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INSIDE:
Southwest Portland’s Independent Neighborhood Newspaper
Volume No. 17, Issue No. 10
www.multnomahpost.com
Portland, Oregon
Multnomah Days
Festival & Parade
--Page 5
Complimentary
August 2009
A Hillsdale neighbor, a city official, and the trail liability issue
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
Since our last issue, The Post has
found two people willing to talk to
us for the record about trail liability:
a trail neighbor and a City of Portland
official.
Larry Sloan’s house in Hillsdale sits
next to a trail. It is an unusual situation
in that in his case the land the trail sits
on is not an “easement,” part of his and
his neighbor’s private property through
which the public has a right to travel
according to conditions imposed at
the time the property was subdivided.
Rather, it is a right of way for the elec-
Larry Sloan is concerned about liability for accidents that might occur along this trail
adjacent to his property. (Post photo by Lee Perlman)
tric power and utility lines that run
overhead.
Still, Sloan shares this in common
with other trail neighbors: he is liable
for injuries suffered by passers-by who
use the trail. The right of way “was
there before I bought the house,” Sloan
told The Post. “Somehow it morphed
into a trail.”
It was improved, with steps made
from railroad ties secured by rebar,
by volunteers of the Southwest Trails
Committee headed by Don Baack; Sloan
met Baack during the course of a Trails
work party. “I couldn’t say ‘no’ to what
they were doing, and I had no reason to
anyway,” Sloan said.
The steps have not been maintained
since they were installed, he said; the
rebar has worked itself up through the
wood, creating some potential stubbed
toes, (Sloan himself has periodically
pounded them back down), and the
steps show signs of splitting away.
Still, he did not perceive that he had
a problem until informed of the liabil-
ity issue. “This was never designed as
a trail, it isn’t a street or a sidewalk,
it doesn’t belong to me, I can’t sell it
or make improvements in it, yet I am
responsible for liability and mainte-
nance,” Sloan complained.
Bureau of Transportation pedestrian
coordinator April Bertelsen confirms
this. Under City code, “Unimproved
rights of way are the responsibility
of the abutting property owners until
they’re improved to City standards,”
she told The Post.
This includes everything from to-
tally unimproved easements to partially
paved streets that lack sidewalks and
curbs, she said. “Our position is that if
you keep things in good order you’re
reducing your liability.”
The code also says that if you build
something in a right of way, whether it
is a retaining wall or “things like stairs,”
you are required to secure a building
permit for it first, Bertelsen said. Con-
ceding that this hasn’t always happened
she said, “The events of the past year
have increased the City’s attention to
this; we have more interest in inspec-
tion” of the trails.
Baack and the Trails Committee have
called on the City to take on responsibil-
ity for trail liability. As we reported last
month, the Southwest Neighborhoods,
Inc. board of directors adopted this po-
sition at their June meeting and sent a
(Continued on Page 2)
South Portland neighbors ponder future streetcar extension
TRANSPORTATION
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
City and regional officials are nearing
a decision point on the exact route of
a Portland Streetcar extension to Lake
Oswego through the Macadam Cor-
ridor. Developer and condominium
owner Verne Rifer is seeking to unite
South Portland groups around a com-
mon position.
There are two principal routes upon
which the streetcar could proceed south
from its current terminus at Southwest
Lowell Street: Southwest Macadam
Avenue or an old railroad right of way
currently used for sight-seeing by the
Willamette Shore Trolley.
Transportation planners strongly fa-
vor the Willamette Shore route because
it would involve very little property
acquisition and would allow the car to
achieve high speed traveling through
areas where it does not have to co-exist
with cars.
However, in places the right of way
comes within a few feet of bedroom
windows of houses constructed while
the rail line was dormant. Residents
have grudgingly learned to live with
the Willamette Shore Trolley, which
operates hourly on summer weekends,
but serious transit service would have
far greater impact.
Planners are looking at hybrid op-
tions that could wed the best of each
route and still be acceptable to neigh-
borhood interests.
Rifer told the South Portland Neigh-
borhood Association that he is trying
to unite support around a route that
would go south to Southwest Bound-
ary Street, move over to Macadam as
proceed south to Carolina Street, then
return to the Willamette Shore route.
For any Willamette Shore route be-
tween Boundary and Carolina, “We’ll
fight them block by block and house by
house,” he said.
South Portland board member Bill
Danneman raised a different objec-
tion: having the route along any part
of the Willamette Shore right of way
would deprive Macadam businesses
of the benefits of having the streetcar
stop near them. He proposed that the
route continue along Macadam as far
as Southwest Nevada Street. This posi-
tion was ultimately adopted by a bare
majority of the board.
Rifer argued against Danneman’s
proposal, but accepted the result. The
north end was more critical, he said;
a position that the line switch to Mac-
adam before Boundary would be “dead
in the water,” he said.
Another South Portland board mem-
ber, Jim Gardner, raised concerns that
having a streetcar on Macadam would
increase traffic congestion on a street
that many fear will soon be overloaded.
Rifer downplayed such concerns.
Gardner replied, “I’ve heard the same
(reassurances) about the streetcar
downtown, and when I’m behind one,
it’s a lot slower.”
Hillsdale, South Portland seek
road compensation
At the suggestion of Southwest Trails
Committee chair Don Baack, the South
Portland Neighborhood Association
voted to join Hillsdale in seeking a
better pedestrian connection across
Southwest Boones Ferry Road.
The improvement would be “miti-
gation” for a pending ODOT project
in which an overpass on Southwest
Barbur Boulevard at Iowa Street will
be replaced; the project will begin next
(Continued on Page 4)
Don’t forget to renew your subscription. Form on Page 2.
The Southwest Portland Post
7825 SW 36th Ave Suite #203
Portland, OR 97219
Willamette Shore Trolley headed toward Lake Oswego at the Riverplace terminal.