Silverton residents will have an opportunity on Tuesday, Dec. 5, to chime in on a new parks and recreation master plan.
The city is hosting an open house on the plan from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Silverton Senior Center, 115 Westfield St.
A city advisory committee has been working on the new plan and will be taking feedback and answering questions during the open house.
A number of new options for park properties and new amenities already have been discussed, including a trail system at Pettit Lake, the possibility of park uses at the new Civic Center as well as a 40-acre site off of Ike Mooney Road.
Mayor Jason Freilinger told Our Town that the city does have a healthy amount of Parks & Recreation Capital Project funds, which have accumulated as part of the parks system development charges program.
“What the city lacks,” he said, “is funding for maintaining more parks. That is why as we (work on) the parks and recreation plan, we are constantly talking about the cost of maintenance and trying to focus on low-maintenance projects and/or forming partnerships with various groups to maintain the parks.”
Freilinger noted that a disc golf group and mountain bike backers are tentatively partnering with the city on the Ike Mooney site. Salem Trails Alliance is working with Silverton on the Pettit Lake project. The pickleball community is expressing a desire to participate on the various pickleball court proposals.
– James Day
