The proposed parks and recreation master plan states that the city “hopes to exceed typical city recreation standards and establish Molalla as a recreation standard for the region.”

City manager John Atkins, city planning director Shane Potter and assistant planner Zach Pelz led a public work session on Wednesday to discuss Molalla’s needs for park and recreation facilities with members of the community, planning commission and city council.

“What we’re not here to do tonight is debate Bohlander Field,” Atkins said.

The controversial Bohlander Field sports complex project has been tabled for now.

National Guard soldiers were originally scheduled to come break ground on the project this spring, but the city has not budgeted for the project and was not ready to move forward.

“I’d like to first plead guilty for allowing this project to get ahead of us,” Atkins said.

With all the other projects the city was working on, there wasn’t time to give the Bohlander project the attention it needed, Atkins said.

The city can apply to get back on the National Guard’s community work project 2010 schedule if they submit a project by the end of this year, Atkins said.

The Bohlander Field sports complex is still an option for the city, but is not being pursued at this time, Atkins said.

The city is in the process of redoing its comprehensive plan, which has not been updated since 1980.

“It dealt with an old logging community and it just doesn’t represent what we are right now,” Potter said on Thursday.

The planning commission determined that recreation should be a focus and has included a parks and recreation master plan within the updated comprehensive plan.

“What they did is they started discussing what the people of Molalla want,” Potter said. “They really saw a great need for parks and recreation.”

The parks and recreation master plan was drafted by a hired consulting agency and advised by the Parks Advisory Committee (PAC), comprised of two council members, three planning commission members, Buckeroo representatives, a Clackamas County representative, a local business owner and other community members.

The proposed plan is still awaiting adoption and will likely begin hearings in mid-July, Potter said.

Molalla does not currently have a parks and recreation master plan in place, so the PAC started from scratch in analyzing Molalla’s recreational needs.

The PAC used standard recommendations from the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) to help determine the ideal number of parks, recreational facilities and open spaces Molalla should provide for its population. As of last July, Molalla’s population was 7,195.

The committee also considered Molalla’s demographics in their appraisal and noted that in a community where 30 percent of the population is under age 17, recreational facilities should be a priority.

They also evaluated Molalla’s current facilities and found them in poor condition and undergoing heavy usage. The parks and recreation planning proposal sets Molalla standards even higher than NRPA guidelines for soccer, baseball/softball and football/rugby/lacrosse fields.

Based on these factors, the PAC determined that according to the city’s current population statistics, Molalla needs an additional 3.3 softball fields, 5.2 soccer fields, 1.8 football/rugby/lacrosse fields, 13.4 basketball courts and 3.6 tennis courts.

“At the next meeting, we will talk about options and what we can do to create these playing fields,” Atkins said.

The next parks and recreation public work session is Wednesday, June 4, after the May 20 election when voters will decide if they want to annex property within the Molalla River School District to the North Clackamas Parks and Recreation District (NCPRD).