The city of Lake Oswego and Clackamas County face the possibility of litigation over the county’s planned improvements to Stafford Road and Childs Road that would impact the charter-protected and city-owned Stevens Meadow.
The county has completed designs on a project to add a roundabout at Childs Road, realign an intersection at Johnson Road and Stafford Road, add a southbound left-turn lane at Johnson Road and add bike lanes along Stafford Road. Through that process, the county seeks to construct improvements on a portion of the Stevens Meadow property, which is protected by the Chapter X charter amendment that prevents developments and improvements to city-owned parks. The park is 20.5 acres and sits next to Shipley Drive.
“This could be done by the City choosing to sell the property, Clackamas County condemning the property, or potential litigation between both parties,” assistant to the city manager Madison Thesing wrote in an email to members of LoveLOParks, the citizen group that led the charter amendment process.
During a presentation at a City Council meeting Tuesday April 16, Mayor Joe Buck and other councilors expressed dismay to county officials that the council was just hearing about this project despite the fact that the county has already completed designs. Buck suggested that the city could fight back if the county attempts to unilaterally proceed with its plans through a condemnation process.
“We will defend the charter. We will defend what our voters stood behind. You need to convince them of the benefits of this project and how we can move forward. Otherwise we are at loggerheads,” Buck said. “If you think condemnation is the way forward, be prepared.”
Councilor Rachel Verdick added: “I am extraordinarily frustrated that we are just now as a council learning about this. I think learning about this at 100% design rather than earlier is unacceptable.”
However, some councilors said the project to improve local transportation would be beneficial in some ways.
“I think it’s well worth the investment of time and partnership to help make this the best outcome possible,” Councilor John Wendland said.
The city staff report indicated that staff had asked the county to consider moving the project south but that the county said doing so would require the removal of a single-family home and construction of a larger retaining wall.
“These limitations informed the County’s decision that the property along Stevens Meadow would be the most viable,” the staff report reads.
The staff report adds that selling the property to the county would pose legal and reputational risk due to the charter amendment but that the county canceling or postposing the project may damage the relationship between the two governments and expressed uncertainty of the legal ramifications of the county potentially seeking to condemn the property.
Along with the issue of the charter amendment, Susan Hummel, whose family sold the property to the city, testified that there are deed restrictions and conservation easements tied to the park property that bar such construction there. Further, the Metro regional government also owns property the county wants to acquire for the project.
Deputy City Attorney Evan Boone said at the meeting he wasn’t yet prepared to outline the exact parameters of potential legal ramification and the council’s role in it.
The city is already enmeshed in litigation over a proposed sewer line it wants a developer to build at West Waluga Park, which is also subject to the charter amendment. Lake Oswego voters approved the charter amendment in 2021. Though city staff had stated that the charter amendment wasn’t applicable to that project, a Clackamas County Circuit Court judge ruled otherwise.
Feedback from LoveLOParks
Despite Buck’s comments at the meeting, the council received many public comments castigating the city for allegedly circumventing the voters' will when it came to the charter amendment. Scott Handley with LoveLOParks wrote to the council wondering why the project had reached this point without intervention from Lake Oswego staff or elected officials and felt that this lack of action followed a thread of the city not properly enforcing the Chapter X amendment. The charter amendment was approved by voters in 2021.
“City Council’s and City staff’s actions and inactions speak louder than any words and proclamations. Ignoring our community’s majority who expect leadership to follow through and abide by our City’s laws doesn’t seem like a great strategy to build trust,” Handley wrote. “Our community should expect City Council and City staff to comply with the laws that govern our City without the need of constant citizen oversight. The City’s culture and behavior is a disservice and insult to our community. It must strive to do better.”
Multiple councilors felt that some of the comments the public has made criticizing the city — some commenters accused the city of having a pro-developer bias and ignoring the will of the voters — have been unproductive and unfair.
Clackamas County staff who spoke at the meeting said that this project was identified in a road safety audit produced in 2018 and its Transportation System Plan before that; they hope to add bike lanes along Stafford Road and improve safety and capacity at Johnson Road and Childs Road.
Dan Johnson, the director for the department of transportation and development for the county, said that staff conducted public outreach for the project with adjacent properties but could have done a better job of publicizing to a wider array of residents. He said the county usually doesn’t conduct property acquisitions in a public forum.
“You have a policy conflict here, which is unfortunate. It is a difficult decision to make. We stand and are willing and able to be a partner in that discussion,” Johnson told the council at the meeting.
Clackamas County staffers emphasized that though the county had not publicized this project broadly in Lake Oswego, it had notified city staff.
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