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Developer George Heidgerken and a coalition of government partners may have broken an impasse that has stalled the Willamette Falls Legacy Project for months.

Heidgerken has signed multiple permit applications that may allow the project’s initial phase to proceed into permitting, the government partners announced, saying they are 鈥渃autiously optimistic.鈥�

鈥淔alls Legacy has signed permits, and we’re very appreciative,鈥� said Laura Terway, Oregon City’s community development director.

The project has been stuck since September, when the government partners said Heidgerken, who purchased the property in 2014, would neither sign permit applications nor submit various payments of more than $200,000 to allow the project to go forward.

Heidgerken said Wednesday he’s signed permit applications for phase one, which would allow public viewing of the massive Oregon City waterfall.

鈥淲e’ve agreed with Metro that there’s certain things we’ll let them do, and it’s called phase one,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y understanding of phase one is it gets the public access to the falls.鈥�

The government partners are ready to apply for permits and will do so as soon as Heidgerken comes through with various payments, including tax and utility bills, that total about $280,000, Terway said.

鈥淎 strong public-private partnership requires trust, and because being a good steward of public money is a top priority, the project partners group asked the staff to wait on permit applications until after Falls Legacy follows through on their commitment to make payments to the project this spring,鈥� she said.

Heidgerken, a Tacoma, Washington-based developer, acquired the site, the former Blue Heron paper mill, in 2014 after it had sat unused for years. He soon agreed to an easement with the government partners to construct a walkway.

Metro, along with Oregon City, Clackamas County and the state of Oregon, last year unveiled an ambitious site design by Snohetta, a major international design firm based in Oslo, Norway. Heidgerken objected, saying Metro and the other government partners were trying to elbow him out of the project. Instead of a mixed-use area with a hotel, multifamily housing and restaurants, the Metro-led design process had essentially resulted in a park, he said.

鈥淢etro is really good at one thing 鈥� building parks,鈥� Heidgerken said. 鈥淚 don’t think the city, the people that live there, are so interested in a 25-acre park. We want jobs. We want a park. We want to support tourism, and anyone who wants to put a business there. 鈥� That project is no good unless we have apartments, condos, people 鈥� and that means breweries, a pizza parlor.鈥�

The government partners offered this past fall to buy the site from Heidgerken, but he declined to sell. He also refused to sign the permit applications, saying they were overly broad and would essentially allow Metro to do whatever it wanted without his input.

Metro officials have said they designed the public portions of the project, and left Heidgerken to design the remaining areas. One of the core principles of the project’s master plan is economic redevelopment. Zoning at the site was changed in 2014 from industrial to mixed-use, allowing for a range of development options.

But first comes the public walkway, known as the Riverwalk.

鈥淭his plan is for the Riverwalk portion,鈥� Terway said. 鈥淲e do see it as being very catalytic for the economic redevelopment of the private side.鈥�

Heidgerken said he’s willing to play ball as long as Metro and its partners don’t interfere with his plans for the site.

鈥淚’m prepared to sign whatever fits that project with Metro as long as it fits the realm of whatever’s best for the project, best for Metro and best for me,鈥� he said.