Turner Creek Park | |
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Type | Public, city |
Location |
Hillsboro, Oregon United States |
Coordinates | 45°30′45″N 122°57′14″W / 45.51250°N 122.95389°W [1] |
Area | 12.5 acres (51,000 m2) |
Created | 1990 |
Operated by | Hillsboro Parks & Recreation Department |
Status | open |
Website | Turner Creek Park |
Turner Creek Park is a municipal park in Hillsboro in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened about 1990, the 12.5-acre (51,000 m2) park is located in the middle of the city along Turner Creek near southwest 32nd Avenue between Tualatin Valley Highway and Main Street. The park includes a playground, restrooms, several sports facilities, and natural areas with trails.
Turner Creek Park opened about 1990 near W. L. Henry Elementary School and southwest 32nd Avenue in the center of Hillsboro. [2] Construction included building dams and trails along the creek, with some labor provided by an alternative school program paid for by the federal government. [3] During construction the city received donation of nearly 100 trees from a local nursery and Portland General Electric, with volunteers providing the labor to plant the trees. [2] During the summer of 1992 some trees at the park died due to a drought. [4] The city sought to receive 75 live former Christmas trees in donations from local residents after Christmas in 1992 to plant at the park to replace those that died. [4]
From 1993 to 1994, the city’s parks and recreation department worked with civic groups and used a grant to improve the natural areas of the park, which included consolidation of a variety of trails, plantings, and adding bird houses. [5] A wildflower garden was added in 1997. [6] Bisected by Turner Creek, the wetlands area of the park and the creek have experienced numerous sewer overflows beginning around 1995. [7] [8] [9] An older sewer line runs along the creek and passes through the park on its way south to the wastewater treatment plant operated by Clean Water Services at Rock Creek. [10] [11] The city was fined $32,000 by the state over its clean up of spills in 2006. [11]
The park played host to Heritage Christian School’s Latin Olympika games in 2003. [12] City residents rejected a bond measure in November 2008 that would have paid for improvements at Turner Creek Park among six other parks as well as a recreation center at 53rd Avenue Park. [13] As of August 2009, Turner Creek was one of only three parks in the city that had not been adopted under the parks departments adopt a park program. [14] A new playground was installed in a single day by volunteers in August 2018. [15]
The 12.5-acre (5.1 ha) park includes athletic facilities, wetlands, and wooded sections. [16] Features include play equipment for children, picnic areas, restrooms, and parking. [16] Sports features are two tennis courts, one soccer field, and two softball fields. [16]
The natural area on the west side of the park has paved and wood chip trails leading to a boardwalk and bridge across Turner Creek. [16] These trails run down a small canyon that separates the improved portions of the park from the creek and connect to the elementary school. [17] [18] About four acres are along the creek, which was changed to meander through the area which includes ponds and islands. [16] The city changed the stream by building small dikes that are closed in the summertime to collect water and create pools for use by wildlife, including great blue herons. [17] Other animals at the park include garter snakes, gulls, frogs, fish, and blackbirds among others. [18] Flora include purple iris, sedges, nodding beggar-tick, knotweed, jewelweed, and Veronica. [18]