Park Place plans spark controversy

Residents of the area believe it will bring more traffic and destroy wildlife habitat; city officials say it will allow for smart planning

By Matthew Graham

The Oregon City News, Dec 19, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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In a pocket just east of Highway 213 at the edge of the designated urban growth boundary, where suburban Oregon City finally breaks away into the noticeably more rural hamlet of Beavercreek, the latest dispute over development and expansion is taking place.

The point of dichotomy and of the current dispute is the northern entrance into Holly Lane, a narrow, two-lane road with deep ditches, no shoulders and a severe turn.

And it is residents of this street, calculated to see an increase in traffic from 3,000 trips per day to over 16,000 if the planned Park Place Development is established, who have raised the greatest protest.

“We would like our communities to stay intact and we don’t feel that we should be the victims of developments … the victims of our state and our city,” said Christine Kosinski, a Beavercreek board member.

The concept for the development presented to the City Commission divides the area into a north village and a south village. Each village will have a central area with a small “town center” with denser mixed-use and apartment-type buildings. These areas will be surrounded by an area of medium density, and those areas surrounded by an area of low density, with spread-out houses with yards. The whole area will include 1,459 new dwelling units, extensions of Holly Lane north and Swan Avenue south and various parks and other amenities.

Kosinski and Kami Kehoe have been leading the opposition to the development, saying the increased traffic will pose a danger for community members. They also cite larger issues: the area under consideration is susceptible to landslides, making it unfit for new construction; the planned development would destroy a good deal of high-value wildlife habitat and endanger salmon in the nearby creeks; and development places an undue burden on current residents of the city by placing greater pressure on local services, which they say development does not pay for.

But city officials say the development will raise assessed values throughout the city if implemented correctly over time.

Holly Lane safety

Kosinski said her initial and main concern is safety along Holly Lane.

“One of the reasons the city wants to use Holly Lane is because it’s already built, it’s cheap,” Kosinski said. “Holly Lane is the only north/south connector in the area.” But, she said, “It cannot take an increase in traffic.

“It’s been proposed that Holly Lane take 16,000 cars a day – that’s a 500 percent increase.”

Kosinski and Kehoe don’t just want new traffic to stay away – they argue that the road is too dangerous as it is and are asking that the city install traffic-calming measures.

Because many of the houses are so close to Holly Lane, there is too little right-of-way to widen the street or add lanes for the increased traffic.

Instead, Kehoe and Kosinski have offered alternative options to the city.

“A Holly Lane resident took an alternative plan and the city said it wouldn’t consider it because it’s outside the Urban Growth Boundary,” Kosinski said.

In the meantime, the two have collected signatures from 113 households and 40 comment forms detailing the dangers already present on Holly Lane.

“Holly Lane is narrow, winding, with deep ditches and no shoulders,” reads one of the comment forms. “It’s foolhardy to dump thousands more cars on this road without making substantial changes.”

But city officials said the city needs to look at Oregon City as a whole, and that development will be gradual enough to plan accordingly.

“The development in the park place area will happen slowly, it will happen over 20 years, so hopefully through that period of time we’ll be able to address the growth of the city as it happens slowly over time,” said Mayor Alice Norris.

Landslides

Just 11 years ago, Oregon City was one of the hardest hit cities of a flood that caused numerous landslides.

“Holly Lane has lost six homes to landslides,” Kosinski said. “Insurance does not cover losses to landslides.”

But Kosinski said when she brought these concerns to the city, she wasn’t “getting answers.”

So she called Scott Burns, a geologist from Portland State University who’s familiar with the area.

“I have gone across all of the property … and the actual development areas, landslide-wise, are pretty much, pretty low landslide prone areas,” Burns said.

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