Benton officials are faced with a ‘strange’ request — make clothes optional at a riverfront park

A Tri-Citian is asking Benton County officials to consider designating a section of Hover Park as “clothing optional.”

The request recently came in from a man who specifically named the rural riverside park as the location for what otherwise might be known as a nude beach.

Now, officials are trying to determine what exactly this man expects, and how he would want it done before pursuing the idea further.

Adam Fyall, the county’s parks project manager and sustainable development manager, said it is just an idea at this point and not even a proposal.

The man’s name has not been disclosed.

Mention of the idea at a Benton County commissioners’ meeting earlier this month elicited some laughs from the board and audience.

Fyall so far has had one quick phone conversation with the man but isn’t sure just how serious he is.

Remote Finley park

Hover Park covers 175 acres southeast of Finley, in the extreme eastern portion of Benton County. It stretches along the Columbia River for about 1 1/2 miles.

Fyall said he informed the Benton County Park Board members, who had the same general questions as him.

He does not know how clothing-optional designated areas work in other places, and admitted it is “a little strange” but will be pursued as an honest request.

The benefit of Hover Park is it’s not a central or highly visited park so people who choose to go full or partially naked would be more secluded.

From a management perspective, it seems like an awkward thing to deal with and could bring potential challenges, said Fyall.

“We just really don’t have anything else like that in the park system,” he said. “Generally when we ‘designate’ something, we have some sort of stewardship group in the wings that is going to help with whatever the thing is.”

Examples he used included Friends of Badger Mountain helping to maintain trails and the Tri-Cities Radio Control Model Airplane Club, which leases space from the county in the Horn Rapids Motorsports Complex and is responsible for watching out for the area.

This story was originally published December 15, 2019 at 5:00 AM.