Parks & Trails
Letter about the South Waterfront Greenway
May 26, 2010
We at Community Relations recently received the following letter from Portland Parks & Recreation on the status of the South Waterfront Greenway:
April 22, 2010
What is the Greenway?
The South Waterfront Greenway runs along the west side of the Willamette River, from Lane to Gibbs Streets. The original Greenway Plan was developed in 2004 by Walker Macy and an Advisory Committee which included OHSU, area developers, city staff and residents. The Greenway Plan created a long term vision for the Greenway. Its primary goal was to balance environmental, recreational, fish and wildlife habitat and future resident’s needs. The vision for a developed greenway included enhanced wildlife habitat, vegetation, bike and pedestrian paths, overlooks and lawn areas.
The plan is great but its implementation has been challenging. Key issues that have delayed development of the project include:
- permitting – habitat and related environmental requirements
- property transfer
- remediation of environmental contamination
While significant progress has been made on these issues, they are not yet fully resolved.
When will the Greenway get built?
In September 2009, we shared with the community that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) indicated the need for the design to better accommodate fish habitat in the area of the central district. After much discussion, we asked our consultants, Walker Macy, to develop a design approach that would balance habitat, access, and recreation considerations and meet NMFS requirements.
Following the development of design options to discuss with NMFS, including consideration of a sheet pile approach shared with the public last year, we are still working with Walker Macy to finalize the feasibility and cost of a preferred revised approach.
Once Walker Macy has completed sufficient design and estimating work, we will meet with NMFS with the updated design to proceed with permitting. In addition to the NMFS permitting process, there is a permit process through the Bureau of Development Services.
This work is taking a long time. Back in September we indicated that the earliest “in-water” work window was likely 2012. That remains true, although it is possible that delays may result in construction being pushed back to 2013.
For more information contact, Liz Moorhead, Project Manager at 503-823-5883 or liz.moorhead@portlandoregon.gov
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at 4:08 pm and is filed under Parks & Trails. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Anatoliy (Toliy) Ioffe is a long-time Pacific Northwest resident with a love for the outdoors. He is thrilled to live next to the river, whose valley has been described as Oregon's Garden of Eden.
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