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After seven years of work, this week is preparing to open Oakridge Park 鈥� the first new affordable housing in Lake Oswego in three decades.

Development of the four-story building for low-income seniors wasn’t easy, NHA Executive Director Martha McLennan said. In fact, after a neighborhood association’s opposition brought the proposal before the state Land Use Board of Appeals, a 鈥渢echnicality鈥� later led to the project moving forward, according to Lake Oswego senior planner Debra Andreades.

Northwest Housing Alternatives, which has developed more than 1,600 affordable housing units in Oregon over the last 30 years, saw a need for affordable housing in Lake Oswego, McLennan said. To get the ball rolling, however, the organization needed a site.

Seven years ago, the approached NHA with a site in the Lake Grove neighborhood and an offer for partnership.

鈥淗aving the church identify a parcel that was available for development was key,鈥� McLennan said.

NHA secured financing, enlisted architecture services of , and entered the land-use process. Then the presented a road block.

鈥淭he conversation was about preserving trees, and parking,鈥� McLennan said. 鈥淭hey were very angry about the changes they saw.鈥�

The city of Lake Oswego approved the Oakridge Park development, but the Waluga Neighborhood Association appealed that decision to LUBA in 2008, saying that traffic and parking issues were not adequately addressed. The city had categorized the building as 鈥渃ongregate housing,鈥� which requires fewer parking spaces because residents are classified as possessing 鈥渓ife-function disabilities.鈥�

LUBA remanded the decision to Lake Oswego, Andreades said, which then approved the project again. The neighborhood group planned to appeal, but missed a filing deadline.

However, Waluga Neighborhood Association Chairman Jeff Novak said that neighboring residents now think Oakridge Park has a nice design, and are 鈥渉appy to have new neighbors.鈥�

鈥�(The developer) made the commitment in terms of keeping the parking issues at bay, and we’re putting our faith in them that they will keep their word on that,鈥� Novak said.

Ground was broken on the Oakridge Park development last year, and Walsh Construction recently wrapped up work. The building is completely leased now; in fact, the 45 one-bedroom units drew more than 100 applications.

Now, NHA is working to acquire an existing affordable housing development in Lake Oswego, to rehabilitate the 30-year-old structure 鈥渋n need of a little tender, loving care,鈥� McLennan said. She believes Lake Oswego could use more affordable housing, but says aspects of the city’s process can make development difficult.

A drawn-out process also can challenge a developer working with several partners, and McLennan said it was a 鈥渟cramble鈥� to keep the project’s many funding sources on board throughout the process.

鈥淟ake Oswego probably has a higher likelihood of a neighborhood fighting a project,鈥� McLennan said. 鈥淎nd while some codes are very cut and dry, a lot of Lake Oswego code has more subjective interpretations to it. That creates more unpredictability for the developer.鈥�

From a city perspective, the Oakridge Park project wasn’t particularly unusual, Andreades said.

鈥淚t was about four years from the time it started with the city to now, when it’s about to open,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s not unusual for large projects to take a long time.鈥�