Cully Park is a 25-acre community park created from a partnership model that brings together the City of Portland and a nonprofit developer, Verde, to raise more than $11 million dollars for a new park in one of Portland’s most underserved neighborhoods.
With landscape architects in both prime and sub roles, the inclusive 11-member consulting team executed a planning and design process that effectively wove the voices of Native Americans and other minority and disadvantaged community members into the park program and design. The decommissioned landfill site posed significant technical challenges, with existing methane capture systems, shallow soils, and unconsolidated construction fill impacting everything from tree placement to drainage and footing design. Through an intensive public involvement process spearheaded by the community and Verde, the resulting first phase of the park is a celebration of local ecology, community, play, the local Native American community, and views of the mountains that are so sacred to their culture.
