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Portland officials are considering a sweeping, $46 million, 20-year renovation of Washington Park that would limit motor vehicle access while making improvements across the park.

Home to the Oregon Zoo, the Portland Japanese Garden and the International Rose Test Garden, Washington Park ranks as one of Portland’s largest and most-visited parks. It has not seen a significant park-wide overhaul since the early 1980s, although both the zoo and the Japanese Garden have received major upgrades since then.

Portland Parks & Recreation last week released a 106-page draft master plan that contemplates major changes for Washington Park.

Projects include:

• Revitalizing the Stearns Canyon gateway along Burnside Street by removing vegetation, relocating the Stearns Memorial Fountain and building a more attractive stop for buses and an autonomous shuttle.
• Creating a 鈥済arden plaza鈥� near the MAX stop. A new linear garden would link the existing plaza, the Oregon Zoo and the World Forestry Center.

鈥淵ou could walk directly to the zoo without crossing a lane of traffic,鈥� said Emily Roth, senior project manager for Portland Parks & Recreation.

• Closing Rose Garden Way to vehicles and bicycles. Tennis courts would be moved, clearing space for new gardens, including a water garden and a glass-house conservatory that would hold an indoor garden. Parking at the entrance to the garden would be replaced with seasonal food carts and an outdoor promenade. The existing archery range would be retained.
• Renovating the unused train depot building into a caf茅. Some trees would be thinned or pruned to open up views of Mount St. Helens, Mount Hood and downtown Portland.

Parks & Recreation officials said the changes would happen gradually in a two-decade period. The upgrades would be financed by Washington Park’s parking operations, which bring in about $3 million annually.

Parks & Recreation is accepting public comments on the draft master plan through Nov. 30. Staffers are expected to then finalize the master plan in early January. A presentation to the City Council would follow in February, and then a final decision would be made by Parks & Recreation Director Mike Abbat茅.

Perhaps most controversially, the draft master plan resists calls for more parking. Washington Park has 1,400 parking spaces.

鈥淓ven as our population grows, we are not going to make more parking in the park,鈥� Roth said.

Both Oregon Zoo and Japanese Garden officials requested additional parking, Roth acknowledged. Japanese Garden officials also asked for administrative offices, which Roth said cannot be built inside the park.

Parks & Recreation staffers are examining the feasibility of building a parking garage in the Sylvan area in a public-private partnership. Any parking garage would be built outside the park’s boundaries, Roth said.

鈥淲e have found we would not be spending public money on building a parking garage, because it is very expensive to build and very expensive to run,鈥� she said.

Zoo officials are looking at other options to improve parking, including reconfiguring the existing lots to improve capacity and traffic flow.

鈥淲e think this is an important step and should be done as soon as feasible,鈥� Oregon Zoo Director Don Moore stated in an email.

The master plan is based on recommendations from a high-level committee that included neighbors, architecture and development professionals, and Multnomah County and Metro representatives. The so-called 鈥淐hampion Committee鈥� members have agreed to advocate for the master plan for its duration, said Elizabeth Kennedy-Wong, community engagement manager for Parks & Recreation.

Place Studio served as the master plan’s lead design consultant and engaged several subcontractors.