Milwaukie council leans to prioritize Milwaukie Bay Park, delays Main Street streetscape work

Milwaukie — City staff and council members on Wednesday signaled support for prioritizing Milwaukie Bay Park over other downtown capital projects, directing staff to reallocate Urban Renewal Area dollars and delay some streetscape work.

City Manager Emma (last name not given) told the council the packet laid out three scenarios for handling five major downtown projects and that resources — both URA funds and staff capacity — are limited. She presented the Main Street enhancements as a CIP project with a planning-era cost of about $7,600,000 and described Milwaukie Bay Park as a larger, catalytic project with a worst-case estimate of $13,600,000 (or about $12,200,000 if certain plan and grant assignments from the parks district are transferred to the city). Emma said $1,650,000 of URA money is already allocated to the park and staff has applied for state, federal and regional grants to cover the remaining gap.

Why it matters: Councilors framed the choice as a common trade-off between visible, catalytic public space and routine but necessary infrastructure. Several council members said Main Street work addresses deferred accessibility and safety repairs, while others argued the park would better advance economic development and equity goals. The decision also has long-term general-fund implications: staff estimated initial park maintenance at roughly $50,000–$60,000 a year and said larger park and green-space maintenance could add about $100,000 a year more, with total long-term operations costs likely to grow.

Council debate and direction: Council members raised three interlocking concerns — the size of the capital funding gap if grants or plan transfers from the North County Parks & Recreation District (NCPRD) are not assigned to the city, the ongoing operations-and-maintenance (O&M) burden on the general fund, and the sequencing of construction so downtown businesses are not overwhelmed by simultaneous projects. Peter (city staff) offered an O&M estimate: “you’re probably at least $50,000 to $60,000 a year” for Milwaukie Bay Park under the current design, and he warned additional amenities would raise that figure.

Ultimately the group coalesced around staff’s Option B. Emma summarized the council’s direction: “I think we’ve got clear direction that we’re moving with kind of option B,” meaning staff should prepare to reallocate URA dollars to advance Milwaukie Bay Park, continue aggressive grant-seeking, and defer the Main Street enhancements and Harrison & Maine planning (the latter for roughly three years) unless outside funding or contract transfers change the calculus.

Funding specifics and uncertainties: Emma said the city’s current CIP includes $1,650,000 in URA funds and roughly $1,000,000 in general-fund or metro-local-share money toward Milwaukie Bay Park; staff listed approximately $4.62 million in grant applications as part of the financing strategy but noted roughly $2.7 million in pending grants remained unconfirmed. Staff also advised that if grants or NCPRD plan transfers are not assigned to the city, the city could need to use debt financing to cover the gap, which would reduce URA programing and require council decisions about debt service.

Next steps: Staff will begin the administrative work to reallocate URA dollars, continue pursuit of listed grants, press NCPRD for potential plan and grant assignment or contract transfer, and return with budget/CIP modeling. The council scheduled a fuller parks operations-and-maintenance and governance discussion for August 18 to address long-term funding and whether the city would assume additional park district responsibilities.

What was not decided: The council did not take a formal vote; the session produced direction rather than a binding adoption of a financing plan. Several councilors insisted that future decisions must include clearer O&M commitments, and that affordability and equity impacts be central to any final plan.

Quotes (attributed): “I think we’ve got clear direction that we’re moving with kind of option B,” Emma, city manager, said when summarizing the council’s preference to prioritize the park. “I think that we need to prioritize Milwaukie Bay Park,” a council member said in urging the park over other options. “You’re probably at least $50,000 to $60,000 a year,” staff member Peter said when describing expected maintenance costs for the park.

Context: The study session covered five downtown projects — Main Street enhancements, Milwaukie Bay Park, Kellogg, Harrison & Maine lot and a Coho site (public–private housing opportunity). Staff emphasized that projects are at different design and funding stages and that the URA is a limited pool of dollars that can be reassigned but will constrain other URA-supported programs if used.

The council directed staff to return with the mechanics for reassigning URA funding and to report back with refined budget and O&M projections; separate work on parks governance and long-term general-fund sustainability is scheduled for a future committee meeting.