Clark County’s next park to be located in Heritage Neighborhood
VANCOUVER — Work is scheduled to get underway later this month on Clark County’s next park.
Otto Brown Neighborhood Park will be built on a 7.9-acre property along the south side of Northeast 96th Street west of Northeast 162nd Avenue, in the Heritage neighborhood. It will be the 31st park in the Greater Clark Parks District, which primarily covers the urban unincorporated area outside the city of Vancouver.
Last month, Clark County awarded a contract for building the park to Catworks Construction of Battle Ground. Catworks submitted the low bid, $922,100, of 10 received.
The park will include a perimeter asphalt path, sports court, nature play area, play equipment, wood chip loop paths, picnic tables and benches. The park was designed with a natural theme that preserves the area’s vegetation and overall character.
The project will rebuild the southern half of Northeast 96th Street in front of the park with a sidewalk, curb and gutter and new asphalt. Following project completion, the existing barricade on Northeast 96th Street west of Northeast 160th Avenue will be removed.
Some preliminary utility work is underway at the site. Catworks expects to begin construction later this month. Construction should be complete and the park ready for public use in the fall.
The park is named after Otto Alexander Brown, who was born in the Hockinson area in 1878. Brown built a bicycle almost entirely of wood and rode it to Vancouver for the city’s Fourth of July festivities. A Vancouver bicycle shop owner was so impressed that he gave Brown a new bicycle in exchange for the wood one, which he displayed in his store window for years.
In 2010, neighbors asked that the park be named for Brown in recognition of making his own bicycle. Play equipment at the new park will feature a bicycle theme.
More information about Otto Brown Neighborhood Park is available on the county’s website, www.clark.wa.gov/public-works/otto-brown-neighborhood-park.
