The WLWV School District plans to use $88M from the 2019 Bond to relocate and expand the Arts & Technology High School (ATHS) to the Athey Creek Middle School (ACMS) site and construct an enlarged ACMS on Dollar Street Woods, a district-owned property between Dollar Street and Willamette Falls Drive. This fir tree grove is currently beloved by Willamette residents and visitors to Fields Bridge Park.

Several characteristics of the proposed site would make it an undesirable location to build a school of any size, let alone a 850-student capacity middle school. In fact, the City Council rejected a plan in 1994 to build a smaller 680-student school at the site.

At this time, the School District comes before the City Planning Commission to begin the permit application process anew and to obtain public approval of its proposed use of Dollar Street Woods.

We, the residents of West Linn, many of us parents of WLWV students, believe in the value of our WLWV schools and also in judicious use of tax money to build facilities that provide an overall benefit to the City. We call on the WLWV School District to thoroughly consider and address the following concerns. In addition, we call on the West Linn Planning Commission to address many of these concerns as part of the permit review process in accordance with the West Linn Community Development Code and other applicable laws.

SUMMARY LIST OF CONCERNS:

1. Unwarranted Additional Costs. The District must clarify what is driving the significant additional cost to the taxpayers to build the school on the Dollar Woods site and whether those costs are warranted. The District must provide a detailed cost-benefit analysis before committing to this site, including a detailed list of alternative sites considered by the District and an explanation as to why Athey Creek is not a suitable site for both schools.

2. Downgraded middle school facilities. The District must provide a side-by-side comparison between the current ACMS campus and facilities and the proposed school’s site plan and facilities, and explain how this proposal serves the best interests of our students.

3. Increased traffic congestion. The District must provide a detailed traffic study and plan for mitigating negative effects of increased traffic.

4. Overflow parking on residential streets. The District must provide a detailed parking and overflow mitigation plan.

5. Negative environmental impact. The District must explain the benefits of selecting the Dollar Woods site versus another site with less negative impact on an existing urban forest, community, and environment. The District should not be permitted to use the tree farm exception to circumvent the process of obtaining the necessary tree removal permits.

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ANNOTATED LIST OF CONCERNS:

1. Unwarranted Additional Costs. The District must clarify what is driving the significant additional cost to the taxpayers to build the school on the Dollar Woods site and whether those costs are warranted. The District must provide a detailed cost-benefit analysis before committing to this site, including a detailed list of alternative sites considered by the District and an explanation as to why Athey Creek is not a suitable site for both schools.

The anticipated cost for the proposed new middle school at the Dollar Woods Property is $78M, more than twice as much as the cost of the recently built Meridian Creek Middle school ($38M.)

• Site Limitations. The Dollar Woods site continues to present multiple construction and design constraints as identified by West Linn City Planning Staff in 1994. Steep grades, minimal distance between access ways and intersections, unstable embankment along Willamette Falls Drive, inadequate water pressure, wetlands, potential historic and archeological artifacts (including one of only two handbuilt brick wells in Oregon), trees, nature habitats, narrow shape, proximity to residential areas with minimal buffer, existing traffic congestion, and absence of pedestrian-bicycle pathways, to name a few.

• Costly design solutions. Some of these challenges will limit design options (e.g., usable acreage) while others will be extremely costly to address. How do these costs affect the quality of the build?

• Identify and compare alternative sites. The 2019 bond does not specify that the middle school must be on Dollar Street Woods. What other sites and solutions has the District considered and how do the costs-benefits compare to current proposal? For example, why not keep ACMS where it is and build the smaller technical high school on the existing Athey Creek campus or on a site closer to Wilsonville where the District projects the most growth? The plan for an expanded ATHS has a target of 400 students, with an expected 200-300 at the start. How much acreage and what type of facilities are needed for this optional high school? Alternatively, how much would a home developer pay for the Dollar Woods site, which could fund a purchase of a better suited property?

2. Downgraded middle school facilities. The District must provide a side-by-side comparison between the current ACMS campus and facilities and the proposed school’s site plan and facilities, and explain how this proposal serves the best interests of our students.

The District maintains that we need a new facility for an alternative 400-student high school to reduce over-capacity and an expiring ATHS lease. Relocating 700 current ACMS students to a much smaller site to try to solve the high school problem, should not be at the expense of our middle schoolers.

• Much less usable acreage and restrictions on use. The site is only half the size of the Athey Creek campus with a planned larger student body, and the topography and constraints of the site will drastically further reduce usable acreage for athletic fields, art studios, rehearsal space, auditorium, open outdoor space, and extensive parking needs. Also, the proximity to residential neighborhoods led the ‘94 Planning Commission to ban any outdoor lights for night use of athletic fields at the site. How will these limitations negatively impact ACMS extracurriculars, such as sports, music, arts, and STEM?

• Mental health implications of site location. Anxiety is on the rise for our adolescents. The District should also engage an expert consultant to consider what are the risks and impacts of building a middle school right next to a river and a heavily congested road.

3. Increased traffic congestion. The District must provide a detailed traffic study and plan for mitigating negative effects of increased traffic.

The road infrastructure is already inadequate to handle the traffic on Willamette Falls Dr, Ostman Rd, and Blankenship Rd. The interim construction traffic and then the middle school traffic to Dollar Street Woods will be a public nuisance and safety hazard. The proposed plan also introduces additional high school traffic to the Athey Creek campus that will impact these same arteries.

• Willamette Falls Drive is already congested. Willamette Falls Drive is a 2-lane road that backs up for blocks, between Historic Willamette and Fields Bridge, during commuting hours and sporting events at Fields Bridge Park. Notwithstanding findings by the ‘94 Planning Staff that it was impossible to access the Dollar Woods site from WFD, the School District now promises that access will be off WFD. That means more buses and cars must travel along this narrow road during commuting hours and after-hours as community members use the facilities. Special events, such as music concerts, graduations, back to school nights, will bring even more traffic.

• Health and Safety. WFD is the only accessway for several residents of Willamette, including the areas of Arbor Cove and Swiftshore. Gridlock on WFD not only generates air pollution and a public nuisance, it also creates a safety hazard for residents who will be blocked in.

• Accessibility of River Heights. Similarly, Dollar Street is a dead-end street and the residents of River Heights are completely dependent on free traffic flow at Ostman Rd. What is the plan to address the increased traffic to Dollar, as parents use this street to drop off students and avoid WFD, and also Ostman Rd, another residential street that will be directly impacted? Will Dollar St be connected to WFD?

• Emergency Response. In the event of a fire or threat to school safety, how will residents and an additional 850 students plus faculty and staff be safely evacuated when there are already traffic bottlenecks at all the intersections around the proposed site?

• Unproven pedestrian traffic. The District hopes that up to 25% of students will walk to school but are there even 200 plus middle schoolers within a mile walking radius of the site? The Tualatin River border cuts off a number of nearby households. And the District’s Flo Analytics Enrollment Forecast Report suggests far fewer middle schoolers reside within a potential walking radius and the vast majority of ACMS students will still need to be bussed or driven. (See, e.g., Figs. 13, 28.) Note also Jevons Paradox where increased convenience (being closer to the school) leads to higher consumption (driving to school instead of taking the bus). For example, a student who previously used the bus (including the afternoon activity bus) will now be driven by individual car because the site is closer than Athey Creek but still too far to walk (especially in the rain or when it’s dark out).

• Increased traffic from anticipated growth outside neighborhood. According to the District’s 10-year enrollment projections, West Linn middle schools will see minimal growth as compared to the anticipated growth of Wilsonville middle schools (50 versus 335 more students). The plan to enlarge ACMS (from 669 to 850 student capacity) is to help alleviate overcrowding in the district. However, the vast majority of these additional students will not live within West Linn neighborhoods walkable to the proposed site and this will increase traffic to the area. In fact, the ACMS residence zone (an area much larger than a one-mile radius, extending from Oregon Country Club to north of I-205) is projected to grow only by 23 students in the next ten years.

4. Overflow parking on residential streets. The District must provide a detailed parking and overflow mitigation plan.

The site will not be able to accommodate the extensive parking needs of an 850 student school with parents attending special events. Moreover, parking at Fields Bridge Park is already an issue because of local sporting events. The adjacent neighborhoods of River Heights, Arbor Cove, Swiftshore, and Ostman will routinely be used for parking and dropping off students. This will be a nuisance for residents and also a safety concern for the traffic flow problems noted above.

5. Negative environmental impact. The District must explain the benefits of selecting the Dollar Woods site versus another site with less negative impact on an existing urban forest, community, and environment. The District should not be permitted to use the tree farm exception to circumvent the process of obtaining the necessary tree removal permits.

• Reduces Urban Forest. “It is the intent of the tree ordinance to establish, maintain, and increase the quality of tree cover on public and private lands within the city.” In accordance with the City’s Tree Ordinance the District has a burden to demonstrate why removing this tree grove is justified. Has the District retained experts to study the damage to habitats and surrounding Water Resource Areas by the proposed site plan? Are there trees that can and should be preserved? For example, there are apple trees from the 1800's that are a certain variety of apples that are rare today. The trees need to be inspected to see if they are of any historical significance and should be saved.

• Require permits for tree removal. While some of the trees may have been planted for agricultural use, that was at least 25 years ago and it is now an established wooded area. The Dollar Woods property is also not zoned for agricultural use currently. Thus the District should not be permitted to use the tree farm exception to circumvent the process of obtaining the necessary tree removal permits.

• Negative impact on Fields Bridge Park. The District and the City must consider the potential impact of increased runoff on Fields Bridge Park, including its baseball playing fields, public gardens, and Locally Significant Wetlands.

• Noise and pollution. The woods currently provide a noise buffer and carbon sink. What will be the net difference for residents with the increased traffic, idling buses, noise from the school, and light pollution?

• Explore alternative uses. The District put the property in surplus because “it was awkwardly situated for a middle school.” Dollar Street Woods is home to trees, birds, a stream, and other wildlife. Children and neighbors currently use it as a quiet space to explore and play in nature. Students go on field trips every year to nature preserves, hikes, and field studies. What if Dollar Woods was a preserved space run by the school district as part of its CREST program? Other school uses of the property are better suited for the site and should be explored before eliminating this urban forest.

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