Morrow Park Neighbors Hope To Keep Property Protected

A neighborhood meeting to help resolve the future of Morrow Park brought out 30 or so people, most of whom agreed the 40 acres should remain public.

In fact, 20 people signed a list Wednesday night for a budding Friends of Morrow Park group.

But other problems emerged: chiefly, runoff, disagreement about where Morrow Park Road actually lies and the need to use the road for emergency access to adjacent developments.

That, in turn, conflicts with a desire stated by several neighbors to keep the road gated, so as to stem vandalism and teenage drinking parties in the park.

The Bella Vista-area land was donated to Spokane County by Charles Morrow in 1961. The county has not developed the property, and in recent months the Parks Department has considered the idea of selling the property or returning it to Morrow’s heirs.

At least one gate closes the road, well outside the Morrow property. Neighbors asked the county in the 1980s to gate the road to stop partying, dumping and other problems. Also, a private gate has been intalled. Litter has continued to be a problem on the land, despite the closed road.

“I’ve carried trash off that mountain for seven years,” said Cheryl Olson, Charles Morrow’s granddaughter.

With the road gated off, dumping and partying has stopped.

“You certainly don’t want to carry a heavy keg of beer half a mile up the hill,” said George Wigen, Morrow grandson.

One issue to be settled is whether to open - and improve - the road, for emergency access. Or to keep it closed, to prevent abuse of the property.

Another issue is whether the existing road lies where Morrow Park Road was originally supposed to be built.

Adjacent property owner Craig Potter said that maps and a survey show that a trail crossing his property - which he has upgraded into a graded gravel road - is not where Morrow Park Road was intended to be built.

“The maps show that our property goes right to the edge of the road,” Potter said.

Issues of drainage and emergency access are going to be tackled next week at a meeting with Commissioner Kate McCaslin, said Denise Adams, president of the Bella Vista Property Owners Association. A fire road for Bella Vista hooks onto Morrow Park Road, she said.

Greenstone Corp., which developed Bella Vista, and the county have disagreed over which party is responsible for solving the erosion and access problems, Adams said.

“I’m tired of everybody pointing fingers and beating around the bush,” she said. “It’s going to get solved.”

Wyn Birkenthal, head of the county Parks and Recreation Department, said that once the ground dries out, county workers will tear out the burned remains of a picnic shelter and remove other major trash.

He also committed to helping with the drainage problems.

“We’ll pay our share,” he said.

“I couldn’t be more pleased for the way it turned out for our family,” said Olson.

No meetings of the Friends of Morrow Park are planned yet.

“I think we’ll wait a while,” OLson said. “The best time to go up there would be the end of June when it’s not so muddy.”

, DataTimes