The process to approve a streetcar as the Locally Preferred Alternative for the Lake Oswego to Portland Transit Project is on hold. In a response to concerns raised by the Lake Oswego and Portland city councils, Lake Oswego Mayor Jack Hoffman, Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Metro Council President Tom Hughes have requested a stay in action by the other project partners.
In April, the Lake Oswego and Portland city councils both affirmed the recommendation of the project steering committee for the streetcar alternative to progress as the Locally Preferred Alternative. Through the affirmation process, both city councils raised questions that had not been resolved in the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement and current level of design.
Hoffman and Adams sent a joint letter to Hughes on June 16, requesting that further partner agency action on the Locally Preferred Alternative decision be delayed until resolution of the questions raised by the city councils. Council President Hughes agreed with the mayors that resolving these questions in advance of further partner action would be valuable to project team, local communities and the region as a whole, leading to a successful and fiscally responsible project. Project staff is now building a plan to investigate and respond to the cities’ questions.
The selected Locally Preferred Alternative, once affirmed by the Metro Council, would proceed for further engineering work and the Final Environmental Impact Statement.
Learn more about the Lake Oswego to Portland Transit Project and read the correspondence between the mayors and Council President Hughes.
Learn about redevelopment planning in Lake Oswego and a July 14 open house focused on the Foothills area, which is closely related to the streetcar project.