Oppenlander Property

Oppenlander Property August 2024 Updates

August 23, 2024 – On Friday, a Clackamas County Circuit Court jury ruled that the original purchase and sale agreement entered into by the West Linn-Wilsonville School District and the City of West Linn regarding Oppenlander field is not legally binding.

“We did our best to uphold both the votes of the West Linn residents who clearly expressed a desire to preserve Oppenlander as a park and our contractual obligations under the Purchase and Sale Agreement,” said Mayor Rory Bialostosky. “While disappointing, I respect the decision of the jury and appreciate their attention to the case.”

The City is grateful for the School District’s collaboration on many shared efforts, including school safety, library and parks programs, and public works projects. The City looks forward to continued partnership with the School District to enhance and enrich the community.

August 9, 2024 -- The City is pleased to announce the Oregon Supreme Court agreed there is insufficient evidence of actual bias among West Linn residents to justify the blanket exclusion of the entire community from the Oppenlander field trial. They have reversed the Clackamas County Circuit Court's decision. The trial will begin as scheduled on Monday, August 12.

August 8, 2024 – On July 31, 2024, the Clackamas County Circuit Court ruled that West Linn residents would be excluded from the jury pool in the upcoming Oppenlander property trial, West Linn-Wilsonville School District v. the City of West Linn. Although the West Linn-Wilsonville School District serves both West Linn and Wilsonville residents, Wilsonville residents will not be excluded from the jury pool.

In the ruling, the Court found that residents of West Linn (and Lake Oswego) are different from residents of “less prestigious municipalities” and would be unable to view this case fairly. The City of West Linn disagrees with the Court’s claims that “everyone” who resides in West Linn is so proud to live there, they must be indisputably biased in favor of their City government. The Court has deprived an entire community of the right to participate in jury service based on the assumption that living in West Linn is “something to brag about,” and “inspires a level of loyalty in residents that becomes part of their identity,” and therefore makes residents incapable of objectivity. This is an extraordinary claim.

The City challenged the decision by submitting a motion for reconsideration on Tuesday, August 6. The Court denied the motion on Wednesday, August 7. On August 8, the City submitted a petition for mandamus and an emergency motion to stay to the Oregon Supreme Court. If accepted, this would pause court proceedings to allow further challenges to the jury exclusion decision in an effort to avoid a mistrial.

The trial, scheduled to begin Monday, August 12, is the result of a disagreement between the City and School District over the contracted sale price of the Oppenlander property, a 10-acre green space located off Rosemont Road in West Linn. Owned by the School District since the seventies, the property had been used as a community park for decades by youth sports teams and families. In 2021, the School District declared it surplus land and moved to sell. Community members expressed concern that a developer would build on the land.

West Linn residents petitioned both the District and the City for the City to buy the property so it can remain a park. In January of 2022, the City and School District agreed to a purchase and sale contract for a price to be determined by a joint appraiser. Both parties agreed the valuation would be predicated on the property only being used as a park. Under the agreed-upon park use restriction, the appraiser valued the land at $120,000. The School District immediately argued the price was too low and requested re-appraisal without the park use restriction. Because of the public’s specific desire to make the area an official park, the City could not accept. Voters passed a general obligation bond measure in May of 2022 committing up to $3.5 million in public funds for the purchase and needed improvements to the property. The School District has sued the City in an attempt to void the contract. The City regrets that both parties have been unable to come to a fair settlement despite multiple attempts. 

Whether owned by the City or the School District, the Oppenlander property has a long history as public land beloved by the people of West Linn. They deserve the same opportunity as Wilsonville residents to have a voice at this trial.

Oppenlander Property September 2023 Update

West Linn voters passed Measure 3-582 in May 2022 (with 66.57% "Yes" votes tallied) to issue up to $3.5M in general obligation bonds to purchase the Oppenlander Property from the West Linn-Wilsonville School District as a City-owned park and construct parks capital improvements. The 10 acre property is located at 1275 Rosemont Road (map), and includes three ballfield areas primarily used by local youth sports groups. Election results can be found on Clackamas County's May 17, 2022 election page.

Following passage of the May 2022 Bond Measure to purchase the Oppenlander Property as a City Park, the City of West Linn and the West Linn-Wilsonville School District have engaged in litigation regarding the Oppenlander Property on Rosemont Road. The District has filed a complaint in Clackamas County Circuit Court seeking to have the approved Purchase and Sale Agreement (details below) for the Property terminated, stating that a 2021 joint appraisal of the Property for $120,000 is invalid. The City filed a motion for summary judgment in an effort to resolve the issue without the expense of a trial, however this motion was denied in March 2023 by a Clackamas County Judge. Summary judgment allows for a decision to be reached without a formal trial if it can be established there are no genuine issues of material fact in dispute and the filing party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. The Judge reviewed documents, heard briefings and oral arguments from both parties and determined that questions of material fact exist and denied the City's motion for summary judgement.

The issue was scheduled to go to a jury trial in June 2023, but Clackamas County Circuit Court has notified us that the soonest a trial can be held is August 2024. We will continue to look for opportunities to reach agreement with the School District outside of Court proceedings before then.

Background Information and Documents

Public Survey

We asked the community to share their thoughts regarding potential City purchase of the Oppenlander Property as a park and what types of park improvements may be of interest. This survey closed on November 11, 2021. Input was shared with the Council for their November 15th, 2021 meeting. You can find the results of the survey in the Council's November 15 agenda packet.

Purchase and Sale Agreement

Council approved the formal Oppenlander purchase and sale agreement with the West-Linn Wilsonville School District at their December 13, 2021 meeting (agreement information). This document implements Council's previous agreement with the District, including the following key elements:

Purchase price will be determined based on a new market appraisal. The property was previously appraised at $6.5 Million earlier in 2021 based on unrestricted use under current residential zoning. The new appraisal came in at $120,000 with the park land restriction (designation as a park under Chapter XI of the West Linn City Charter).
If voters do not approve the purchase, the sale contract will be terminated at no penalty to the City and the District will be free to work with other potential buyers.
If voters do approve the purchase, closing would occur by the end of November 2022.
If voters do approve the purchase, the property will subsequently be formally designated as a park under Chapter XI of the West Linn City Charter, ensuring it is not used for other purposes without voter approval.

Meetings

The West Linn Wilsonville School District Board held a special meeting on February 4, 2022 to discuss the status of the Oppenlander Property.
City Council discussed the Oppenlander Property at their meeting on Monday, February 7th. The City Council gave direction to work together with the School Board to determine what the final valuation should be so that voters can decide whether the City will purchase the property.
The West Linn Wilsonville School District held a special meeting on February 9, 2022 to discuss Oppenlander. The School Board passed a resolution at this meeting requesting renegotiation of the purchase and sale agreement with removal of the park designation and agreeing to sell to the City at the April 2021 $6.5M appraisal price.
City Council met on February 14th to respond to the School Board's proposal and review a Resolution and documents related to the ballot measure for the Oppenlander Property, the agenda and related documents are available here. At this meeting the City Council passed Resolution 2022-04, calling a measure election to submit to the electors of the City the question of authorizing up to $3.5M of general obligation bonds to finance purchase of property for parks purposes and capital park improvements. The general obligation bonds result in the West Linn property tax levy rate increasing by an estimated 5 cents per thousand dollars of assessed value or an approximately $20 per year annual property tax increase for the average homeowner in West Linn with an assessed (not real market) value of $386,000.