Turner Creek Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Turner Creek Park | |
|---|---|
 Tennis courts at the park | |
 | |
| 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]
