JOHN DAY — Construction is wrapping up for the season on John Day’s newest greenspace, and while much work remains to be done, the property should really start to look like a park after the next round of improvements in the spring, according to City Manager Nick Green.

Located at the north end of Canton Street, the Hill Family Park sits on 5 acres at the confluence of the John Day River with Canyon and Davis creeks. The park includes significant frontage along the south bank of the river, and a narrow arm of the property follows the east bank of Canyon Creek south toward Gleason Park and the Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site.

Canton Street has been extended to provide vehicular access to the new park. Work is wrapping up this week on a parking lot and sidewalks, and finishing touches are being put on the approaches to a recently installed pedestrian and bicycle bridge spanning the John Day River.

A lot of landscaping still needs to be done, and additional work on the park will proceed in phases.

Eventually, a trail will meander under the mature trees lining the river before looping back to the parking lot, with a possible future extension along the creek to Kam Wah Chung. Long-term plans also include excavating a portion of the riverbank to allow easy access to the water.

“Our hope is to open that riverfront, do a terraced approach so you can sit on the riverfront and kids can play where it’s safe,” Green said.

The Hill Family Park won’t officially open to the public until restrooms are constructed and grass is seeded next spring, he added, but the bridge should be ready for public use by Thanksgiving.

That’s significant, Green said, because the span provides an important point of connection in the city’s burgeoning trail network.

“It’s a key linkage,” Green said. “It ties together the trails and neighborhoods along the south side and the north side (of the river).”

A new stretch of trail starting from the north side of the bridge will connect the Hill Park trails to the existing paved trail at the Seventh Street Sports Complex to the east, with a planned future trail link from there to the Grant County Fairgrounds. Work is also underway on a new trail running west from the bridge that will tie into the unpaved trail system at Davis Creek Park and continue along the river’s north bank to the John Day Innovation Gateway site and Patterson Bridge Road.

At full buildout, the system is expected to encompass about 5 miles of all-weather trails, including about 1 mile of paved pathways.

The city purchased the land for the new park — along with a 7-acre parcel that would become Davis Creek Park — from the Hill family in 2018 for a total of $115,000.

Since then, $472,000 in state grants have been awarded to support park improvements, Green said, and the city is awaiting word on an additional $150,000 in state funding.

That grant would allow the city to finish surfacing the paved portion of the trail system, essentially completing the network of multiuse paths.

“If we get this next piece, the $150,000, we’ll pretty much be done,” Green said.

“Were that to happen, I think we could have the trail system completed by the end of next summer.”

Major contractors on the Hill Family Park project include Iron Triangle, Sisul Engineering, Tyler Sheedy Construction and Mike Springer of Benchmark Land Surveying.

The city of John Day has picked up another honor for its community revitalization efforts.

At a conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Aug. 22, the John Day Innovation Gateway integrated planning team received the Western Planner President’s Award for their contributions, dedication and perseverance in service to their fellow planners. The Western Planner is an organization that represents 14 state planning associations throughout the West.

The team’s work includes planning for the Innovation Gateway, a multifaceted project on the site of the old Oregon Pine lumber mill and adjacent properties that is envisioned as including an industrial park, hotel, conference facilities, water garden, community gathering space and other amenities. The team is also involved in planning for the city’s integrated park system and other developments.

John Day’s proposals for the Innovation Gateway and related parks and infrastructure improvements have been recognized before. In 2019, the city was honored with the League of Oregon Cities’ Award for Excellence. The next year, John Day was one of 10 cities nationwide to receive the Environmental Protection Agency’s Recreational Economies for Rural Communities Award, which came with free technical assistance and a $4,000 grant.