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Submitting Firm: Kittelson & Associates Inc.
Location: North Plains
Client/Owner: City of North Plains
Other Consultants/Key Participants: 3J Consulting, GRI, Otak
Firms Donating Time/Services: Aikens Electrical, Omega/Morgan, Subcom Excavation

For many years, North Plains Veterans Park remained just a dream of a group of citizens and veterans to honor those who sacrificed so much for their country. For small communities with constrained budgets, such projects often go unrealized because other priorities compete for scarce funds.

Tony Roos, principal engineer with Kittelson & Associates, is a U.S. Army veteran and former president of the Portland Post of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME). Though city leaders approached him only for a letter of support from SAME, Roos took on the entire site design pro bono and brought in four other design firms with ties to SAME and ACEC. In all, the design team contributed more than 800 hours to the project.

On Veterans Day 2020, residents and other supporters celebrated the park鈥檚 opening. Its centerpiece is a 100-foot flagpole that is visible from Highway 26 and is a new landmark for North Plains. The park鈥檚 features include commemorative plaques for each branch of the military and POWs; benches; a water fountain; the town鈥檚 first electric vehicle charging station; LED lights; a bike rack and repair station; and a pervious concrete parking lot that allows storm drainage to percolate down into the soil.

The design includes a brick paver patio surrounding the flagpole. Residents were invited to purchase personalized bricks to raise funds for the project. Though materials were delayed due to the pandemic, the project was completed on time with the final bricks placed the morning of the grand opening.

In addition to managing the project and providing civil engineering design, Kittelson & Associates did the illumination design, including flag uplighting, permitting and 3D visualization to support the brick paver fundraising effort to purchase materials needed to build the park.

Aikens Electrical donated time to construct the flagpole foundation, which is six feet in diameter and 12 feet deep. The prime contractor, Subcom, donated all trucking costs. Omega Morgan donated crane time to raise the flagpole.

The new park was built on property owned by the Galaway family, long-time North Plains residents, and Vern Galaway served in the 18th Marine Combat Engineers during World War II. The site borders Ghost Creek and required a sensitive area certification from Clean Water Services. The design minimized encroachment into the sensitive area and reseeded all disturbances. Thanks to the pervious concrete pavement used in the parking lot, no stormwater runoff flows directly into Ghost Creek, protecting the endangered turtle populations and the general habitat.

One giant oak tree had to be removed from the site to accommodate the parking lot and allow the wind to reach the flag. This tree was donated to a nearby veteran for firewood.
鈥淔rom the beginning of the project, Kittelson and the design team were working side by side with the City to develop this permanent tribute within our community,鈥� wrote Blake Boyles, North Plains public works director, in a letter supporting the project for ACEC recognition. 鈥淭hanks to our partnership with the Kittelson team, our dream for a Veterans Memorial Park has been realized.鈥�