By Brian Hoop
The Linnton Greenway Trail Project has prevailed in the first part of legal proceedings aimed at enabling construction of a public trail along Linnton’s Willamette Riverfront. This park, which would be accessed via the recently built NW 107th Avenue trailhead, has been stalled by George Webb and City of Portland Parks Bureau staff since 1998 – the year when City Council ordered its creation.
April’s ruling by Multnomah County Circuit Court judge Celia Howes means the issues used by Mr. Webb and City staff to obstruct will finally be tested and resolved. The city, which faces no costs to build or maintain this trail, is refusing to issue a construction permit. Mr. Webb – who is in joint defense with the City via his Babcock Land Company and Harmer Steel legal entities – is the person who first proposed the trail in order to comply with the zoning requirements he faced after having purchased the land for redevelopment to its current use. Such an exchange is the standard way most of the city’s greenway trails – like those in the Pearl or South Waterfront – have been realized and are maintained.
LCC – serving as fiscal agent on behalf of the project – filed suit after years of volunteer and project consultant efforts to find common ground with Mr. Webb and City staff. This renewed effort has been enabled by a State of Oregon administered federal grant awarded. The funding – part of the COVID American Rescue Plan Act – has paid for the work needed to bring the trail to a “permit ready” status. With its construction contract finalized, this legal matter is all that remains outstanding.
The project’s lawyers – Ballard Spahr Lane Powell – responded to the City’s and Mr. Webb’s shared effort to get the lawsuit dismissed by pointing out how these defendants’ legal position “rests on standards plainly inapplicable to the present action, factual disputes not appropriate on a motion to dismiss, and myriad red herrings.” They also pointed out how the City and Mr. Webb’s lawyers “repeatedly mischaracterize the basis of (the project’s) claims, and the rights and interests (of Linnton residents)… attempting, unsuccessfully, to twist this action into something it is plainly not.”
The judge’s decision affirmed the community’s standing as the beneficiary of the trail – rejecting the city’s argument that city staff – not Linnton citizens – held such positional authority. The next steps will be for the defendants – the City and Mr. Webb – to prepare substantial and costly legal defense materials in reply to the project’s legal suit.
“The City will need to provide support for its argument that it cannot force Mr. Webb to accept the trail’s construction – even though Mr. Webb proposed it, approved it, implemented it via easement and continues to use his land that has a condition of approval recorded on title requiring the trail.” explained the trail’s 3rd-party project manager, Noel Johnson. Concurrently, the project will continue to communicate that it wants to build the trail – not waste time on litigation.