Cedar Mill parks update

We asked Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD) to give us an update on a number of parks projects around the area. Hal Bergsma, former City of Beaverton planner, is the new Director of Planning for THPRD and he shares this information.

Cedar Mill Park

What is the status of the Brady addition to Cedar Mill Park? (This property, at the northwest corner of the park, has been used by area children to walk to Cedar Mill School for years. It was acquired by the District last year.)

Seven-tenths of an acre of the Brady addition, including the house, will be sold and the District will retain nine-tenths of an acre. A lot line adjustment reflecting this partition has been approved by Washington County and is now in the appeal period. The District has submitted a grant application for developing the trail but we’re not sure if we will be successful. If not, the trail won’t be built in the foreseeable future, although the proposed bond measure might contain funding for such an improvement.

Jordan/Husen Park

Is there a schedule for the improvements to Husen Park? When I last wrote about it in April 2007, THPRD estimated that construction might start summer ’08. Is that still a possibility?

There is no schedule at this time. Due to workloads and staffing issues we were not able to proceed with the project when we had hoped to. The earliest possible start for construction is the Summer/Fall of ‘09. We will be reviewing and prioritizing projects in the near future to determine whether this is feasible. Metro local share funds ($540,000) are available to complete Phase 1 of the improvements.

What about the longer-term improvements to Jordan Park? Is the 2002 Master Plan still in effect or have there been updates? When can we expect to see any action there?

The 2002 master plan is still in effect but again, we have no scheduled start date for improvements. The master plan will be updated when a consultant is on board. A draft request for proposals has been prepared to send to consultants, and we hope to have a consultant under contract in the next few months.

John Quincy Adams Young House

The recommendation of the consultants was to work on the grounds before any work is done on the house. Is the district planning to pay for the improvements to the park grounds? Or is that money to come from fundraising too? If the district is planning to pay for the improvements, is there any schedule?

There are no funds to do site improvements, just the master plan. It has been assumed that the fund raising effort will be for improvements to both the grounds and the house. Improvements will need to wait until an adequate amount of money is raised.

The Bluffs Park

The development that is going in north of The Bluffs (west end) has an access path leading to the “trail” behind the condos. The place where the path meets the “trail” is totally a mess (overgrown and ungraded). This access to The Bluffs will be very welcome to the Ironwood and other residents who have never had legal access to the park and the nice play area from the north. Are there any plans to improve the trail? It currently feels like you’re walking through people’s back yards, and unless you’ve studied the maps like I have, you don’t feel like you should be using it. Also, when the new BSD addition comes online, is there going to be a renewed effort to extend a trail through the middle section to further connect the parts of The Bluffs?

There is an approved master plan for improvements to the park. Phase 1 improvements, at the south end of the park, were completed a couple of years ago. There is no funding at this point to complete Phase 2 of the master plan for the north part of the park, which would connect to the developer’s’ trail. This could be done if the proposed bond measure passes, but it is not specifically identified as part of the bond measure package. We have cleaned up deck encroachments in the Phase 2 area.

The temporary trail through the BSD addition (Cedar Mill News, May 2008) takes precedence at this point over other trail improvements in the area. Again, if the proposed bond measure is on the ballot and is approved by the voters in November additional trail improvements in this area may be possible.

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