Who Gets the Empty Half of Santa Clara Community Park?

"What we're not going to do is take this building and plop it in north Eugene," Beth Casper, chief strategy officer at the Eugene Family YMCA, told Lookout Eugene-Springfield in March. She was talking about a future Y built for Bethel, Santa Clara and North Gilham. One of the two places that building could go is the unfinished southern half of Santa Clara Community Park, the park that held its grand opening on River Loop 2 this July.

The playground and spray-play are the parts people can use today. The empty ground is the bigger question. As of October 2026, the answer depends on a land-use cap on a different lot near Santa Clara Station.

The Half You Can Walk To but Can't Use Yet

Phase one at 860 River Loop 2 is a playground, a spray-and-play area, a community gathering space, picnic tables, restrooms and parking. Construction actually wrapped in 2025. The City held off on the celebration until July 18, 2026 so the new amenities could open in warm weather. On opening day, the City pointed visitors to parking at Madison Middle School.

The pedestrian bridge matters more than it looks. It went up last September to link the park's north and south sides. Before it existed, Eugene landscape architect Mark Kosmos told KLCC, getting to the other side meant climbing through a ravine. So the bridge already connects visitors to the half the City has been saving.

The City's answer on its Engage Eugene project page lays out the plan. The 2018 Park and Recreation System Plan found that Santa Clara and River Road needed both a community park and a community center. The park got built first. The "undeveloped southern half of the park has been set aside" for a major recreation facility. The City also says it "has not been identified" when it would pay for one. The same answer says the City has been talking with the Eugene Family YMCA, which is weighing the park as one of two sites. If the Y moves forward, "the park site could see a community center and pool developed on their timeline."

Put simply, the City saved the land but hasn't said when it would invest in a building there. A pool on this ground is most likely to arrive through a YMCA project, and that only happens if the Y picks this site.

An 18,000-Square-Foot Cap at River Road and Hunsaker Lane

The Y's other option is a Lane Transit District parcel near Santa Clara Station. In March 2025, the Y announced an option agreement to explore buying LTD's 4.83 acres at River Road and Hunsaker Lane for $4.05 million. The proposed terms were $1 million at closing, $1 million on the first anniversary, and the rest on the second anniversary.

The trouble is a restriction on what can be built there. Development on the Hunsaker property is capped at 18,000 square feet, which Lookout reported "isn't large enough for what the Y needs." LTD and the City are working to change that limit. For scale, Lookout's 2025 estimate for a north Eugene Y was roughly 65,000 square feet, more than three times the cap.

The Santa Clara Community Organization named the two choices plainly in March: "the lot by the current LTD station or the Santa Clara Community Park site." In its own FAQ, the Y calls the second one the City-owned Wilkes Drive parcel.

That makes the two sites depend on each other. If LTD and the City lift the Hunsaker cap, the transit lot becomes a real contender. If they don't, the park's southern half is the option that is left.

Eighteen Months of a Decision in Progress

Neither the City nor the Y has made one big announcement. Here is how the north Eugene plan has moved, using only what has been published:

1. March 12, 2025. The Y and LTD announce the option agreement on the Hunsaker parcel. CEO Brian Steffen tells KLCC that due diligence will take at least nine months and that he hopes a facility could open within six to seven years.
2. Late February 2026. The Y's FAQ says it is "not at this time" under contract for Hunsaker and is also looking at the Wilkes Drive parcel.
3. March 22, 2026. KLCC reports that Steffen put the Hunsaker purchase agreement on hold because the 18,000-square-foot cap falls well short of what the Y needs.
4. March 2026. The Y runs a community survey that closes March 30 and includes questions about where a north Eugene Y should go. Casper tells Lookout that the Y hopes to launch capital campaigns for its north Eugene and Patterson projects by the end of 2026.
5. May 4, 2026. The Y thanks survey participants and says it won't release a detailed analysis until its board meets for a September retreat.
6. October 1, 2026. Eugene Weekly reports that the Y is still "mulling two spots" for a north Eugene facility Steffen estimates at $40 million to $50 million, with "land-use questions" unresolved.

The October report adds a detail about timing. Steffen wants the Patterson Street vision settled by the end of 2026 and that campaign launched early in 2027. The Y plans to run the north Eugene and Patterson campaigns at roughly the same time, and it wants the Patterson improvements kept modest so they don't overshadow the north Eugene project in front of donors. Eugene Weekly calls north Eugene the Y's "most important project," one it has "talked up for a decade."

Why does the Y want a second building at all? Membership filled up fast at the Don Stathos Campus at East 24th and Hilyard, which opened December 18, 2023. Casper put membership at 18,500 this spring and said more than 800 children took swimming lessons in 2025. She also said the Y "just didn't know it would happen so quickly."

A Path Already Drawn Between Both Sites

One planned project touches both candidate sites. The City says Santa Clara Community Park's paths will eventually connect to the West Bank extension. A Lane Council of Governments project summary describes that extension as a 12-foot concrete shared-use path, 3,800 feet long, running from Hunsaker Lane to Admiral Street. It would include lighting, a sidewalk on Admiral, and improved crossings at River Loop 1 and Wilkes Drive. The summary lists $1,550,000 in federal CMAQ money and $553,889 in local funds, for a total of $2,103,889.

So the street where the Hunsaker parcel sits is one end of the path, and Wilkes Drive, the park's edge, gets one of its upgraded crossings. A north Eugene Y at either site would sit on the same planned walking and biking route. The LCOG summary printed 2025 as the completion year, but the City still describes the connection as a future one, and we haven't found a current construction schedule.

What the City Has Penciled In Either Way

A pool and community center are only part of the park's plan. The City's park page also lists court sports, more shelters, a dog park and a community garden as future phases. KLCC described the courts as pickleball, basketball and sand volleyball. It reported the dog park as something the City would add only if there is room. For now, dogs must be leashed throughout the park, according to the City's answers on the project page.

Phase one was paid for with the voter-approved 2018 Parks and Recreation bond and levy, Parks and Recreation System Development Charges, and a $528,000 Local Government Grant from Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The City hasn't named a funding source for the later phases.

The playground is also due for some art. The City and the Eugene Parks Foundation put out a call for nine permanent square artworks, each about 12.875 inches per side and one inch thick, to be built into the play area. That call closed August 7, 2026. We haven't found an announcement of the selected artist or an installation date.

This Fall, Before Anything Gets Decided

Fall is the park's quiet season. The City lists its standard spray-play season as Memorial Day through Labor Day, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, on its Umso Park page. Santa Clara's facility page doesn't post its own spray-play hours. Through the fall, the playground, trails and bridge are the parts of the park in use.

For anyone in Santa Clara who wants an indoor pool now, River Road Park & Recreation District already runs one. The district was formed in 1957 and is governed by five directors elected by voters. Its 25-yard, six-lane indoor pool runs year-round at about 83 to 84 degrees. The district's closures page lists a maintenance closure from August 29 to September 27. The district's aquatics page says crews are still working on the small spa this October and that the spa will be open.

The next real news will come from one of three places. The Y could announce what its board decided in September, LTD and the City could change the Hunsaker cap, or the Y could launch a north Eugene capital campaign. As of Eugene Weekly's October 1 report, none of those had happened.

At Parker Heights Realty, we follow projects like this because what happens to a park's undeveloped half shapes the streets around it for decades. If you live near River Loop 2 or Hunsaker Lane and want to talk through how the Y decision could affect your street, schedule a free consultation and home valuation with Amanda Parker. We'll keep you posted as the site choice gets made.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.