A new design rendering for the new Hillsboro Hops stadium, estimated to cost $120 million, was unveiled in March 2023. Members of Hillsboro's Parks and Recreation Commission said the plans were a "done deal" before the public had a chance to weigh in on the project. 

Parks and recreation commissioners in Hillsboro aren’t happy with how quickly the city government agreed to an $18 million commitment to design a new baseball stadium.

Current and former members of the commission say the decision was a “done deal” by the time they, or the public at large, heard about it — even though the proposal would eliminate three public playing fields at the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex.

“This is not the way a public process works,” said longtime commissioner and chair Gwynne Pitts, who was term-limited off the commission this year. “You get the answers, and you tell the public what they are before moving forward … it’s not, ‘We’ll decide it and then make the agreements afterwards.’”

Several current commissioners feel similarly, saying the city’s decision lacked input from the commission, whose job is to oversee public recreational facilities.

They all submitted lists of questions and concerns they have with the proposal to build a new baseball stadium for the Hillsboro Hops by 2025. They will be sending a letter to the city council noting these concerns.

“(I) suggest considering a letter by our commission to the city, on record,” said parks commissioner Chris Cardani in his email to Hillsboro Parks and Recreation Department director Dave Miletich. “We respect the city’s decision on this, but nobody asked us for any input. (Put) us on record that these are serious issues with serious consequences that nobody has ever asked us for any serious input before the decisions were made.”

The project

The city government and the Hillsboro Hops, the local High-A minor league baseball team, have been working on a project since 2021 to expand Ron Tonkin Field, where the Hops have played since 2013, in response to new facility standards enacted across the minor leagues.

Major League Baseball, which also oversees the minor leagues, set a deadline for all teams to comply by opening day of this year. MLB said this deadline could be extended if teams were actively planning construction projects.

Until December 2022, Hillsboro’s plan was to expand the existing stadium, but officials say several site constraints at Ron Tonkin Field made that approach more expensive than building a new stadium next door.

The design estimates from M.A. Mortenson, a construction company, determined the renovations would cost up to $160 million, due to a nearby water main that would have to be relocated, as well as the need to build more infrastructure around the stadium to support the new elements required by MLB — like locker room upgrades and additions, more visiting clubhouse amenities, and training facilities.

The design team determined that building a new stadium next door would be cheaper than renovating Ron Tonkin Field, so it asked the city for permission to change the game plan.

City Manager Robby Hammond signed an agreement dated Dec. 21, 2022, authorizing the team to continue exploring a new stadium.

Hillsboro staff said the city manager has the authority to manage all city contracts, and he could alter this one without council approval because it didn’t cost any more money than what was already committed to the project.

“The city was already obligated to spend these funds, and the (memorandum of understanding) was just a clarification of how the previously approved agreement was to be implemented,” said city public works spokesperson Krista Snell in an email. “It was not a separate agreement that obligated the city to take actions beyond the scope of what was already approved by council from a financial perspective.”

Through this analysis of a new build, Mortenson estimated that a new stadium — built on land currently occupied by Fields 4, 5, and 6 at the Gordon Faber complex — would cost $120 million.

The first public meeting held to discuss the new stadium proposal was during a March 7, 2023, Hillsboro City Council work session — a type of meeting where there is typically no public comment and where none occurred.

A couple hours later, the council voted unanimously to change the plan to designing a new stadium, committing up to $18 million to the get the design work on the project to the 65% mark — a milestone where the guaranteed maximum price of the project is usually determined.

The city says it will purchase construction bonds to finance most of that amount, then pay off that debt using transient lodging tax revenue — a percentage the city collects on all lodging stays in the city.

City officials said this seed money for the early designs will give the Hops time to secure the rest of the money through private financing.

The Hops are also looking for state funding, like the $7.5 million commitment the Eugene Emeralds secured in 2022 from the Oregon Legislature to build their new stadium.

In pursuing a new stadium, city officials said the MLB agreed to give the team until the 2025 season to complete the project. Previously, MLB had granted a year-long extension for the proposed Ron Tonkin Field upgrades, allowing for completion by 2024.

Parks commission concerns

The Hillsboro Parks and Recreation Commission says it was not adequately consulted by city staff or city councilors before this decision was made, despite the impact the project will have on public playing fields.

Pitts, who served on the commission for 17 years and was its chair for nine, said that when she and other commissioners asked for details about the project, they were told for months by city staff that a nondisclosure agreement precluded them from sharing details.

“I don’t understand how a nondisclosure agreement can be stopping the stewards of the community from doing what they’re supposed to do,” Pitts said. “We’re the checks and balances, but we’re not allowed to know about the project?”

She said the parks commission is more than an advisory board or committee — it has financial responsibility over Hillsboro’s parks properties, as outlined in the city’s charter.

The charter states, “The PRC oversees the management of city park and recreation facilities and activities. It has authority to regulate the use of parks and recreation facilities, establish fees and charges for such uses …”

When Hillsboro staff were asked to explain why the city circumvented the parks commission in making the decision to pursue a new stadium, the city’s response was that tight deadlines meant the project needed to move forward quickly — and the City Council has ultimate authority.

“Given the timeframes the city is working under … the decision was made to simultaneously work with the council and the commission,” city staff said in an unsigned statement Snell provided to Pamplin Media Group on April 4. “At the end of the day, however, the City Council is the body that has the ultimate authority on the policy direction, and city funding commitment for the project, which is why the council has been the primary body to discuss these matters.”

Staff maintained that the parks commission has had opportunities to provide input on the project, including during recent commission meetings in February and March where they say an update on the Hops project was discussed.

The parks commission has discussed elements of the ballpark project over the past year and a half. However, meeting materials indicate those discussions all took place when the proposal was still to expand Ron Tonkin Field — not to build a new stadium on top of land now occupied by three public ballfields.

No conversation about the new baseball stadium appears on any of the Hillsboro Parks & Recreation Commission meeting agendas for 2023.

When city staff were asked to provide the meeting recording for the commission’s Feb. 14 meeting, Hillsboro officials said the meeting was “inadvertently not recorded.” City staff instead provided the minutes from that meeting, which did not contain any references to a new baseball stadium.

Records show the Parks & Recreation Commission did meet in executive session on Feb. 14. It’s unclear what the commission discussed in that session. Minutes are not kept for executive sessions, which are closed to the public.

The March 14 meeting minutes also do not contain any references to a new baseball stadium at the Gordon Faber complex.

Parks commissioners also complained directly to city officials about not being in the loop.

“I want to support (the) council, but we need to be more involved,” said commission chair Forrest Huntington in his email to the parks director.

Commissioner Lynn Scheller described the project derisively as a “done deal” and asked why there hadn’t been more public engagement and transparency surrounding the project.

No Hillsboro city councilors returned Pamplin Media’s request for comment on the project approval to speak to these concerns.

The Parks & Recreation Commission was supposed to hear an update on the stadium project during its meeting on April 11, but that update was “tentatively rescheduled” to an April 25 work session.

Lost use

Assistant City Manager Rahim Harji said city leaders are committed to seeking parks commissioners’ input on the stadium project, and how to make up for the anticipated loss of the three fields at the Gordon Faber complex.

“We hear you,” he said at the April 11 meeting, addressing commission members. “I just want to acknowledge that … it’s important to us that the parks commission is involved in this process, especially on that lost use.”

The city is exploring other areas in town to build new playing fields and make up for those that would be lost from the new stadium construction. Harji described efforts to renovate the fields at R.A. Brown Middle School, about 4½ miles south of the Gordon Faber complex, as “the best option.”

However, those plans are still in the early stages and officials acknowledged site concerns at the middle school, too.

Parks commissioners and city councilors alike have voiced concerns about parking availability at the school off Southeast Cornelius Pass Road, and noise and lighting impacts to surrounding neighborhoods, if the summer tournaments and sporting activities currently held at the Gordon Faber complex are moved there.

“I’m thinking as a spectator and parent,” said commissioner Daria Martin Bigham. “If I get there late, there’s not going to be parking left, so they’re going to park deep in the neighborhood.”

Parks and recreation planning and development manager Jeroen Kok said adding more parking capacity would be part of the plans for Brown Middle School.

City staff also noted that once the Hops move out of Ron Tonkin Field, Hillsboro will get to use that for more events as well.

“We’re still working through this,” Harji told the City Council last month. “We’re working on what it would take to mitigate lost use on fields 4, 5 and 6, but also considering that we would get Ron Tonkin Field back all year round. We wouldn’t have to share that with the Hops.”

City Manager Robby Hammond acknowledged during the March 7 council work session that this project hasn’t allowed city officials to take the usual route with planning and engagement.

“This is not a typical project,” he told councilors. “Normally, when we identify a need in the community, we figure out that need, then we go and figure out the funding source and take our time planning out the construction phases and all of that. This is not that type of project, because we have these deadlines that we need to meet because of Major League Baseball.”