The first steps toward creating Hermiston’s 14th park got under way Thursday night as a couple dozen residents – both kids and parents – shared their vision for what it should look like.
Hosted by the Hermiston Parks and Recreation Department, the open house offered residents the chance to share their input on a variety of topics including amenities, safety features as well as the park’s name.
Parks Director Brandon Artz opened the event with an overview of the city’s parks system and a few specifics about the new park that will be developed on a one-acre site at N.E. Sixth Street and E. Bella Vista Avenue off E. Punkin Center Road in the Monta Vista Homes development.
Artz said more parks are needed on the east side of town where new homes have gone in over the past few years.
“We have a lot of parks on the west side of town, but not as many on the east side where a lot of you live,” said Artz. “The Monta Vista area is one we identified as a must need for the area.”
Artz led the small, but engaged crowd through a series of survey questions to help get an idea of what the park should feature. Questions included which of Hermiston’s existing parks is their favorite (Butte Park), what parks outside of Hermiston have caught their eye (Disneyland came up), and what words should describe the park once its complete (safe, inviting, reinvigorating and Jurassic, to name a few). Suggested names for the park included Punkin Park, Quail Ridge Park, Chicken Park, Super Park, Oasis Park, and Friendship Park.
Artz talked about an idea called the “third place” in a community. That concept comes from the book Celebrating the Third Place by Ray Oldenburg.
According to the book, the first place in a community is your home, with your school or place of work serving as your second place. Parks, said Artz, can be that third place where people come together to spend time.
“Over time and with social media, we’ve kind of lost that third place,” he said. “We want to create a third place where families and community members can interact with each other.”
Much of the feedback centered on safety with a number of parents voicing concerns about speeding motorists and the need for more stop signs along Sixth Street to slow drivers down. Making the park accessible to all was another issue that came up more than once.
Artz said the feedback from Thursday’s open house will be brought back to the Parks and Recreation Committee and the Hermiston City Council. What exactly the park will end up looking like remains to be seen and will largely be determined by what the budget will eventually be.
“Our budget only goes so far,” said Artz. “We may have to scale back or wait and add new features over time.”
The timeline is also uncertain as it is tied to the development of new homes in the area, but Artz said he thinks the park will be ready within two years.
More information on the park can be found on the city’s website.
