Inka Bajandas//March 24, 2014//
The city of Portland has finalized plans to purchase 85 acres of the Colwood National Golf Club property for a new park.
Portland City Council last week unanimously approved a deal to buy the property for $5 million from the Trust for Public Land, Portland Parks and Recreation spokesman Mark Ross said. The nonprofit previously purchased the Northeast Portland property with the intent to sell it to the city for a park.
Portland Parks and Recreation and the Bureau of Environmental Services contributed money for the purchase; they will jointly manage the property. Along with a golf course, the parcel includes open space, forested areas and wetlands near the Columbia Slough.
Parks and Recreation officials will manage more than a third of the land as a nature area, with the aim of protecting wildlife and water quality.
Residents of the Cully neighborhood have long pushed for more public green space; plans to convert a portion of the Colwood golf course into a park have been in the works for about 20 years, Ross said. Officials are in the preliminary stages of determining what the eventual park will look like, he added. In the meantime, the city will operate a portion of the property as a nine-hole golf course.
City officials are advocating for another use for the property’s other 48 acres. This past October, City Council approved rezoning that land for industrial/commercial use.