City Receives Grant for St. Helens Campbell Park Improvements

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2019

ST. HELENS, OR – The City of St. Helens was recently notified that it was awarded a state grant for Campbell Park improvements. The $187,024 grant from Oregon Parks and Recreation’s 2019 Local Government Grant Program will be used to replace Campbell Park’s existing tennis and basketball courts with two tennis flex courts and one flex sport court, add a picnic viewing area, improve natural stormwater facilities, expand parking, and improve ADA access.

The Campbell Park Improvement Package was one of 17 projects that was awarded grant funds through the 2019 state grant program out of 37 applications.

The City of St. Helens will match the $187,024 grant with $125,075 for a total project cost of $312,099. The City’s match will include a combination of in-kind labor and cash.

Campbell Park’s four existing tennis courts have severely degraded since their construction. While there have been multiple attempts to seal the cracks as a short-term fix, this did not resolve the underlying deterioration issues. The Park’s basketball courts seasonally flood due to their low elevation and a lack of adequate stormwater infrastructure at the site.

The Campbell Park Improvement Package will relocate the basketball courts to the existing footprint of the tennis courts and turn it into a flex sport court that can accommodate basketball and other sports such as volleyball, pickleball, and badminton. The former basketball court site will be turned into an interpretive stormwater meadow with an area for passive recreation along a soft-surface trail. Improving the grading and water retention of the former court area will redirect stormwater from the tennis and sport courts, ensuring their greater longevity.

The project will also construct stormwater conveyance infrastructure that will allow for an expansion of the parking area with 25 new parking spots, including two ADA spaces. Current parking in Campbell Park is extremely limited, particularly when there are little league games in the adjacent ball fields. By constructing this stormwater facility, the City will also be able to remove a small pedestrian bridge that crosses the stormwater ditch into the courts, improving ADA access to the courts and reducing maintenance costs.

The City has not yet determined a timeline to begin improvements, but the project is scheduled for completion by October 2021.

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For further information regarding the Campbell Park Improvement Package and state grant, please contact Associate Planner Jenny Dimsho at jdimsho@ci.st-helens.or.us or 503-366-8207.