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Mayor, committee weigh citywide trails plan and levee access in Milton-Freewater
Summary
The Recreation Committee discussed a citywide trails plan focused on publicly owned land, volunteer-built trails, and complicated levee access; Mayor Odman and residents urged working with property owners and phased, maintainable projects. The topic will be carried forward to a future meeting.
Mayor Odman opened an informal discussion of a citywide trails system on April 21, urging the Recreation Committee to study what other communities have done and to focus initially on what the city already owns. “I wanted this to be an informal discussion about where we are on trails,” Odman said, framing the conversation around phased construction, maintenance, signage and partnership opportunities.
Residents and committee members recounted several volunteer-built projects and access challenges. Ryan Westman contrasted Milton-Freewater’s levee constraints with Pendleton’s Riverwalk and described volunteer work on the Marie Dorion trail and a frisbee golf course, noting the city has struggled with long-term maintenance. JeanAnn Mitchell urged the city to prioritize trails that rely on public rights-of-way and to pursue interpretive and directional signage; she also requested coordination with adjacent private landowners to secure access to ridgetop views and to address a closed cemetery bridge.
Committee Chair George Gillette cautioned that the levee raises legal and engineering issues: he recounted past FEMA-related work and said adjacent owners may be restricted from using the levee, and that maintaining the levee requires funding beyond the current tax district. JeanAnn Mitchell reported that the Corps of Engineers told her they “do not restrict access” and that they “do not own the levee but manage it for maintenance,” a point the committee noted as important to verify before advancing any projects that touch levee infrastructure.
Mayor Odman said he has contacted the new owner of the former Piper property, who indicated trespassers would be prosecuted but said the owner might be open to selling the parcel at market value. Committee members identified several potentially feasible projects on city- and school-owned land, and the Recreation Committee agreed to carry the trails discussion forward to a future meeting for more focused planning and outreach to property owners.
Next steps: staff and committee members will return the topic to a future agenda with proposed project scoping, potential property-owner outreach, and a plan to address maintenance responsibilities.
