Two transportation projects got a boost Thursday after the Metro Council approved a land deal with the Union Pacific Corp.
The railroad came to Metro earlier this year to ask for a 1,474-square-foot piece of Oregon Convention Center property, seeking to acquire it as part of a plan to move a rail line in the area. The Metro Exposition and Recreation Commission approved the deal in July.
When the issue came to the Metro Council in the summer, councilors asked to hold off on a land sale until the railroad and the regional government could talk about their respective efforts around the Portland area.
The outcome of those talks appears to be Union Pacific agreeing to grant easements for two North Portland transportation projects.
A staff report accompanying the resolution the Metro Council passed Thursday said "Union Pacific has agreed to grant to Metro or its designee an easement or other property right that would, in connection with other permit approvals, allow an overcrossing at Rivergate Boulevard and an at-grade trail crossing at City Dump Road. These crossings are needed for the North Portland Greenway Trail."
The Rivergate Boulevard crossing project would allow freight traffic over a rail line near a Port of Portland facility. About a mile to the southeast, City Dump Road would be part of the North Portland Greenway connecting Chimney Park to the St. Johns Landfill restoration site. Metro needed an easement from the railroad to allow the trail to cross the railroad at City Dump Road.
In the deal, Union Pacific also relinquished a communications easement on a small parcel near the Oregon Convention Center.
"The relinquishment of Union Pacific’s communications easement would remove a restriction on the use of the affected property thereby enhancing the value of the remaining property to Metro and OCC," the staff report said.
The Metro Council unanimously approved the deal without discussion on Thursday.