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The start of a long-planned project to create public access to Willamette Falls has been delayed as stakeholders go back to the drawing board to explore routing visitors along the river instead of through the former Blue Heron paper mill site.

The Willamette Falls Legacy Project – a collaboration of stakeholders including Metro, the city of Oregon City, Clackamas County and the state of Oregon – announced Thursday it is working with the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, which purchased the mill site last year, to consider design alternatives for the riverwalk.

A yearslong design process led by acclaimed Norwegian firm Snohetta, and including Mayer/Reed and Canadian firm DIALOG, resulted in concept plans for a riverwalk passing through the shuttered mill site, with some of the former industrial buildings being transformed and incorporated into the design.

Now, according to the Willamette Falls Legacy Project, a ground-breaking event anticipated for this year has been put on hold pending exploration of design alternatives. Project partners began working this past summer to refine plans after cost estimates revealed that available funding would be insufficient to cover the scope of work.

Legacy Project staff began working last year with design and engineering firm Otak Inc. and contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis to rein in the project cost. Snohetta projected that its designs would cost $12.6 million to build, but estimates last year by Otak and Lease Crutcher Lewis pegged the price tag at between $17 million and $33 million. The project’s budget is $12.5 million.

The Grande Ronde purchased the site while potential costs were being researched and subsequently requested that the possibility of a riverside path be explored. The cost of such an amenity is still being evaluated, and the project partners will consider additional funding options if that cost is higher than proposed originally.

The riverwalk is the first phase of a larger project estimated to cost $150 million over 20 years.