Donor wants 160-acre tract named for Chrissy, her dog

Dorothy Whittle wants it to be named Chrissy Park after her dog.

"They wanted to name it after me," Whittle said. "But I told them, `No, name it after my dog."'

The land is situated along Cherry Lane, outside the city limits and the city's urban growth boundary. The gift is believed to be the largest individual donation ever to the city's park department, if not to the city.

"It's a pretty nice gift, huh?" said Greg Jones, the Medford Parks and Recreation Department director.

Whittle actually made the donation two years ago, when the property was deeded to the city on June 5, 1997, Jones said.

But Whittle wanted her privacy and asked city officials to keep the matter as quiet as possible.

The donation came to light Thursday afternoon at a Medford City Council meeting when an error in the legal description of the property needed to be corrected, said City Attorney Ron Doyle. City Council members voted unanimously to accept the restated description.

Jones said Whittle's representative first approached him about the possibility of the gift in 1990.

He was asked if the city would be interested in the property and he answered that the city did want new park land.

The discussions continued in 1996 and 1997, culminating in the transfer of the land to Medford.

Now, the city owns the land, but people cannot use the park and the city cannot develop the property until a future time, Jones said.

It's a hilly area with madrone and oak trees and native grasses and poison oak, Jones said. The land is more similar to Prescott Park than to Bear Creek Park. The city eventually wants to develop horse and hiking trails on the land.

For now, "I think we're going to leave it just for the creation of the open space," Jones said.

The city's largest park is Prescott Park, which is a short distance north of this land. Prescott Park is 1,740 acres and was also a gift to the city, in part, from the Hoover administration and from the Medford Lions Club in the 1930s, Jones said.

Bear Creek Park is the city's third largest park at 101 acres.

Whittle credits her employees, Suzanne and Delbert Hawley, with working to get the land transferred.

She takes Chrissy to the area often and said the dog enjoys running there, kind of a "queen of the hill."