If you live in Newport or pay frequent visits to James Taylor Park, you may have noticed some changes recently.
In the Newport Community Discussion group on Facebook, speculation has ensued on what exactly is going on with things like trees and shrubs being ripped out along the riverbank. According to Newport Parks and Recreation Director Doug Roell, many of the rumors, such as tearing out trees to be replaced with concrete or that the park is being demolished, are untrue.
“Trees were removed from the park and some overgrowth through there, but there were a ton of trees that were diseased and dying,” Roell said. “There is a plan, but it’s not been finalized. It’s in the drawing stages for that area through there. There’s one or two people on Facebook that are adamant about, I guess, the destruction of the trees, or what they consider the destruction of the trees, but they also fail to get involved and actually understand what’s going on and why it’s going on. And so, you know, it seems like we’re always dealing with that.”
As far as possible erosion along the riverbank, Roell said a Corps of Engineers team would be doing bank stabilization work before the park’s renovations take way.
“There are plans to renovate the entire facility; it’s in the early stages because there’s some work that the Corps of Engineers is going to be doing down there, along the bank, some bank stabilization,” Roell said. “And that’s probably going to be the first part of it. That’s probably about a year, year and a half out before they get rolling on that. In the meantime, we’re just going to grass it, seed and soil the area, clean it up, and make it mowable.”
Not all Facebook comments were negative. One Newport resident said they have lived in the city for 47 years, and this is a much-needed upgrade.
Brenda Powell of Newport said she would go to the park early in the morning to drink her coffee and listen to the waves, “I wish them a lot of luck redoing it,” she said.
Roell said the plan is to make the area more family-friendly instead of an overrun vegetation area. He said the city had plans to renovate the park for a long time. But the Corporex development of Ovation adjacent to the site encouraged the administration to “show off the best parts of the city” with the billion-dollar development now in the area.
“So, it’s in the early stages. There will be trees that’ll be replanted in different areas,” Roell said. “There’ll be paths through there, different possible pickleball courts, or something of that nature. It’ll be more like a family park as opposed to an out-of-the-way, vegetated area, for lack of a better word. It’ll still have vegetation and stuff, but it’ll have more amenities to draw more families and stuff down there.”
As far as concerns on erosion along the bank Roell said the space isn’t eroding as much as cumulating soil and sediment from flooding and boat traffic in the area.
“People keep speculating, you cut all the trees down, you’re going to cause an erosion issue, and that’s so far from the truth. That’s ridiculous. They just don’t understand how things work. And yes, the tree roots and all that stuff should have some stability on it, but the actual trees and stuff are as detrimental as they are as positive for the riverbank area because the trees blow in the wind, which actually loosens the roots, which, in turn, destabilizes the soil.”
The next step is to hydroseed the area, according to Roell. He said this would green things up faster than usual. Some of the more significant renovations to the park won’t begin until the Corps of Engineers does the bank stabilization work.
“It’s still a work in progress. We are committed to getting that done and completing things,” Roell said.
