The West Linn City Council, in 2016, directed staff to commence working on a Waterfront Master Plan for the area adjacent to the Willamette River from I-205 to the Willamette Neighborhood. Planning staff conducted background research on 40 years of previous planning, visioning, and analysis conducted in the area. The planning area was also split into three districts as each area had distinct access, topography, infrastructure, and zoning issues to consider. Staff then held a number of open houses from 2017 to 2019, which were focused on creating guiding principles for the project, gleaning feedback on a future vision for the area, and establishing a preferred option for improving the transportation infrastructure at the intersection of Highway 43 and Willamette Falls Drive. The project lost momentum with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the intersection improvements were adopted into the West Linn Transportation System Plan in 2021.

City Council has now budgeted funds to complete the project. The City is seeking assistance to help complete a vision plan for all three districts, perform public engagement activities to verify the vision plan has broad community and stakeholder support, conduct a final transportation 2 analysis, and develop a framework to implement the vision via zoning/code/design standards in two of the three districts. The City is currently working on adopting a tax increment financing district that covers the planning area and coordination on a financial plan to implement the vision will be necessary.

The public engagement component of the project will be critical. There are a diverse group of stakeholders that will need to provide input. These include the West Linn community, impacted property owners, Portland General Electric (owns about 60 percent of property in planning area), Oregon Department of Transportation, City of Oregon City, and tribal representatives.

The desired outcome of this effort is the creation of a revitalized waterfront area that provides a diverse mix of land uses and recreational opportunities, while improving property access and creating a safe, multi-modal transportation system in the area.

The City expects the consultant to have experience in the preparation of long-range planning documents in a community that is subject to meeting the mandates and objectives of the Metro regional government, and the presentation of materials to the public and the City Council or Planning Commission if called upon to do so in the performance of the work.

COWL has established a budget of approximately $200,000 to do this work, and anticipates a timeline of approximately 2 years.