Turner Park Upgrade Update April 2024
April 12, 2024
Peachland, B.C. – The Turner Park Upgrade project is well underway with more construction expected to begin this Summer in the upper tier of the park.
Improvements completed to date include new player benches and upgraded baseball dugouts, upgraded backstop, and upgraded park fencing along Turner Avenue. The playing field has been seeded and is closed to the public as the turf takes hold to a degree allowing for competitive sports. Council agreed to apply some of the Growing Communities Fund grant it received to upgrade the playing field.
The remainder of the upgrade project will begin this summer and will include:
- New set of viewing bleachers for the baseball diamond
- Removal of the old playground and replacement with new (see note on the design below)
- Connection of the washroom to the sanitary sewer system
- Accessibility improvements to the washroom building
- Removal of the sports box asphalt and fencing and replacement with grass
- Improvement of the parking area
- Irrigation installation
- Accessible pathway installations
- Public benches, waste receptacles and accessible picnic tables
- Vegetation and shade structure installations
The Turner Park Upgrade project is funded through a portion of the $2.7 million received in April from the Province’s Growing Communities Fund and a Jays Care Foundation grant. Turner Park is expected to be fully open, with the field ready for competitive soccer, in the Spring of 2025.
Turner Park will not reopen to the public this Spring as initially anticipated. The park is fenced to keep people and pets from entering the park and possibly damaging the turf which will be tended throughout this growing season by Operations staff, ensuring it is in prime shape for its first game!
Playground Design
Coordinated by the District of Peachland, the students of Peachland Elementary took part in a DOT-MOCRACY, voting by using stickers, on three potential designs for the new playground in Turner Park. Students overwhelmingly voted in favour of one design in particular (pictured below). Council enthusiastically supported the students’ playground style choice at its meeting April 9.
Project Background
In April 2023 Turner Park was closed for construction to remove one of the baseball backstops, replace the infield material on the remaining baseball diamond, grade the playing field with the intention of remediating the turf on the playing field. Irrigation improvements were also completed on the playing field at that time.
The land for Turner Park, located at 6114 Turner Avenue, was acquired by the District of Peachland on March 30, 2021. The 3.34 hectare (8.26 acre) property was formerly owned by School District #23 and is one of the only remaining undeveloped properties able to accommodate athletic fields and other park amenities requiring flat land.
