Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Parkway's impending closure a surprise to more than Honda dealer

City manager says Wilsonville has been working to keep Parkway open since 1994

• By: Patrick Johnson  
• Published: 2/22/2010 2:15:22 PM

City officials said last week they have done everything they can to keep Parkway Avenue open, while at least one big business that developed on Parkway didn’t know of the impending closure.

Last month Parker Johnstone, owner of Wilsonville Honda, filed a lawsuit in Clackamas County Circuit Court demanding that Parkway Avenue remain open at Wilsonville Road when the Oregon Department of Transportation starts its $20 million Interstate 5 and Wilsonville Road interchange project later this year. If Parkway doesn’t remain open, the lawsuit calls for the city of Wilsonville, ODOT, city manager Arlene Loble, city attorney Michael Kohlhoff, DKS Associates and Group MacKenzie, to pay to move the $9 million dealership to another location in Wilsonville.

ODOT officials finalized plans in January for the interchange and Parkway is scheduled to be closed for safety reasons.

Meanwhile, Phil Fogg, Jr., president and CEO of Marquis Care, whose Marquis Care at Wilsonville and Vintage Suites are along Parkway Avenue near Wilsonville Honda, said he had not heard about the lawsuit, but understood why it was filed.

Fogg said that when he developed the expansion of the Marquis Care facility in 2003 – around the same time Wilsonville Honda was going through the planning process — he, too, was never informed that Parkway Avenue would be closing.

“We went through an extensive land use process ourselves, and at no point – and I was actively involved at that point working with the city – and at no point were we told that was going to happen,” Fogg said. “Again on the city side there could have been a presumption that people knew this. We didn’t know about it. If I had known, there is a chance that 10 years ago I wouldn’t have bought that land. It is going to be very disruptive to the business.”

According to ODOT documents, the city and ODOT agreed in 1994 that Parkway access at Wilsonville Road would be modified.

However, Fogg said, after he learned of the Parkway closure through the Wilsonville Spokesman coverage last year he has been impressed with the city’s efforts to work with ODOT to meet the needs of the Parkway businesses.

“After, subsequent to them going through it and going out and communicating this, I would give the city positive feedback for their communication,” Fogg said.

Officials with Fred Meyer stores said they are monitoring the situation.

“At this point we are just going to stand back and wait to see if the parties can come to an agreement,” said Melinda Merrill, a Fred Meyer spokeswoman. “Other than that, we are just watching and waiting.”
Wilsonville Chamber of Commerce officials said last week they have been contacted by members wondering  how the lawsuit could impact the interchange project.

“The chamber has several members who will be impacted by the closure of Parkway,” said Steve Gilmore, CEO. “The economic vitality of our members is always our first priority and concern and we are keeping a very close eye on this situation. I have been in contact with Parker and I fully understand and appreciate why he filed his lawsuit.”

Gilmore also said the interchange project is “extremely important” to the local economy not only by bringing short-term construction dollars and jobs into the community, but also facilitating hundreds of long-term jobs by providing capacity for the Coke expansion, Fred Meyer and the newly-proposed Wilsonville Road Industrial project.

When asked if this recent lawsuit, combined with other land-use related controversies in the last several months, would mean the chamber could become more active in the land use process, Gilmore said the chamber will be taking a more active role to protect the local economy.

Negotiating a road
City manager Arlene Loble said Friday that since 1994 the city has worked hard to negotiate to keep Parkway Avenue open. She credits city engineer Mike Stone for his efforts in 1994 to keep the access point on Wilsonville Road open when the last improvements were done.

She also said with the recent interchange improvement project – where the city of Wilsonville will be paying for $12 million of the $20 million project – her staff has continued their efforts to leave Parkway Avenue open.

“We have had repeated meetings with Parker’s attorney’s, Michael (Kohlhoff) and ODOT officials to try to solve this problem,” Loble said. “The council has even talked about it at work session to try to find some way to keep that access open. This really comes down to an ODOT decision and we have put it off as long as we could. I would say that ODOT saw it as an inevitability.”

Brad Wurfel, a new ODOT spokesman, said that after an “extensive” search, they could not find a case where an interchange project was delayed due to a lawsuit.
“Other than that, if you have questions about the specific project I can answer those, but when it comes to the lawsuit we have no comment,” Wurfel said. “At this point it’s up to the lawyers.”

Kohlhoff also was reluctant to talk about the lawsuit. He is represented by Richard Kuhn, of Hoffman Hart & Wagner, who is also representing the city and Loble in the lawsuit. 

Kuhn did not return calls by press time.
 

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