Willamalane spends last of 2012 bond money on Dorris Ranch improvements

New restrooms and a more visible entrance are under construction at Dorris Ranch, a popular Springfield park.

The dual projects began last month, said Kristina Koeing Boe of the Willamalane Park and Recreation District. Workers will install an overhead sign at Dorris Ranch's parking lot, build a cinder block restroom building with flush toilets, install a patio and spruce up landscaping around the park's barn.

The sign replaces a less noticeable placard that was destroyed in a late 2016 ice storm. The new western-style sign will be made of timber and span over the driveway into Dorris Ranch. Koeing Boe said it should be more visible than the previous sign.

Springfield and Eugene (upper left), Oregon, as seen from Mount Pisgah

"The neighbors were telling us that people were driving around the neighborhood, looking for the park," she said.

Cost of the projects is $500,000, with $400,000 slated for the restrooms and other barn improvements and $100,000 for the sign.

The park has a trailhead for the Middle Fork Path, a living history farm and trails. About 3,000 students a year visit the farm on field trips and learn about pioneer life from interpretive actors.

"It's almost like you enter a different world when you're out there," said Willamalane spokesperson Kelly Weigandt, noting that the park is only minutes from downtown Springfield.

The Dorris Park projects are the last funded by a $20 million bond passed by Springfield voters in 2012. The bond also paid for two turf fields, bocce ball courts and a new entry at Les Schwab Sports Park at Bob Keefer Center, a disc golf course at Clearwater Park, a new trailhead and trails at Thurston Hills Natural Area, as well as other projects.

Dorris Ranch, at 205 Dorris St., covers about 300 acres. Willamalane acquired the ranch in 1971 from the Dorris family that cultivated one of the earliest hazelnut groves on the West Coast. The ranch was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. A path at the park winds through the orchard.

The barn is a popular rental venue for weddings and other social gatherings, Koeing Boe said. Previously, the restrooms at the barn were pit toilets. The barn isn't available for rental until the end of September, when the projects will be finished.

Cedar siding will help the new restrooms blend in with the old barn, and the patio will fill the space between the barn and restrooms, she said. New landscaping will include hops, as a nod to agriculture heritage at the ranch beyond hazelnuts.

"They used to grow hops out at Dorris," Koeing Boe said.

Tribune Content Agency
Infrastructure Oregon
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