Two new parks will soon offer Norman residents greater opportunities to engage in outdoor activities, appreciate nature, and be part of the city’s mission to bring communities together through an active and well-loved parks system.

Bluestem Park, just south of Cedar Lane Road on 24th Avenue SE, and the Bishop Creek Eco Park, at the corner of Alameda and Carter, will be the 66th and 67th parks in the Norman Parks inventory. That total does not include facilities like the Young Family Athletic Center, 12th Avenue Recreation Center, the Adult Wellness and Education Center, or other recreation facilities. The goal is to have both parks open by the end of 2025.

Bluestem Park will join the City’s network of neighborhood parks and is one of the New Neighborhood Parks approved as part of NORMAN FORWARD in 2015. It will feature a walking trail, a playground, a picnic shelter, a sand volleyball court, a half-court basketball court, some native plant berms along the trail, and trees that will increase the Norman Urban Forest. The park was designed based on survey feedback from residents near the park.

The Bishop Creek Eco Park is a unique, dual-purpose space. It is designed not only to provide an open area with a boardwalk and a natural refuge in the middle of the city. It also serves as a critical component of Norman’s stormwater control program.

“Bishop Creek Eco Park is a joint project between the Parks and Recreation Department and the Stormwater Maintenance Division of the Public Works Department,” said Park Development Manager James Briggs. “The goal is to create a park space that also will have engineered stormwater controls built into it by creating a detention pond along the creek course to help control downstream flooding events.” 

In addition to stream bank stabilization and detention pond construction, the Bishop Creek project will also have a walking trail through the trees and along the waterway, Briggs said. It will also feature solar-powered parking lot lighting, a parking lot design that uses vegetation to clean runoff from the parking lot and educational signage about stormwater control.

“We are lucky to live in a place like Norman that absolutely loves its Parks and continues to invest in great outdoor and green spaces” said Jason Olsen, director of Parks and Recreation. “Your Parks Department takes pride in designing and working with architects to design new parks. Bluestem Park and Bishop Creek Eco Park will be designed and built to the standard our community expects, and these new parks will continue the tradition of improving our quality of life here in Norman.

###