Chehalem Ridge Nature Park is heading into its construction phase. The project design team has been hard at work, with the design now 90% complete and construction documents almost finalized. Planned improvements include parking, restrooms, picnicking, and trails for walking, biking, horse riding and enjoying nature.
At more than 1,200 acres, Chehalem Ridge will be Metro’s largest park on the west side of greater Portland.
This past June, Metro received land-use approval for the nature park from Washington County. Next steps will include finalizing designs, securing final permits from the county, and assembling a package to receive bids from construction companies. This work will put us on track to break ground in 2020.
While the overall plan for the park is guided by the vision of community members, at this stage in the process the construction documents get down to details. Why are construction details important you may wonder? A detailed erosion control plan, for example, will help Metro protect water quality during construction. Landscape plants have been carefully selected to provide native habitat that will offer resources for important pollinators while also being low maintenance for our operations staff. Additionally plans for trails have been fine-tuned so the future park is accessible to community members with a wide range of physical abilities.
While some construction equipment is onsite, park construction is not expected to begin until the spring or summer of 2020. Restoration work, including the planting of native shrubs, weed control and forest management, continues to be on-going.
These improvements follow Chehalem Ridge’s master plan, which was shaped by input Metro received during the engagement process with community members and stakeholders.