The Lake Oswego City Council chose to award most of the $2 million from a Metro regional government program to three projects: enhanced access to the Willamette River at George Rogers Park, improvements to parking and other access at Luscher Farm and connector trails at West Waluga Park.
The City Council unanimously agreed to this plan during a meeting Tuesday, April 16, and chose to do so over another option proposed by staff, which would have awarded most of the money to the George Rogers Park project. Local residents had rated the George Rogers project as the highest priority with the Luscher Farm and West Waluga Park projects coming in second and third.
The city annually awards grants to nonprofit organizations through the program, which is funded by a Metro bond.
Parks analyst and project manager Kyra Haggart emphasized the popularity of the George Rogers Park project. That project would include the construction of a 10-foot-wide multi-use path. Staff noted that the riverfront property is currently “limited by dense invasive brush and a steep bank.”
“That was far and away the top project. We heard so much about this from so many people and so many community groups for lots of different reasons,” she said.
The Luscher project would relocate the existing driveway at the park and develop a new parking lot, which staff said would improve safety. The West Waluga Park project would expand the property to include a section on Yates Street, which the city acquired in 2021, and would include the addition of trails.
Staff projected the top six priority projects, which also included an expansion of the Luscher Farm Community Garden, an expansion of the natural area at Hallinan Woods and the property acquisition of Sunnyslope open space, to cost $4 million, necessitating the city to have to delineate funding.
“What’s really hard about this is all of these projects are really wonderful projects,” Haggart said.
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