Yesterday, news came that the City of Hillsboro has been unable to secure an agreement with the Bonneville Power Administration needed to fit two fields into the far Western edge of the Gordon Faber Recreation Center. The approval for the new Hillsboro Hops Stadium caused tension in our community because the project required the removal of Fields 4, 5, and 6. Those fields were keystones in what made the GFRC one of the most incredible sports complexes in the Pacific NW. Replacing them was a major deal point as community members rose up to oppose the entire plan. Undoubtedly, the approval of the Hops Stadium was the most divisive city matter at some time, with significant community backlash. After all, professional sports over our local athletes (kids and adults) is a bad look.
Let me support the news and the new plan that the city released yesterday. Trying to fit two fields into a ribbon of land surrounded by BPA power lines, cracking and popping as kids play baseball and softball, is a bad idea. Add to that the huge Data Center being built south of the location, which will blot out the Sun and the sound of cars whizzing by on Highway 26, and you have a site that is an insult to the games- our kids deserve so much better.
Based on the Herald’s discussion with Assistant City Manager Rahim Harji, we have reason to believe that what is to come next can be a home run for the people of Hillsboro. The plan to keep fields at the GFRC left baseball and softball lovers with a bad taste in their mouths as it felt punitive. Fields 4,5 and 6 were premier fields. The possible fields at the location above were not. They never felt right. Now, armed with $20 Million dollars in revenue from the Hillsboro Hops, the City of Hillsboro is closing in on a couple of amazing options- and they are not the fields at Brown Junior High School which was criticized as a future traffic nightmare.
In the New Year, early in 2025, we are hoping to announce a new location that will be much better than what was previously planned. The batter is in the box, and we are cheering for an over-the-fence deep ball. Happy Holidays, everyone!
From the City of Hillsboro Website
Community Sports Fields Update: New Options Pursued Away from GFRC
A proposal to build two multi-use sports fields in the northwest corner of the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex (GFRC) will not move forward after the City of Hillsboro was notified by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) that the complexities of having these fields close to future powerlines would cause too much of a potential risk and safety concern.
Plans for the project were pursued in conjunction with approval of a lease agreement for the Hillsboro Hops Ballpark, which converted three existing grass softball fields at GFRC to a new ballpark that will meet requirements laid out for the team by Major League Baseball in 2021.
At the time of the lease agreement in June 2024, the proposed site was a viable option, with potential solutions for environmental, regulatory, and entitlement challenges.
In November, BPA notified the City that the site cannot accommodate a project of the proposed size without conflicting with future high-voltage transmission lines. The City and BPA had been working collaboratively over the last year to design the fields in a manner to minimize any risks associated with the future transmission lines, however, the City was recently notified that the current proposal would not be able to overcome the BPA’s concerns.
After completing due diligence work to fully evaluate a scaled-down version of the previous plan, the focus now turns to identifying more effective ways to deliver value for the community.
Evaluating All Options
The City is disappointed in this outcome. While development of new fields at the previously proposed site will not take place, the City of Hillsboro remains committed to replacing use lost as a result of the new ballpark through a variety of options which may include:
- Potential smaller development at the site
- Potential new development at alternative locations
- Additional use and modifications of the Hillsboro Ballpark for community activities
- Increased community access to Field 3 at Gordon Faber Recreation Complex
- Offering community hours at the new ballpark
- Enhancements to existing fields around the city with turf, fencing, or other amenities
- Repurposing under-utilized sites
- Other strategies identified in the Loss of Use Report, which the Hillsboro City Council adopted in July 2024
Any projects to replace lost use will be paid for by $20 million generated from a portion of ticket sales at Hillsboro Hops games, negotiated as part of the lease agreement.
Next steps include reviewing the options previously identified in the Loss of Use Report and working with the Hillsboro Parks & Recreation Commission, Hillsboro City Council, and community at-large to create a revised plan.
Commitment to Sports & Recreation
The City of Hillsboro Parks & Recreation Departments commitment to maintaining GFRC as a destination for sporting events and hub for community activities is unwavering.
GFRC proudly hosts:
- Hillsboro Hops baseball
- Portland State University football, softball, and soccer
- Hillsboro School District athletics and graduations
- Oregon School Activities Association games and tournaments
- Youth and adult sports practices, leagues, and tournaments
- Community events and activities, including the Latino Cultural Festival hosted by the Washington County Chamber of Commerce and Hillsboro Hops
Hillsboro’s award-winning parks and recreation amenities have played a significant role in the City being ranked as one of the “best places to live in America” multiple years in a row.
Additional Resources
Hillsboro Hops Ballpark Project
Loss of Use Report
Gordon Faber Recreation Complex
Hillsboro Sports Complexes
The time for blasting the Hops and their plan for Foghat on the Field is over. The county and city already yielded, some fairly large industrial development now flanks the site to the west and poor Gordon Faber Recreation Center is starting to look like landfill with loge seating.
If we want to focus on a potential, realistic solution… I think it’s time to give the Fair Complex a hard look. Wingspan has changed the way the county approaches the fair anyway, and it’s never made sense to just keep a bunch of land vacant for one event’s overflow parking. You have the potential to go in there and create an all-time great sports complex that can still accommodate both a county ag fair and Wingspan events without bankrupting the entire works. Also, having all of that directly adjacent to Max and bus lines would give the site advantages GFRC never had.
Amid all the damage done with local government’s Hops giveaways is the opportunity to get it right: To make those fields accessible to more groups and neighborhoods and to put them in a place that makes some modicum of sense. You’ll never be able to touch that Schmizza or arcade on a weekend again, but I don’t think the businesses would complain about that, either.
Me thinks you have spies in City Hall. Keep up the thoughtful commentary. I think your on to something there my friend from the Northern Flank!
Dirk
I could have saved the city the time and expense of determining that shoehorning a couple of replacement fields onto the Gordon Faber property was not going to work. It took me about thirty seconds to conclude this after seeing the plans months ago! There is a reason that the proposed parcels have not been utilized before now, far too many complications. A plan should have been ready for replacement fields at the same time the Hops project was announced, and it very well may have been if the mayor had not purposely kept his own Park and Recreation board in the dark about the Hops project for as long as he could. This is an example of how local government should not work!
One result, that many do not realize, is that long-time youth baseball and softball tournaments have since relocated to other venues in other cities and states, including my own five events that had been held at the GFRC fields since 2010. Altogether these baseball and softball tournaments generated more than 10 Million dollars in local economic impact. These are realistic numbers too, not the overinflated fantasy numbers that I have seen from other studies about the GFRC project. I could go on and on, but instead I have moved on. Hillsboro’s loss is Vancouver’s gain.
I heard a statement that your 5 were the only lost tournaments. Can you pin down what we have lost as a community? What will it take to get tournaments back?
Excellent comments–I think you were much too charitable in this article Dirk–don’t think it is deserved on the city’s part. I remember too reading at the time how much was lost in longstanding yearly tournament activities–naturally they couldn’t wait for this rebuild and had to go elsewhere. A number of years ago our niece from California–who was in the national — or maybe pacific coast girl’s high school softball tournament came up to play. And to answer your question Dirk–we need a number of excellent fields in close location to each other to be able to host tournaments again–used to have 6.
I personally am quite bitter about this latest “development”. I may have missed some updates–but were the full 3 lost fields ever fully planned for? I only see 2.
You know me- I am very charitable and never crtical or tough! ;)
I have seen plans that require me to be charitable in this case and supportive. We lost three turf fields, and we gains full use of the Ron Tonkin- which was a big upgrade over the type of field we lost. So we are down 2 when the new stadium opens in 2026. The two going in the powerline triangle, which I HATED as an option, will now be put elsewhere. That gets us back to even and the Hops pay for that to happen. But, I think we will find out that the move here is to get 4-6 new fields and that we will see a net gain. The deal is not done yet and I in this case can say no more for a while. I appealed the entire Hops Stadium as you may know. That was expensive and hard to do. When I withdrew the appeal and allowed the Stadium to go ahead, I resigned myself to support the bet outcome possible in a situation that was bad on its face. Can’t dwell in the negative space, ever. That is a good place to end up face down in Jackson Bottom. So as Sting says, “when the world is coming down, you make the best of what’s still around”. Stand by my friend!
This is the latest sad chapter in this continuing saga. As the parent of a youth softball player, I have demanded the City do right by our youth since this issue became public in early 2023. I was not a fan of the shoehorning of the replacement fields in the NW corner at GFRC, but I saw the value in having the fields “on site” to be a better lure for serving the tournaments that chose to use the complex. With this latest development, which did not come as a surprise to me (I always knew the power lines and wetlands would be an issue), the City as a renewed opportunity to demonstrate it is committed to serving its citizens and businesses. The City needs to be forward-thinking. There is still space on the north side of the city to build a complex that will rival other sites within the region. The fairgrounds would be a great place for a new complex, but the County would need to get on board with a chance in the use of the space. There are also spaces at Cornelius Pass and Cornell and Evergreen and Jackson School that could be considered. This City needs to think big. At this point, they need to solicit input from the citizens. It would be good for our City leaders to reaffirm they want Hillsboro to be a best place in America…that means investing in the community and not just trying to lure more tech businesses.
There have been rumblings about that space on Evergreen and Jackson ever since it came into the UGB, and I still think that’s one of the better ideas for it.
We’re seeing the data centers creep their way up to Sewell, but it’s clear nobody’s given much thought about what happens once that construction reaches NE 15th and has actual residential neighbors. With the exception of small parks like Griffin Oaks and Hamby, that corner of Hillsboro lacks recreational facilities and hasn’t shown much interest in providing any. They’ve placed signs for Hamby park up on Evergreen almost a mile and a half from it, and it’s basically a basketball court and a gazebo.
If Hillsboro wanted to extend some goodwill up here and actually show it was serious about connecting existing neighborhoods, incoming jobs, and potential new neighborhoods to the west, a large recreational facility in the middle of it all would be a good step in the right direction—and a nice buffer for all involved.
I think the fair complex has plenty of merit as well, but as someone who’d be neighboring that particular property, I’d require little convincing.
For those keeping track, the Hops averaged 2,345 fans per home game this season: https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/minor_attendance/2024/
That’s down from 2,356 per game in 2023: https://ballparkdigest.com/2023/10/16/2023-milb-attendance-by-average/
I don’t doubt that a baseball team could likely use the seats in that new facility. It’s just that the team in question might be the Portland Pickles, who averaged more than 3,600 fans for each outing in 2024: https://ballparkdigest.com/2024/10/28/2024-summer-collegiate-attendance-by-average/
Oops. My mistake. The Hops actually averaged 2,405 per game in 2023. So that’s 5,152 fewer fans in 2024, and an average that’s the lowest of their High-A era that didn’t include pandemic-canceled games.
I’m also left shaking my head at the TOTAL ABSENCE OF ANY IMPACT STUDIES CONDUCTED prior to the Conditional Use 003-23 being pushed through the PZHB hearing on Sept. 6, 2023. Not even so much as a Traffic Impact study which was last conducted over 25 years ago.
In that meeting, about 3 hours in, Joe Turner (land use attorney contracted by Hillsboro) managing the meeting finally stated that “NO economic study or comparison was conducted” after being pressed by one of the 2 citizens on the panel participating in the zoning hearing.
How on earth was PGE not involved from the get go? The lack of research is pathetic. I can’t imagine any reputable engineering company being so lackadaisical, just sloppy, there’s some ulterior motive going on.
For those of you referring to the Washington County Fair Complex (soon to have the MAX line stop renamed something else and won’t be the Washington County Fairgrounds station anyore), you should check out the plans for future buildings around the new business center, the Westside Commons Wingspan Event Center. There are many big buildings sketched in with no funding for any of it. In case you haven’t noticed, most everything agricultural is being replaced with “business,” all while Hillsboro continues to state that “there is no war on agriculture.” Oh, really? Then why are all the symbols and landmarks representing agriculture disappearing? It’s becoming owned by Intel (and the likes) so much that they should just change the name of Hillsboro to Intelsville since it no longer looks or feels like Hillsboro any more. Nope, all the agricultural values, symbols, and landmarks are being white washed away. Yep, nearly 200 years of building a rural community replaced by IC production and other high tech endeavors, data farms, Amazon, Microsoft, etc. just like a “hussy going to the richest bidder.” To McCall must be rolling over in his grave!!
Hussie indeed. Tom said it just as he saw it, and here we are.
It turns out that entire professional sports franchises will place facilities in Hillsboro without public land or money. Did we know this? https://www.wnba.com/news/raj-sports-unveils-groundbreaking-womens-performance-center-for-portland-thorns-and-wnba-team-cementing-portland-as-the-global-epicenter-of-womens-sport
Wow… that’s telling and really a big win!!
Say what you will about Bill Oram’s Hops stadium coverage, but it’s done a fine job of letting everyone know exactly what we’re getting along the way. The new renderings look a lot more… how should I put this… modest and baseball-centered than the originals. Also, the one concert rendering seems to involve a tarp and folding chairs.
https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2025/05/watch-hillsboro-hops-make-progress-on-150-million-stadium.html
Now that may get Hillsboro the one Miranda Lambert concert that MiLB handed out last year (or Thomas Rhett for the less fortunate), but I doubt it’s going to make Edgefield or Grand Lodge lose much sleep.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/major-league-music-at-minor-league-ballparks-diamond-baseball-holdings-announces-music-on-the-diamond-concert-series-302123614.html