Newberg’s Aging Parks Need Maintenance, Upgrades

NEWBERG, Ore. — The Newberg area’s public parks are showing their age, and many need more maintenance than they are receiving — and fixing them will be costly.

At a July board meeting, Chehalem Park & Recreation District Superintendent Clay Downing outlined the need to secure funding to repair and replace aging equipment, particularly playground structures that in many cases have not been replaced in more than 20 years. Repairing or replacing play structures could cost between $100,000 and $225,000 (and maybe more) per structure, depending on size and age, Downing said.

CPRD covers the cities of Dundee and Newberg as well as nearby unincorporated areas in Eastern Yamhill county, serving about 34,000 residents. 

But funding is difficult to secure while CPRD is also working on several large-scale projects, including Sander Park construction, which broke ground in August; new Jaquith tennis and pickleball courts, which broke ground last week; and Renne Field resurfacing, slated to begin later this year. Other upcoming projects include the Bonnie Benedict Preschool and the Newberg-Dundee Bypass Trail.

Two of those projects — Renne Field and the preschool — are estimated at more than $1 million each. The first phase of the bypass trail is projected at $4.4 million, taking up a significant portion of the district’s budget.

“It is really important when those projects get into those really high, escalating figures that we get outside help now for things like playground facilities,” Downing said. “But in reality, if we did what we want to do, what we think is best for longevity, it’s more like $400,000 for brand-new playground projects.”

At a July 17 special session, CPRD Parks & Facilities Supervisor Bryan Stewart said of the district’s 21 parks with play structures, many need repairs or replacement. The average age of the playgrounds is 21 years old, and Eight playgrounds over 25 years old, he said. The standard in the industry is 10 to 15 years for playground replacement.

“As you can see, we have a lot of neighborhood playgrounds, and we have a lot of old neighborhood playgrounds,” Stewart said in the meeting. “We’re definitely way behind the 8-ball in upgrading those.”

Jim McMaster, CPRD board president, said some parks deteriorate faster than others, depending on the structures installed. A former CPRD supervisor, McMaster said he oversaw the installation of all but one of the district’s current playgrounds since 1980.

“The problem is that after about 15 years or so, you can’t find replacement parts,” McMaster said. “You try to repair it as best you can, or you put something else in. But we’re coming to the point where some of the platforms are wearing out, beginning to rust, or the paint is fading or chipping off.”

For example, cedar chip surfacing technically meets ADA requirements but gets kicked away under swings or wheelchairs, compared to rubber or synthetic turf surfaces, he said.

McMaster stressed the parks are safe, as CPRD employs a nationally certified playground inspector who checks each playground monthly.

“Are they unusable? No. Can they be upgraded? Yes,” McMaster said. “Do they all need to be upgraded at the same time? That would be nice, but cost-wise, that’s not realistic. We don’t have that kind of money for maintenance. We have to look at them separately.”

Downing said that while playgrounds are still functional, many are reaching or exceeding their expected lifespans.

“When you talk about aging infrastructure, we have facilities that could be replaced any time,” he said. “They may still function, but they also might be at the end of life, or even well past it.”

CPRD manages a wide variety of properties, from small neighborhood parks to the Chehalem Aquatic and Fitness Center complex. These range in size from Oak Knoll Park at 0.26 acres to Bob and Crystal Rilee Park at 325 acres, Downing said.

When equipment is closed off, it is to expedite repairs and ensure safety, he added. At a certain point, maintenance costs exceed the value of the equipment, and replacement becomes necessary.

Beyond playgrounds, other facilities also need upgrades, including aging buildings without modern systems.

“We have this big queue of playgrounds that we need to do work on, and those are really expensive,” Downing said. “Then we’ve got other facilities that are aging, like our armory building — it doesn’t have a modern HVAC system.”

To help stretch funds, CPRD is exploring partnerships with service groups such as local Rotary clubs, which previously contributed to playgrounds at Memorial and Rotary Centennial parks. The district is also pursuing grants from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and Business Oregon. However, Downing said CPRD must first complete existing grant-funded projects, including the bypass trail and Renne Park upgrades, before qualifying for more.

“We need to be successful getting through those before we can get other external funds,” he said. “We’ve also reached out to some of the field offices for our federal representatives to see if there are opportunities for them to help us.”

McMaster said the district will have to balance replacement projects carefully. CPRD has never had a parks levy in Newberg, though pools were funded through a bond measure.

“If we were to go to the community for a levy, it would have to be very specific,” McMaster said. “A levy says we’re going to replace this, this, and this — and that’s it. For that to happen, there would need to be community outreach or a group willing to spearhead it. It has to be community-driven, not staff- or administration-driven.”

He pointed to the Aquatic Center as an example of a successful community effort.

“It was a community effort to get it done, and they did it, and it was great,” McMaster said. “It may happen this way, it may not, but we’re going to do our best to get the playgrounds up to par however we can afford it. It may be a slow process.”