January 25, 2025
You’ve probably see a whole smattering of communications and information about Oppenlander over the past 4 weeks. I apologize for not being more proactive updating all of you over those weeks, but it seems that just about the time I sit down to write an update, something else happens with the City, School District, or the Press that needs my attention.
Thanks for being a supporter of the Save Oppenlander project hosted by Friends of Oppenlander.
Please know that we can still save Oppenlander from being developed and adding up to resulting in up to 90 additional families in need of recreational resources, and the loss of a park for the entire community—forever!
Best regards,
Dean Suhr
on behalf of the Friends of Oppenlander team
School Board Public Comments Needed this Monday
Your voice is critical.
School Board Meeting – Mon. 1/27 @ 4:30pm at West Linn High School. Public comment is first on the agenda.
The School District needs to hear your support to keep Oppenlander as a park at a reasonable price negotiated in good faith. This meeting will be primarily focused on closing one or more West Linn elementary schools … but really it is about the District’s budget shortage, and both the school closure(s) and the Oppenlander sale are short-sighted stopgap attempts at a solution to a much bigger problem.
The losers in both issues are the families, students, and children of the West Linn Community.
You may submit written comments to the School Board of Directors at any time to Kelly Douglas, Board Clerk: [email protected] Please cc: us at [email protected]
Suggested talking points for your Public Comments are listed at the bottom of this email.
City Public Meeting Being Scheduled
City Staff are organizing a public meeting to better understand the Community’s perspective on Oppenlander, formally hear from Friends of Oppenlander, and develop a go forward framework to acquire Oppenlander Fields and preserve it’s 40+ year legacy serving West Linn families.
We are hopeful tis meeting will occur the second week of February. We will keep you posted.
Who Is Friends of Oppenlander?
We are your friends and neighbors, parents and grandparents, committed to the high quality of life we have for families and residents of all ages here in West Linn. We are a passionate, grass-roots, and transparent group operating in good-faith for all of you!
Friends of Oppenlander is an Oregon Public Benefit charity organized in 2021 “… to support the acquisition and transition of Oppenlander Fields from the West Linn Wilsonville School District to the City of West Linn, and assure its preservation for future generations of West Linn residents.” Our EIN is: 87-0959278 and we are preparing to accept 501c3 tax-deductible donations.
We are the organization that brought the District and City back to the table after their first Oppenlander closed-door negotiating session went off the rails in 2021.
We engaged and educated the community, guided the parties to a signed sales agreement, created awareness that lead to the passing of a $3.5M bond measure in 2022 by a 2:1 margin.
And now, after the legal jostling between the two parties over the past 2 years, we are trying to get them back to an amicable, good-faith community-respectful negotiating table to preserve Oppenlander.
And, if the sales price is above $3.5M – which is the current stake the District drove into the ground – we are committed to privately raising the funds necessary to pay a reasonably negotiated sales price.
More to come at the forthcoming public meeting on how we expect to do this, why we think a new Bond Measure is not the solution, and how your tax-deductible donations can make this happen is forthcoming.
Talking Points for School Board Meeting
Feel free to pick and choose from the following discussion points and to add a few words about your family’s personal engagement with Oppenlander. Due to an anticipated large number of public comments, please be prepared to share your thoughts in 2 minutes or less.
- We want to preserve the valuable resource as a park.
- Oppenlander has a 40+ year legacy of serving the West linn community as a park and athletic fields for baseball, softball, soccer, family gatherings, walking, jogging, dog walking, family fun, and even occasional golf chipping.
- Athletics are critical resources grow social skills, strong citizens, leadership skills, and increase physical and mental motivation … and powerful alternatives to today’s “head always in your phone” status of so many children.
- We remind the School Board that they are stewards and that they manage resources on behalf of the residents of the District – the District leadership and Board are accountable to us!
- We respectfully ask (and demand) that the School Board come back to the table to negotiate in good faith a sales price and agreement that respects the values the District formally expressed when it required in the 2021 Sales Agreement that the City keep Oppenlander a park in perpetuity.
- We strongly object to the Superintendent’s stated plan to move the funds from the Oppenlander sale to a reserve fund where the funds can (will?) be used to cover operating expenses instead of being rolled over into future school site land banking. Oppenlander should not be used to cover short-term PERs and other expenses!
- The 2:1 support of the 2022 Bond Measure and the fact that Friends of Oppenlander is stating they are willing to raise funds beyond $3.5M does not validate or endorse the District’s current $7.875M price, but it does acknowledge that we all want a fair good-faith deal.