Berrydale Park Improvement Project

Parks
In Planning
Skatepark and other robust improvements are planned for Berrydale Park in Southeast Portland.
Berrydale Park Skatepark Open House attendees look at one of the design concept boards on July 15, 2021.
Construction will begin in Fall 2024. Completion expected in Fall 2025.
On this Page

Project Overview

Based on community feedback around the needs of the Berrydale Park community, and the need to address access and street frontage improvements, Parks Commissioner Carmen Rubio increased funding to $3 million, from an original $1.5 million, in System Development Charges (SDCs) to supplement initial project funding. Additionally, PP&R Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Transition program has allocated $650K to address ADA access for the park and the PP&R maintenance fund has added an additional $100k to provide new playground equipment for a total project budget of $3.75 million.

The additional funding will allow the completion of a new skateboarding area, plus items that the community identified as priorities during the July 2021 community engagement period. The additional improvements will include site pathways, lighting, street improvements, and a new playground at this popular Southeast Portland park. 

PP&R conducted significant research to determine the need for skateparks. Please see the 2008 Skatepark System Plan for more information.


Project Updates

April 2023

The project is back on track and moving forward!  The proposed frontage improvements and Local Improvement District formation caused the project to slow down. We are currently in the construction documentation phase which we hope to complete by the end of summer 2023.

Once construction documentation is complete, permit drawings will be submitted this fall with the plan to submit for bid next summer and begin construction work in the fall of 2024.

Please check back in on the website as these dates are subject to change.


November 2022 - Final Concept Design 

Portland Parks and Recreation is proud to present the final park improvements at Berrydale Park.

These improvements are a result of the work and support of the community. Over the course of three different community meetings we received strong participation and feedback from many different project stakeholders. The culmination of this feedback has led us to the final concept design. We are looking forward to delivering these improvements.

We anticipate beginning construction in early 2024 with completion spring 2025. As we move through the design, permit and bidding process we will continue to provide updates.


July 2022 - Open House #3

Thank you to all who were able to join us at Berrydale Park on Wednesday, June 29 as we share the final design for the new skatepark and continue to gather your thoughts and feedback on the new playground design options.

We are reviewing the feedback provided and will be following up with the community. Until then, the final two design options (Concept 4 and Concept 5) are available to view below.

Open House #3 Design Concept Boards:


May 2022 - Open House #2

Thank you to all who were able to join us on April 13 for Open House #2. We reviewed the skatepark designs, and introduced three new playground design options. We had a robust turnout (despite the rain and hail), and received over 240 responses to our April 2022 survey.

Our project team will work to finalize the skate design and further refine the playground options for another round of input in Summer 2022. 

The playground options are getting an additional round of review as a new playground was not originally included in the funding of the Berrydale Park Improvement Project, and was not part of Open House #1. Your input helped get a new playground added to the project! 

Open House #2 Design Options Boards:

Open House #1 Design Theme Boards:


April 2022

Please join us Wednesday, April 13, 2022 at Berrydale Park to discuss design options for new amenities that will include the new skate facility, new pathways, new lighting, street improvements, and a new playground.  

We’ll be there rain or shine from 4:00pm-6:00pm Wednesday, April 13. If you’re unable to join us, the open house visuals and a brief survey will also be available online. The survey will remain open until Sunday, April 24, 2022 at midnight. 

March 2022

The additional funding, announced in March 2022, will allow the completion of a new skateboarding area, plus items that the community identified as priorities during the July 2021 community engagement period. The additional improvements will include site pathways, lighting, street improvements, and a new playground at this popular Southeast Portland park. Planning for these park improvements is ongoing.  

The next public meeting to discuss these improvements has been scheduled at Berrydale Park on April 13, 2022.  

July 2021 - Berrydale Park Improvement Project Open House

Members of the PP&R project team describe details of one of the design boards to a community member.
Berrydale Park Skatepark Open House attendees look at one of the design concept boards on July 15, 2021.

Berrydale Park Improvement Project - Community Gathering #1 Summary

In July 2021, Portland Parks & Recreation’s (PP&R) held an in-person community gathering to discuss design options for the Berrydale Park Skatepark Project.

The session was hosted by the PP&R Community Engagement team, the PP&R Assets & Development Project Manager, with support from the Community Engagement Liaisons and the staff from the Mears Design Group

Community Gathering Goal

The goal of the session was to gain a general understanding of the Berrydale Park friends and neighbors priorities for the park improvements.

The information gathered from these sessions reinforced what PP&R has heard from past similar community engagement efforts, including the recent Skatepark elements at Parklane Park, Luuwit View Park, and Khunamokwst Park.

The consolidated results of this community engagement effort will inform design proposals that will be presented at our second community gathering.

Community Gathering Objectives

  • For PP&R to listen to and document priorities of community members;
  • To ask a diverse group of community members to build upon and expand on themes and knowledge from past similar community engagement;
  • To provide space for community members to share concerns about and ideas to improve the safety, access, and amenities of Berrydale Park.

To best reach diverse communities, PP&R partnered with the Community Engagement Liaisons Services (CELs) to offer event recruitment and on-site translation and interpretation in the three languages most frequently spoken after English, in the Berrydale Park community. Those languages are:

  • Spanish: Español,
  • Vietnamese: Tiếng Việt
  • Chinese (Cantonese): 中文

Our CELs partners also provided pre-event recruitment and outreach in each of the three languages.

Berrydale Park Survey Summary

  • The majority of our respondents (64%) were skateboarders, while 13% selected BMX, 9% selected scooter, and 23% selected “Other” (bicycle, roller skates, or “do not skate”).
  • 67% of our respondents said they do most of their rolling in the street or community, while many reported using nearby PP&R Skateparks (Including; Glenhaven Park, Benedict Park, and Gateway Discovery Park all coming in at over 20%)
  • When asked what design style they are most interested in seeing at Berrydale Park; 78% of respondents selected “Street Style” or “Hybrid” (Street/Transition).
  • Of the four design Boards, Design Board C was the clear favorite at 47%. Next, in order, were Design Board D (27%), Design Board B (15%), and Design Board A 10%. Design boards can be seen below.
  • When asked to select which additional amenities were most important to them, participants selected
    • Improved Park Lighting (73%)
    • Drinking Fountains (58%)
    • Park Benches (51%)
    • Accessible Pathways (48%).
  • There was a clear theme among the “Additional Park Amenities” comments. Community members overwhelmingly expressed interest in improved play equipment. There were 66 references to “play” or “playground” in the 75 comments.

Sample comments:

  • “I live right across the street from Berrydale with my three boys who are 5, 3, and newborn. We LOVE Berrydale Park but would be really delighted to see some upgrades to the playground. We’ve been asking for years for an upgrade to the play area and in the last six years that we’ve lived here there have been no improvements.”
  • “Very important to set aside money to update the existing playground as there is already a large number of young kids, and that number continues to grow. This age is too young for the skate park and should be able to enjoy updates at the Berrydale Park.”
  • “There are 100+ little kids in the Berrydale neighborhood, there are so many young families in the area and I think it would be a huge miss for the park to not include playground updates to reflect the neighborhood need for safe, fun equipment for young children in addition to the skate park updates.”

Next Steps:

Our design team is developing three designs for review by the community. Those design options will be presented at our next community gathering in Winter/Spring 2022. 


Community Engagement Timeline

  • Community Meeting 1: July 15, 2021 at Berrydale Park - View vision boards and discuss the Berrydale Park Skatepark Project
  • Community Meeting 2: April 13, 2022 at Berrydale Park - Present skate park design refinements pathway alignments that provide ADA access and show alternative designs for the proposed new playground (YAY!). These park improvement design options will be based upon what we learned from Berrydale Park community members at meeting #1 in July 2021, as well as feedback from internal staff and other city Bureaus.
  • Community Meeting 3: Summer 2022 - Refinements to designs we heard during meeting #2. We aim to cultivate community support for a final design. 

Planning and Construction Timeline

  • Conceptual Design and Analysis – Summer 2021 to Summer 2022 “Complete”
  • Construction Documentation – Fall 2022 to Summer 2023 “In Progress”
  • Permitting and Bidding – Fall 2023 to Fall 2024
  • Construction – Fall 2024 to Summer/ Fall 2025
  • Grand Opening – Fall 2025

Map

Location

Park Location or Entrance
SE 92nd Avenue and Taylor Street
Portland, OR 97216

Contact

Neighborhood