Metro awards nearly $6 million for parks projects; Milwaukie staff invited into regional Future 50 process

Metro Councilor Christine Lewis and Metro principal planner Jessica Zeb presented the Metro Future 50 regional visioning process at the Milwaukie City Council meeting on July 20 and announced that Metro has allocated about $5,953,348 in parks grants that benefit projects in the Milwaukie area.

Lewis said Future 50 is a voter‑approved, long‑range visioning exercise intended to guide policy and funding choices through 2077; she described participatory budgeting in the region and thanked Milwaukie staff for successful grant applications. “The exact number that you were looking for, mayor, was $5,953,348 coming to the city of Milwaukie for parks,” Lewis said.

Jessica Zeb, Metro’s principal regional planner and project manager for the Future 50 update, summarized the process: Metro is running an 18‑month update with a focus on long‑range values, drivers‑of‑change research, a fall vision summit and a sequence of community vision tables. Zeb said Metro is emphasizing youth involvement (ages 15–24), artist engagement and multisector partnerships and will follow adoption with an implementation plan and growth‑concept updates.

Council response and outreach: Councilors asked how to access the 1995 vision and supporting appendices and pressed Metro to provide links; they discussed the value of a concise visualization (a map) rather than a long report. Metro staff said background materials and the growth concept map are linked on the project webpage and agreed to share appendices and the map with councilors.

What’s next: Metro invited Milwaukie to host outreach (possible tabling at the Milwaukie Farmers Market and youth Future Fest) and noted the vision summit in October as a cross‑sector convening to draft core aspirations for the updated regional plan.