The city of Portland is looking to take Lents Park to the next level.

While the park is often active and considered the heart of the Lents neighborhood, the city wants to see if it can make better use of the space.

A recent request for proposals seeks a planning firm -- most likely specializing in landscape architecture -- to help the city decide how to move forward with the park. Part of the task will be reaching out to the community to ask what Lents neighbors would like to see changed.

"We'll be looking to the community to help us prioritize and find ways to help strengthen the park in future," said Sarah Coates of Portland Parks & Recreation. "Lents Park is already functioning as a successful park."

The city is looking for firms with experience developing master plans for parks.

The winning proposer would begin the master plan process this spring and the finished product would be taken to the Portland City Council early next year.

Coates said the master planning was not designed to coincide with a proposal to bring a parks bond measure to voters -- an idea which is still being considered by the parks board. The board is looking at a potential $200 million bond.

"We have not identified a source of funding to implement the plan," she said.

The master planning process would involve working with Portland Parks to assess community needs for the park, via workshops and meetings. There would also be a project advisory committee. The area has two large neighborhood groups: the Lents Neighborhood Association and Friends of Lents Park.

The park includes Walker baseball stadium and field, a football field, basketball courts, a lit tennis court, dog off-leash area, play area, picnic area, covered stage area, restrooms, horseshoe pit, paths, a half-acre community garden, handball court, softball fields (including a concession stand), and two soccer fields.  

The park needs the overall vision that a park master plan can provide, since the site has been developed incrementally over many years.   The master plan process will begin with the premise that the major site improvements thus far have created a successful park, and they will likely become part of a final master plan for the site, according to the city's RFP.

The consultant will be asked to study opportunities and constraints at the park site, the park site’s role in the larger city park system; potential conflicts at the park site and conflict management strategies, and current park context and need, and future trends and population growth.

The site has some slope at the southern end, which currently provides somewhat of a natural barrier between the more active recreation elements on the northern portion of the site, and the playground, community gardens, and off-leash dog area on the southern portion of the site, the RFP states. The site has many established mature plantings and trees.

"Lents Park is a developed park, so the Master Plan process will not involve looking at the site as a 'blank slate,'" according to the RFP. "Rather, the plan will provide an opportunity to increase its profile, strengthen its role in the park system, build upon its core recreation uses, and provide for other expressed community needs. The successful proposer will have to be resourceful and look at various ways to create meaningful passive recreation spaces amidst the myriad of active uses already in the park."