On Tuesday, December 8, the City Council voted 5-2 in favor of entering formal negotiations with the Motorcycle Riders Association on a proposed land swap in the city’s 1800 acre watershed. If successful, a closing would likely occur in mid to late 2013, assuming the MRA is successful in obtaining grant funds by the Oregon Parks Department and updated land appraisals are satisfactory to the parties. The swap calls for the city to acquire the MRA’s 40 acre parking lot and staging area in the lower Forest Park area in exchange for a 380 acre parcel of city land in the northernmost reaches of the watershed. The MRA is interested in the upper watershed parcel since it links existing riding trails to land it already owns. The city could also receive upwards of $800,000 in the deal that it could use to pay for upcoming repairs to the city-owned reservoir which has been deemed a safety hazard by the state.
To read an editorial on the topic by the publisher, click here