Tag: Turner

AVID Class Plans for Park’s Future

Posted on by Robert Parker

 By Aniko Drlik-Muehleck

Turner, OR is a small town with a big new park opportunity. The City recently acquired 40 acres of undeveloped land around the 70 acre Crawford Lake that will eventually become the lakeside Crawford Crossing Park.

A CSC team of landscape designers (Greg Oldson and Ellee Stapleton) and faculty (Josh Bruce and Aniko Drlik-Muehleck) are assisting the City of Turner with developing a vision and concept design for the new park. Along the way, the CSC team got some MAJOR assistance from the Cascade High School AVID Class (taught by Lisa Iverson).

This group of motivated students developed a short survey asking residents in the Turner/Aumsville area what they would like to see in the new Crawford Crossing Park. The students then interviewed over 500 elementary, middle, and high school students, teachers, and parents about their preferences for the character and amenities of the new park.

The AVID Class presented the themes and findings from their survey to Turner’s Mayor Gary Tiffin, City Councilors Connie Miller and Martha Pynch, City Clerk Linda Hansen, and the CSC team, including RARE participant Michelle Patrick.

The students concluded the presentation with a message to the City of Turner and the CSC planning team: “This is a really big deal for us and for the people of Turner…This is the first time that the lake will actually be open to the public so a lot of new memories will be made there for families. We just wanted to thank you for coming out here to listen to our suggestions. It took a lot of time to prepare this and so hopefully you like it and it will help you out!”

Thanks, AVID Team! Your work certainly will help us out!

Check out this video compilation of the AVID students’ impressive and inspiring work, with bonus footage of a park budgeting activity the CSC team facilitated after the presentation. Special thanks to AVID Program Manager Bridget Weldon for creating the video!

AVID programs exist in many schools throughout Oregon, so if you’re looking to deepen a public engagement process, consider reaching out to see if an AVID class might be interested in collaborating with you!

Everyone’s Parks, Everyone’s Input

Posted on by Julia Havens

City of Turner Parks Plan Sarah AllisonCommunity Planning Workshop (CPW) is currently helping the City of Turner, Oregon to update its Parks Master Plan. Parks offer a space for the community to come together, to play, to connect with nature, or to find a quiet space to be. Parks are meant to serve everyone in the community, so we worked to give everyone an opportunity to share their views on what the parks system should be.  One of the opportunities that we offered was a community workshop, held at the City of Turner’s Fire Hall. We offered a four hour block of time for residents to come in as they were able on a Saturday.

At the workshop, community members were able to engage in a few different ways. We had a questionnaire, two stations for people to talk and leave their comments, and a station where they could express what they wanted in parks through art. This enabled our younger participants in particular a chance to voice their opinion.

Meet Conner. Of all of our young visitors, Connor spent the most time exploring what he believes are ‘must-haves’ in his city parks. And he wants his parks to have A LOT! On his wish list are separate trails for walking and biking, areas with swing sets and playground equipment, places to camp, watch birds, swim, fish, and have picnics. But if you look at his drawings, you will see that that’s not all. He also wants a sports area for basketball and baseball, and an arts and crafts area (preferably next to a pond). My personal favorite of Connor’s requests was a giant tree house. One of the greatest opportunities at this station was to show not only what he wanted, but where he wanted things in relation to each other.

Because not everyone was able to attend the workshop, we also incorporate input from a survey that the City of Turner sent out about their parks system, and work with an advisory committee of stakeholders to develop the plan. By taking overyone’s hopes and desires into account, we can better provide the kind of parks that they will actually use and love, benefiting the entire community.

 

Sarah Allison, Community Planning Workshop Project Coordinator

About the Author: Sarah Allison is a project manager for the Community Planning Workshop. She is a second year concurrent Community and Regional Planning and Oregon Leadership in Sustainability graduate student.