The Willamette River Greenway and Linnton’s river pathway

By Brian Hoop 

Initial steps have been taken to identify what happens next to build a pedestrian trail along the Willamette River Greenway. If you’ll recall in our September newsletter, we reported Representative Brad Witt and Senator Betsy Johnson had secured $810,000 in funding for the Linnton neighborhood as part of the Covid-related American Rescue Plan Act approved by Congress last March 2021.

Neighborhood leaders have reached out to City of Portland staff from Parks and Recreation as well as Development Services to ask for guidance on what comes next. A representative from the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) will join us at our January 2nd meeting to discuss their role.

While the government agencies contemplate their role, we need more volunteers who share a vision of gaining access to the Willamette River to join us at the next Linnton Neighborhood Association meeting on Wednesday, November 3rd (see Zoom meeting info on page one). 

The Willamette River Greenway

Central to this project is a statewide land use policy developed in the 1980’s – Goal 15 of Oregon’s Statewide Planning Goals and Guidelines – the Willamette River Greenway. The Greenway is a “corridor of water and land in which development is planned and built with recognition of the unique qualities of the Willamette River.”

“The idea of a greenway along the Willamette River has its origin in legislation proposed by Governor Tom McCall in 1967,” according to the DLCD. “His goals were similar to those that resulted in the protection of Oregon beaches for public use.” McCall’s vision included encouraging easements along the river to extend and connect bike and pedestrian paths as well as keeping structures away from the river to preserve access to the river’s banks.

Local jurisdictions, like the City of Portland, are required to have a Greenway section within their comprehensive plan and local development codes. Those rules guide new development and uses along the river requiring property owners to follow standards designed to maintain physical and visual access to the river, preserve habitat and vegetation near the river, and to direct development away from the river. 

The Greenway trail in Linnton

I bet you didn’t know there is a Willamette River Greenway trail in Linnton. Maps of the Greenway system through Portland indicates the trail is the bike lane along NW St. Helens Rd / Hwy 30 with a short diversion along NW Front Ave. between NW 107th and 112th. There is a spur that darts along the newly created public pathway at NW 107th (check it out!) and from the new riverbank viewpoint turns north along the river for five blocks.

Most of the riverfront property in that stretch, but not all, belongs to George Webb, owner of Harmer Steel specializing in rail fabrication services. In 1998, the company sought to grade and resurface their gravel storage yard triggering a Land Use Review (98-00707 GW – Greenway Review.) 

Though the Bureau of Planning found the project’s scale did not warrant requiring the owner to construct a trail, approval was conditioned on the applicant agreeing to dedicate a “25-foot Greeway Trail easement, from the top of the bank, for the length of this property, which will be graded and seeded to prevent erosion. It will not be graveled.”

In addition, “the applicant further offers to allow the City of Portland to construct these facilities, if desired.”

This is where the current story picks up. No one is proposing the property owner pay for developing a trail along this easement. We now have the funds in hand and are ready to work with the City to identify a process to start such a planning, design and construction process to implement McCall’s original vision – building pedestrian paths to connect Oregonians to a state treasure – the Willamette River.

This would also be the only public access on the west side of the river from the Pearl District to Fred’s Marina across 

from Sauvie Island – an 8-mile stretch of mostly industrial land. 

There will be challenges. If you go down to the new viewpoint at NW 107th Ave., you’ll see the trail curves left/North and dead ends at a fence with a “Private Property – No Trail Access” sign. This would appear to be where the 25-foot easement would exist that is supposed to be “seeded to prevent erosion.” It appears to be a storage area filled with Harmer Steel’s rail products. Where exactly the 25-foot easement begins from the high water mark will need to be identified to us by the City. 

Volunteers needed to make the trail a reality 

Thanks to Sarah Taylor, Pat Wagner and Shawn Looney, who volunteered to kick start a project committee. This is likely to be a multi-year project requiring more volunteers. Skills needed, ideally, include a land use attorney and planner, and landscape architect. But anyone who wants to see the trail become a reality is invited to get involved. 

For more info and to get involved, contact Sarah Taylor at sarahsojourner@mac.com or 503-805-4680. 

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