Dayton Landing transfer would best serve public

For centuries on our nation’s Eastern Seaboard and Midwest Heartland, cities tended to treat rivers as gritty industrial alleyways out back instead of scenic recreational boulevards out front. And cities out on the Western Frontier followed suit for at least a century when their turn came.
Rivers did the dirty work of transporting not only the commodities turned out by mills, factories, canneries and slaughterhouses, but also the leftover waste, sewage, muck and pollutants. So better they remain out of sight, lest they offend cultural sensibilities.
In the last half-century or so, the tide has begun to turn.
Increasingly, communities big and small have begun to better appreciate the scenic, environmental, natural and recreational values of their waterways. In keeping with that, drives have been launched to clean them up, clear them off and provide crucial points of visual and physical access.
Against this backdrop, we move to applaud one small new step locally — agreement that ownership of the county’s nearly 60-year-old Dayton Landing County Park should be transferred to the city of Dayton, which Beth Wytoski championed relentlessly during her years as mayor.
We generally find dual-jurisdiction assets fare best in the hands of the jurisdiction for which that asset is most prized.
In the case of the county fairgrounds, that would be the county. But in the case of Dayton Landing, a river access lying wholly within city limits, that would be the city.
Dayton has long eyed replacement of the park’s nearly 70-year-old boat launch, which lapsed into a sad state of disrepair a couple of decades ago. And the state Marine Board seems open to providing the bulk of the funding.
Unlike the county, the city is also willing to enhance the project with new parking, lighting, picnicking and flush toilet amenities. To that end, it has already extended sewer lines to the launch site, originally known at LaBonte’s Landing.
The 1.4-acre site, bequeathed to the county by Publishers Paper, lies five miles upstream from the Willamette River at the confluence of the Yamhill River and Palmer Creek. It joins Newberg’s Rogers Landing in providing Willamette River access, which is in very short supply.
A footbridge crosses the water to connect Dayton Landing to Aldermann Park, and a trail goes on to connect Aldermann to the local elementary school. That serves to enhance the value of the site to members of the community, including its children.
The landing also holds historical value, as Dayton was a stop for steam-powered sternwheelers in their 1850s and ‘60s heyday, along with Champoeg, Butteville and even Lafayette, thanks to the Lafyette Locks. Regular runs were made from Portland and Oregon City.
All around the state, cities are now making moves of their own to better showcase long-neglected waterfronts. Portland moved a freeway to open up land for a park, Salem demolished a paper mill complex to the same end, and Newberg is several years into a major waterfront redevelopment effort.
On a regional level, the Yamhill Rivers Access Project has embarked on a campaign to enhance scenic and recreational values along 120 miles of waterway, encompassing the North, South and Main Stem Yamhill and two of its major feeder creeks, Mill and Willamina.
It has already held informational and public engagement meetings in McMinnville, Sheridan and Dayton, bringing together anglers, rafters, paddlers, bird watchers, wildlife enthusiasts and friends of the same.
Virtually every local community has yet untapped opportunity — Newberg and Dundee with the Willamette; Carlton and Yamhill with the North Yamhill; McMinnville, Sheridan, Willamina and Grand Ronde with the South Yamhill; Dayton and Lafayette with the Yamhill; and Amity with Ash Swale and Salt Creek. Various other creeks also come into play, including Mill, Willamina, Baker and Cozine.
Western Oregon is blessed with free-flowing water and the scenic greenery that comes with it. That water should be showcased, not hidden.
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