Master Plan

Master Plan for the Eastern Promenade (click to enlarge)

The Eastern Promenade Master Plan was created in 2004 by the Walter Kluesing Design Group for the Portland Department of Parks and Recreation. Friends of the Eastern Promenade is currently working to prioritize parts of the plan for implementation.

Eastern Promenade Master Plan Summary

Partnerships formed between municipalities and local constituency groups like neighborhood associations, historical societies and friends groups can be beneficial for historic parks. These relationships are essential for site management and successful fund raising. Local constituency groups are effectively the eyes and ears for these resources, providing oversight and watchdog functions. Local constituency groups also provide support for grant writing activities. Incorporation as nonprofit entities would enable them to receive funds from charitable foundations, corporations and individuals.

Constituency group and volunteer efforts could be directed toward developing strategies and efforts to preserve and improve this park including inventories, cleanups, plantings, watering of newly planted trees, public education, interpretation, special events, the development of visitor brochures and guided walks to increase public awareness.

Trash receptacles should be provided to satisfy public expectations even though none have been seen in historic images of the park.

Landscape Character

The landscape character that was envisioned by the Olmsted firm and others should be restored as much as possible with the removal of volunteer and invasive growth. The evergreen tree plantings at Fort Allen should be incrementally removed to restore views to the bay from Eastern Promenade. Supplemental planting consisting primarily of evergreen trees should be provided to screen out the water treatment plant and the condominium building adjacent to Fort Allen, visually separating these incompatible elements from the park experience.

Walks

Repair the existing walk system where necessary and replace appropriate historic missing paths.

Expand the hillside walk system and improve cross connections between the upper and lower park. Create pedestrian links to the Eastern Promenade Trail from Fort Allen and the Loring Memorial.

In 1933 the Civil War cannons were remounted on new gun carriages. These white painted wood carriages are decaying and need replacement. Replace the gun carriages. Aluminum has been suggested for long term maintenance reasons. It should be verified that this material is suitable for an oceanfront location and the two metals (iron and aluminum) should be separated.

Fort Allen Fence

Because this decorative fence is not a historic fence, it should ultimately be replaced with a fence of appropriate height and picket spacing for today’s safety standards.

Vegetative management on the steep slopes and additional lighting in the park is recommended to improve overall visibility, increase the perception of safety, help facilitate observation by police

Volunteer Growth and Invasive Vegetation

The presence of invasive vegetation along steep slopes within all four zones inhibits easy removal. Consequently, it is first recommended that an experimental management/removal program be established which can later determine appropriate procedures for dealing with invasive plant material.

This may be done through trial plots located on two types of slope. Plots located on slopes 4:1 and less would be effective for determining the most efficient method of invasive plant removal.

Plots located on a gradient between 4:1 and 2:1 would aid in establishing long term management strategies to control growth of invasive material while protecting sensitive slopes.

Benches: Provide more benches throughout the park, particularly in relation to Fort Allen.

Consideration should be given to selecting a citywide style of bench for Portland’s historic parks to ease long term maintenance requirements for the city. The continued, but limited, use of backless granite benches is encouraged as a style for memorial benches that are placed in isolated locations.

Off Leash Dogs: Maintain current off leash areas. Continue to enforce leash and scooping laws.

Middle Cutter Street lot: Expand the middle Cutter Street lot to better accommodate parking during winter snow emergencies. The expanded area could be used as a separate lay down area for commercial boat ramp use until the ramp is relocated outside the park. Upper Cutter Street lot: After the commercial boat ramp is moved out of the park, reevaluate parking needs in the area. If deemed feasible, eliminate the upper Cutter Street lot and convert it to lawn for picnic and other passive use.

Much of the vegetation shown in the historic plans does not exist today. This may be because some of the proposed plantings may never have been installed, trees have been lost over time and not replaced, shrubs have been lost or removed due to the lack of the city’s capacity to maintain them, as well as conflicts in their locations with the activities of children. Plantings over the past 30 years have been done without consideration of the impact on overall effect that was planned or desired.

Ongoing Considerations

Infill and replacement program for the trees along Eastern Promenade.

Immediate Considerations

Ongoing vegetation management including the development of demonstration areas to test invasive plant material eradication techniques.

Knotweed [Polygonum cuspidatum]

Controlled Management: Repeated cutting during the growing season has proven effective for controlled management. At least three cuts are needed in a growing season to offset rhizome production. All plant parts should be disposed of in an appropriate manner to prevent reestablishment

Objectives

To take advantage of the views and vistas in the park. To restore the relationship between scenery, service and circulation while creating a clear separation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic where possible.

To enhance the scenic opportunities in the park as seen from the streets.

To reestablish the interconnected network of pedestrian circulation systems based upon the principles established in the Olmsted firm

Objectives

To meet current accessibility standards while restoring historic image.

Recommendations

Making Eastern Promenade [path surfaces and facilities] universally accessible is required for compliance with state and federal regulations.

This can and should be done without the loss of green open space. Provide accessible crosswalks at intersections with Eastern Promenade. Make the playground accessible. Insure that the 1812 burial ground and Cleeves and Tucker Memorial is universally accessible

The beach still requires periodic importation of sand.

Objectives

To enhance passive recreation opportunities by providing more open lawn areas and walking paths offering easier access to various areas of the park.

To recreate the historic landscape as much as possible without compromising today’s recreation needs.

To separate conflicting facilities, and relocate and remove inappropriate facilities from sensitive areas.

To relocate or remove inappropriate facilities from sensitive areas.

To maintain, but not expand, active recreation facilities.