CIP 59: Terrill Park

Terrill Park is a 21 acre park set on the banks of the Merrimack River. Overall the park is not developed, there is a paved multi use trail along the river bank and is home of Concord's only Dog Park. The Dog Park is maintained by the Pope Memorial SPCA.

The park is on the verge of a transformation that will bring community members of all ages to the park and the river front. In the FY18 City Budget money was approved for the full design of Concord's first artificial turf field, new larger dog park, additional parking and much more. The park is uniquely positioned with great access to interstate 93 and is part of the long awaited Merrimack River Greenway Trail. For more information of the MRGT please visit their web site.

Over the past several years the Parks and Recreation Advisory (RPAC),  city staff and City Council have reviewed several concepts and finally agreed on a new Master Plan for the park (see picture at bottom of page).

Parks and Recreation Advisory Power-point Review - Feb 2017 (PDF)

Why Terrill Park for the City's First Artificial Turf Field?
* Improves an undeveloped park.
* Easy access to highway, increase in cars to this field location will not affect neighborhoods streets.
* Flood lights on the field for evening and night use will not affect neighborhoods as there is no housing in the area.
* Has space for a new parking lot for 150 cars.
* Can build the field without affecting a current active fields. Construction will take up to 12 months (2-3 sport seasons).
* Will allow the city to host local and regional tournaments (soccer, lacrosse, football, field hockey).
* Builds a park in a part of the city that is currently underserved.
* In the event the city in the future makes field improvements at other fields, the regular field users of the field under construction would be able to be relocated here during field improvements.

Benefits of an Artificial Turf Field
* Field conditions not affected by rain. Fields are usable even with 5+ inches a rain per hour. With 5+ inches or rain our regular grass fields would be closed for many days.
* Field will be lined for several sports. We can schedule many different users back to back - first use might be soccer, then lacrosse and then field hockey.
* Increases our sports seasons by 3 to 4 months. Other artificial turf fields in NH are usually open in late February and remain open into December. As an example in Feb 20, 2019 there was at least four other artificial turf fields open in NH, while many of our fields did not opened until around May 1 (due to wet conditions).
* They require less weekly maintenance than regular grass fields. 

Cons of a Artificial Turf Field
* Typically costs between $400,000 and $500,000 more than a new grass athletic fields.
* The turf needs be to replaced every 10-14 years (depending on use).
* Concern over the use of crumb rubber for infill. We are not recommending crumb rubber for our field as there are other products now available.

Council Report on Terrill Park (PDF)

At the August 2017 City of Concord Council Meeting, members asked city staff and VHB to look at adding additional parking spaces as well as adding a bus turn around/drop off area near the new field. Staff worked with VHB to update the plans to include addiational parking and a bus area. 

Spring 2018 Update: The Recreation and Parks Advisory Committee approved an updated plan that shows additional parking spaces. Approximately 25 of these new parking spaces are "green" and will only be used for large events. The new concept also does not included a splash pad at this park.

Fall 2018 Update: Final design and permitting of the project continues. We anticipated all permits will be in place during by February 2019. In the FY19 Capital Improvement budget the first phase of this project was funded in the FY2020 budget. This may change when the FY20 budget is reviewed by City Council in May of 2019.

February 2019: The new Park Master Plan is now fully permitted for construction (AOT, Army Corp, NHDES etc). As funding is approved in future City Budgets we are ready to issue RFP for project.

September 2019: City Council accepted and funded Phase 1 of the project. With a Land and Water Conservation Grant of $100,000 and cash donations of up to $69,000 from the Friends of the Merrimack River Greenway Trail, the City Council agreed to fund another $178,760. This phase will allow the contruction of the paved Greenway Trail, relocate and build a new dog park, build a new upper parking lot and related site improvements. Work is anticipated to start spring 2020 and be completed by end of August 2020. Phase two of the project is currently listed in the FY21 CIP.

June 2020: The Concord Parks and Recreation Department and the City of Concord held a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, June 8, 2020 to officially kick off phase one of the project. Merrill Construction was selected for the project. Work is scheduled to begin onsite on June 2020 and continue through September 2020. Phase 1 of the project is just over $380,000 and is funded by: The City of Concord, Land and Water Conservation Grant, Friends of the Merrimack River Greenway Trail and Concord Rotary Club. The Dog Park is maintained by Pope Memorial SPCA. Phase 2 of the project was moved to FY23 due to concerns with the overall city budget.

October 2020: Phase 1 is complete and new dog park, parking lot and section of the Merrimack River Greenway Trail is open. (See our ribbon cutting video below the map.)

The new Dog Park at Terrill Park is maintained by the Pope Memorial SPCA. If you would like to volunteer to help maintain the dog park, please call them at (603) 856-8756.

Terrill Park new Approved Master Plan Dec 2017 Site Plan Final