Richland pictured pickleball, more parking at Leslie Groves Park. Neighbors said ‘No way’

Richland is rethinking plans for new parking, pickleball courts and other amenities at Leslie Groves Park under pressure from neighbors to keep the Columbia River waterfront as unspoiled as possible.

Joe Schiessl, deputy city manager, told the Tri-City Herald they’ve paused planning for the 149-acre park after neighbors told the Richland City Council this week that packing it with human-focused amenities would harm the community and imperil natural areas that support wildlife, including threatened butterflies.

Schiessl said the city heard loud and clear that it was on the wrong track and is rethinking its approach.

“There is no rush to develop a plan,” he said.

Open house rescheduled

A public open house that was supposed to precede the Nov. 9 parks commission meeting is canceled and a citizen survey on the city’s web page will be deactivated.

Schiessl said planners will return to the drawing board to revise graphics that currently show amenities such as an amphitheater, education center, bicycle maintenance stations, a boat launch and the aforementioned parking lots and pickleball courts in the park

Leslie Groves borders the Columbia between Van Giesen Street on the south and Snyder Street to the north.

A path along a levee connects it to Howard Amon Park to the south, behind Porter’s Real Barbecue.

Together, Leslie Groves, Howard Amon and linking trails offer the public almost uninterrupted access to the Columbia River in Richland.

Natural areas respected

Any future plan will likely abandon the ideas promoted in the original round.

Schiessl said the city appreciates that the northern and southern sections of Leslie Groves are best reserved for nature while the central section — already home to a swimming beach, volleyball court, parking lots, tennis courts and a boat launch — is best reserved for sports and recreation.

The original plan drew fire from a group of Richland residents who live near Leslie Groves Park. About 60 of them took their concerns to the city council at the Oct. 17 regular meeting.

The park wasn’t on the council’s agenda, but eight people shared their objections during the public comment section, when visitors can speak on any topic they wish.

Schiessl said it spoke volumes that citizens bypassed the usual process to tell the city what they thought. The city listened, he said.

Improvement objections

Quinn Smith, who led the neighbor group, praised some aspects. Improved signs, a bee-friendly pollinator garden and a landscape plan that would remove the invasive Russian olives that crowd the shoreline are welcome changes.

But his neighbors said other aspects of the proposed plans would damage their neighborhoods and weren’t the best use of valuable park space.

Laila Krowiak, a 30-year resident, encouraged the city not to add parking lots, saying it makes no sense to pave the park to try to manage demand during peak weekend hours.

“Free parking is an insatiable beast,” she said.

Diana Moeller, another neighbor, said a natural area in the southern section of the park is rich with milkweed, which provides habitat and nourishment for migrating monarch butterflies, now threatened with extinction. The milkweed area supports butterflies and 20 other species, she said.

The original plan envisioned a boat launch for kayaks and other nonmotorized watercraft could damage that, she said.

“We need to be the stewards.”

Renee Smith objected to adding pickleball courts.

The fast-growing sport is a notoriously bad neighbor thanks to the endless sound of “pickleball pop” — balls whacking paddles.

“There are better location choices than Les Groves Park,” she told the city council.

Schiessl said the city has plans to install pickleball courts at Badger South.

How it started

The Leslie Groves Park review began in 2022 when the parks department mowed a natural area in Leslie Groves. Mowing is fairly routine but the city had backed away from its three-times-a-year schedule and the area was more overgrown than normal.

Mowers inadvertently plowed through milkweed, drawing attention from wildlife enthusiasts who understand its importance to birds and butterflies, and from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Corps owns Leslie Groves and leases it to the city as a recreation amenity, similar to the arrangement for Columbia Park in Kennewick. The Corps does not own Howard Amon Park, another popular Richland waterfront park.

To watch the discussion at the Oct. 17 meeting go to bit.ly/3QoWMq7.

The public comment portion begins at about Minute 40.

Schiessl said the city will update the website dedicated to Leslie Groves Park planning, including graphics. Go to bit.ly/3tM05ie

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