Portland Parks’ Asset Disposal Plan

The Citywide Parks Team, an ad hoc group of citizens (that is, whoever wants to show up) meeting every third Thursday to talk about issues concerning Portland’s parks, had its review of Portland Parks and Recreation’s (PPR) Asset Management Plan yesterday evening. Regular readers may remember my concern about this document going to Council recently, with little public review/discussion. I found the section on “Asset Disposal” particularly troublesome, and was grateful that while the Council slam-dunked acceptance of the Report (pdf), Parks Team chair Linda Robinson scheduled a full meeting to review it.

The presentation by PPR staff Robin Grimwade and Janet Bebb turned out to be more an overview of PPR’s plans to purchase new park land rather than selling it. One reason for that is PPR has money from various sources for purchases right now; another is that many areas of the city are parks-deficient, so selling off land and structures isn’t a priority. Janet Bebb said they’ve sold only one 7 acre parcel in the last ten years, in contrast to purchasing over 1,000 acres. But still, underlying the meeting last night was the general knowledge of everyone present that PPR tried to sell property in Mt. Tabor to Warner Pacific College last fall, so citizens are understandably concerned about how “disposal of assets” is supposed to happen.

Short answer: There isn’t a defined process for PPR to sell land, structures, or other assets right now. State law in ORS 221.725 sets minimum standards – basically, that the Council has to hold a hearing after giving public notice the week before. Not much. Portland’s Charter, as those who’ve been following this blog and the rest of the Measure 26-91 debate recently know, requires two votes by the Council – a 3 of 5 vote to declare the property surplus, then a 4 of 5 supermajority to approve the specific terms of sale. PPR acknowledges there needs to be a public process to review proposed sales, before the Parks Board sends proposals for Parks property sales to City Council. PPR staff pledged to work with the Citywide Parks Team and other groups/individuals to establish a policy on the process, soon.

Unspoken answer: PPR recognizes citizens are going to be watching all City Council agenda items with keen eyes from now on.

I have more information to share with you about the history of parks purchases and plans for more additions to Portland’s parks, and about the Asset Mananagement Plan as a whole, in another post. My sons are both coming home from college later today, one for the summer and the other for the weekend, so my To Do list runs more on the “Buy mega-quantities of groceries” and “Make beds” theme rather than “Spend several hours on blog”. I will, however, endeavor to get Next Up at City Council posted as soon as possible. See paragraph in bold italic, above.