Nearly every seat was taken in the Keizer Event Center on Monday as Keizer residents shared opinions and concerns with the city on the possibility of adding a pavilion to Keizer Rapids Park.
Plans for the proposed facility remain largely unformed, with location, size and design undetermined.
The decision for the city at the moment is whether to add a pavilion to the park’s master plan. Consultant Ryan Mottau emphasized during the Monday, Feb. 23, meeting that including a pavilion in the master plan does not mean it must be built. Oregon law prevents one from being built if it is not included in the master plan.
“This is an exercise to collect some information to inform a potential decision about do we want to include a new and different kind of facility in that master plan document?” Monttau said. “That does not mean there is a plan to build a thing.”
City Manager Adam Brown previously told the West Keizer Neighborhood Association that a pavilion was considered for the park’s original 2006 master plan, but was dropped. The idea was reintroduced by the Keizer Chamber of Commerce in recent years as a way to avoid the annual $20,000 cost of renting a tent for KeizerFEST.
The council agreed to move forward with early research into the project in 2024, and Brown told Keizertimes the city has been using a $60,000 grant from Marion County to consider adding the pavilion to the park’s master plan.
Located along the east bank of the Willamette River in Keizer, the 148-acre city park opened in 2007. Over time, the park has grown with trails, soccer fields, pickleball courts, a dog park and the Big Toy.
Some of those attending said details like size, location and planned uses would factor into their support, and expressed concerns over the impact of the parks’ flood zone on a potential facility.
Those who spoke against a pavilion cited concerns over loss of nature in the park with the addition of a building, as well as pavement for parking.
“It’s really a special place that we have, this area where you can be outside in nature, right in town, and we should keep it that way,” one speaker said, adding that she uses the park each morning.
Cathey Philbrick, who said she uses the park regularly, believed the park’s natural area is important for those who live in apartments.
“If you have a whole array of families that were going regularly to the park, they want every bit of green space they have,” Philbrick said.
Some attendees said that the pavilion should remain accessible to the public if one is added.
David Philbrick, husband of Cathey, said he uses the park regularly. He said he would prefer not to add a pavilion to maintain the park’s natural state. While he has “no trouble” with the shelters at Claggett Creek Park, which are generally open to the public but can be reserved for a fee, he spoke against a facility that would be primarily used “as a revenue source, that is largely by reservation and fee.”
“Those things which are basically by fee and reservation and are locked, that’s basically reducing the public space that’s available to the community as a whole,” David said. “And Keizer Rapids is too special to kind of whittle away.”
Rhonda Rich, president of the West Keizer Neighborhood Association, noted that her organization has held discussions on the topic with local residents. She suggested locating the pavilion closer to Chemawa Road, leaving open space southern half of the park, if one is built. She agreed that it should be easily accessible to the public.
“With an indoor facility, yes it would be reservable by the public and teams and such, but it’s not the same,” Rich said.
Former City Councilors Jim Taylor and Richard Walsh, who gave background into the park’s original master plan, said community feedback at the time indicated a need in Keizer for a location to host events.
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