91视频

The project to build a public path through the former Blue Heron Paper Co. site in Oregon City will soon move into the initial design stages.

Metro in December will issue a request for proposals seeking schematic design and engineering services for the estimated $30 million Willamette Falls Riverwalk, said Jim Desmond, director of Metro’s Sustainability Center. Firms will likely be hired by February 2015, he said.

Metro is partnering with the city of Oregon City, Clackamas County and the state of Oregon to build a path for pedestrians and bicyclists along the Willamette River through the Blue Heron site. It will give the public access to nearby Willamette Falls for the first time in decades.

Metro officials are in the final stages of working out an easement in cooperation with the site’s owner, Tacoma, Wash.-based developer George Heidgerken, Desmond said.

Last year, the Oregon Legislature approved $5 million in lottery-backed bonds being spent on the path. Metro officials will craft a fundraising plan to cover the rest of the cost.

The project represents the first step toward revitalization of the Blue Heron site, which has been vacant since 2011, when the paper mill shut down, Oregon City planner Christina Robertson-Gardiner said.

鈥淚t is a way for Oregonians to get access to Willamette Falls 鈥� and it’s also fundamentally a catalytic project,鈥� she said.

The planning process for the path will likely be similar to one that Walker Macy used for a zone change proposal and master plan for site redevelopment, Robertson-Gardiner said.

鈥淩eally what we’re looking for is another public visioning process,鈥� she said.

The Oregon City Commission last month unanimously approved the master plan and the first reading of the zone change proposal. Commissioners are expected to approve the second reading of the zone change this week, Robertson-Gardiner said.