An old lifeboat, shown Dec. 3, 2023, remains part of the playground at North Albany County Park.
On my way somewhere else on Sunday, I made a detour to North Albany County Park to see if any of the upgrades planned in 2017 had been done.
I couldn’t see any, as you can tell from this video:
Not that this 21.5-acre park needs a lot of improvement to be enjoyed. It’s a welcome oasis of woodlands and open space.
Benton County established the park in 1970, I understand, when the location was in the middle of nowhere. Now the park is surrounded by hundreds of new houses in the burgeoning suburban subdivisions of North Albany.
In 2016 the county started getting the public involved in planning for the park’s enhancement, and the draft of a master plan came out in 2017. Presumably the draft was adopted. It’s still shown on the website of the county’s Department of Natural Areas and Parks.
The plan calls for things like a new playground and a walking path around the perimeter, along with a basketball half-court and a new restroom. It also proposed upgrades in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
As I said while walking around the place in the rain on Sunday, I’ll try to find out if the county has any timeline for making the changes it put in the plan six years ago. (hh)
Benton County’s most forgotten park. Too far North EAST?
I recall attending a county work session where they asked for community input.
yeah….. crickets since.
My husband and I attended a couple of those meetings too. I’ve followed up every year and told every year improvements are still being planned but unknown when and what they may be. As I understand it while this park is in the city limits it’s owned and maintained by Benton County. I was told this summer that until the bathroom is made ADA compliant no other changes/upgrades can happen. They said they hoped to have the funding to do in the 2024 fiscal year.
I called the parks dept two years ago about this sad playground. With all the housing construction nearby a new playground is needed!!
Meanwhile, the Periwinkle Bike Path is covered in garbage. With clouds of methamphetamine smoke wafting through the air. I get to listen to rabid screaming in the middle of the night. If I call the police, they claim that people aren’t allowed to break the laws there, but refuse to enforce them. So the screaming continues…
But yeah, let’s build the rich people a basketball court in their new neighborhood. That’s what CARA is for.
It’s North Albany…where our (high) taxes carry the city of Albany, but we get almost nothing for them. example: I think I saw an Albany Police car in our neighborhood once. In 19 years! No wonder some guy has parked his travel trailer on the street (Violet & Broadway) for many years…no police to enforce the laws! But wait…now they want to begin giving out photo tickets on NA Road…what happened to police cars? The BS in this town never ends!