Board of County Commissioners

Time for a nature walk

Construction begins this month on picnic area, restrooms at Graham Oaks

By: Patrick Johnson
Published: 9/2/2009 1:40:46 PM

In the past two weeks, there has been nothing but good news when it comes to one of her pet projects, Graham Oaks Nature Park. The 250-acre nature area nestled between Villebois, Wilsonville Road and Boones Ferry Primary School, is on schedule to have construction start in early September for the long-awaited nature park in west Wilsonville.

“This is a piece of property my mother worked on in the ‘70s,” Clackamas County Commissioner Lehan said as she pulled weeds from around the saplings. “Metro was going to put a landfill on the property before Wood Middle School was built. There were petitions and everything and finally they decided to take the trash to Arlington.”

The same government agency that her mother challenged is now signing contracts and analyzing bids for a nature park on the very property that created the controversy in the ‘70s.

“I never thought I would see this happen in my lifetime,” Lehan said with a laugh. “It’s been a long time in process.”

Lehan was quick to point out that many people were involved in getting the park to this point – including generations of students at Wood Middle School.

“Some testified when they were in middle school, came back when they were in high school and even testified again when they came back from college,” Lehan said. “It really has been a regional effort to get this property protected.”

Project Scope

The project will include a covered picnic area, with a green roof with plants and other material, have a restroom with a solar panel – a first for the city of Wilsonville park – and use pervious pavement and bio-swales to treat storm water.

“The solar panel will be connected to the grid,” said Chris Neamtzu, manager of long-range planning for the city. “It will power the high efficiency LED and when it produces more energy than is needed it will put it back into the grid.”

The three miles in trails will range from paved bike and pedestrian paths to graveled side trails that will feature the unique landscape of the park. Initially the plan was to build trails in the grassy area, featuring the large oak tree, wetlands and other ecosystems. Now with the favorable bids that have come in, Metro and city officials are saying they may expand the trail system.

One of the main features of the park will be interpretive overlooks, which will focus on the six different habitats found on the site. There will be signs sponsored by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. The tribes are also giving information about the property, according to Neamtzu.

The trails will also connect Villebois with the Park at Merryfield and to the two schools next to Graham Oaks Nature Park. The West Linn-Wilsonville School District’s CREST program also will be connected to the park, and will use it as a kind of outdoor classroom, he said.

“This is going to be a great resource for four of our higher-density neighborhoods in the area,” Lehan said. “I am sure it will get a lot of use.”

However, the first phase of the project will be work on a parking lot, covered picnic area and restrooms. Construction is expected to start in early September and, weather permitting, construction could go on into the fall.

Funding

“We opened bids and the lowest one came in around $1.4 million,” said Rodney Wojtanik, of Metro’s sustainability center. “We received about six bids, with the lowest bid coming from JP Contractors.”
JP Contractors also built the Murase Plaza and Town Center Park in Wilsonville. City staff said recently they were “ecstatic” the company had been chosen for the Graham Oaks project.“All of us in the community development department know them well and it’s great to have their quality work included on this project,” said Neamtzu. “They are a great contractor and I am sure they are going to do an excellent job on this project.”

If that news last month wasn’t good enough, the project was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Oregon State Parks & Recreation Commission.

The grant is part of the Measure 66 Parks and Salmon lottery funds, which are administered by Oregon Recreation and Parks Department.

According to Heather Kent, communications coordinator with Metro, the grant process was very competitive, but the project was the first one to receive funding.

“We are very pleased our project was selected for the grant,” she said. “This just shows the strength of this project and these grant dollars will add a huge value to what we can accomplish on site.”
The funding for the project comes from a combination of sources.

In addition to the state dollars, the city of Wilsonville will be contributing $300,000 of money it received from the 2006 Metro bond for local parks. Metro will be funding approximately $600,000 of the remainder of the project.

“With the bids coming in low, we are in talks to see if we can’t add to the project,” Neamtzu said. “Right now we are discussing if we could add some more trails into the wooded area, which has spectacular views. But at this point we don’t know.”

Wojtanik agreed.

“I had a really good day yesterday,” Wojtanik said a day after opening the bids. “It beats the alternative where we are searching for funding to finish the project. It has been great working with the city of Wilsonville, we have never gotten this type of support from a municipality before, and this is a wonderful project.”