a neighborhood park, not a city park.” 

Sharing that sentiment, another speaker who said her name is Susan and she lives on Clay Street, said, “I am 84, and I just want a peaceful park.” 

A few parents in the audience, including those associated with DEVO, pushed for keeping the pump track, explaining their young children don’t bike in the hills because of the steep slopes around the Ashland watershed or on the BMX track near the sewage plant because of the smell. 

A Medford resident with a “heart for BMX,” Brian Samhammer has volunteered more than 300 hours maintaining the dirt bike tracks by the Ashland Wastewater Treatment Plant. He said, “To watch families with their little kids all the way through adults that enjoy the park is so amazing. But I am pretty close to the point where I’m not able to maintain it.” 

He explained that a paved, permanent surface, like with the pump track planned for East Main park, would be a long-term solution for a beginner-friendly cycling area for Ashland. 

A handful of moms with Ashland DEVO lauded Samhammer’s work and reinforced his statement. One emphasized the importance of a community “where our kids and our teens have something to do that’s healthy and active.” 

Tyler Rogers, a 17-year-old DEVO coach for kindergarteners and first graders, was met with applause and cheers when he said, “This whole town is fueled not just by biking, but by parks. … We want this to serve as many people as possible. Our population is shrinking, and we want more people to come here and want to live here.” 

“It’s really frustrating as a young person because these are places that I want to use, but everyone else doesn’t want to use them because they’re too old to understand,” Rogers continued, this time drawing a series of boos.  

Option three: increase funding 

The third option Houston proposed was to keep the plan as-is, but increase funding by cancelling or delaying some other current project in the Parks & Rec budget. Houston said the first projects to get delayed could be phase two of East Main Park and another playground restoration project. 

City councilor Eric Hansen introduced a fourth option: increased funding by taking a loan out of the park department’s food and beverage tax revenue. 

The $2.5 million East Main Park budget is mostly paid for by a $1 million dollar state grant and matching funds mainly from food and beverage tax revenue designated for capital/development projects. In this case, the parks department would “give up” future food and beverage tax revenue over a period of time in exchange for the city loaning from other current department funds like electric or streets. This option, however, might not produce enough funds, Houston explained. 

Councilor Hansen also added East Main Park would be the last park to fulfill a decades-old city goal to have a park within, he said, a half-mile of every Ashland resident (available sources cite the goal as within a quarter-mile of residents).  

“This completes that puzzle,” he said. “It’s too bad we didn’t build this park two or three years ago when it was a lot cheaper, but we need to get off our butts and do more before we miss the boat. Let’s invest in some future development and help the neighborhood out. South Ashland needs some more love.” 

Considering the $500,000 increase from $2.5 to $3 million “simply for phase one,” one commenter asked for an updated cost for the entire project. Houston said he anticipates an increase. 

“Back in 2019,” a supporter of increased funding said, “the community came together and this original plan was the majority of what people could agree on — changing it up throws away all of that work.” 

Taking it a step further, a father of a young daughter told those opposed to increased funding for the park to “go move somewhere else.” Among the noise, someone in the audience described this as an “attack.”

Moving forward

Councilor Dylan Bloom said, “I think there is a solution to go forward that doesn’t involve increasing the amount of money that is needed and keeping (vehicular access) on East Main and not going to Abbott.” 

Houston, noting “there’s no easy answer on any one of these solutions,” invited attendees to take his card and email him any suggestions, comments and concerns by Thursday, Aug. 21 ([email protected], include East Main Park in the subject line). 

City Parks & recreation staff will use comments from the meeting and emailed comments to help them present a plan to park commissioners at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, when the commission is expected to make a decision on how to address cost overruns. 

Email Ashland.news Snowden intern Sydney Seymour at [email protected].

Related stories:

Parks director: ‘Regardless of the outcome, it’s going to be painful’ (April 12, 2025)

Ashland Parks & Recreation: ‘Sort of our best case scenario wishlist’ (Nov. 15, 2024)

$1M grant awarded for long-awaited East Main Park (Sept. 27, 2024)