Solar panels along I-205 draw heat from West Linn residents

A group from West Linn and Oregon City has advocated against the solar highway project

By Dan Itel

The West Linn Tidings, Jul 23, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (11 Reader comments)

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West Linn’s involvement in the Oregon Department of Transportation’s solar highway project, billed as the “world’s largest,” could face a crush of opposition at Monday’s City Council meeting.

A handful of West Linn and Oregon City residents have been going door to door, namely in the Barrington Heights neighborhood, an enclave of high-priced homes positioned on a bluff overlooking Interstate 205 where the solar panels would stretch about 2,000 feet across the hillside of ODOT-owned land.

They’re armed with a list of talking points as to why the project would not be good for either community.

The West Linn City Council is set to vote on a resolution offering the city’s backing for the ODOT-led project.

“Our main objective is to get this vote delayed,” said Karen Montoya, an Oregon City resident and chairwoman of the South End Neighborhood Association. “We’re saying it’s not right for this community. This is going to affect a lot of people, a lot of property. And we need a lot more information.”

The group’s main contentions have to do with the view from both cities, the potential of tarnished wildlife areas and the general effectiveness of the project.

“These are issues we won’t find out about for 10 to 15 years,” said Barrington Heights resident Sherry Pryor. “We have four city council people who really have not thought this through.”

Members of the group feel they have a supporter in Mayor Patti Galle in advocating for a delay to the vote. Publicly, Galle isn’t saying which way she is leaning on the resolution vote.

“I have been so pleased to have so many citizens take an interest in this issue and write in about their thoughts,” Galle said. “I am still taking comments and want to hear from as many citizens as possible before I make a decision that will bring a project of this magnitude to our city.”

Officials involved in the project say the panels would be virtually invisible from West Linn. They would be in the sightline from Oregon City but would replace an area of land currently housing wood debris, work sheds, heavy equipment storage and gravel piles for ODOT.

“The discussion of the solar highway project provides the West Linn City Council and community with a unique opportunity to explore alternative energy concepts as well as a possible use of existing ODOT right of way,” West Linn City Manager Chris Jordan said. Assistant to the city manager Kirsten Wyatt said that because it is ODOT-owned land, the state can choose to launch the project with, or without, city support. The resolution, she said, does not mean shovels will hit the dirt the next day.

“We’re still in the public participation process,” Wyatt said. “ODOT has said all along that they don’t want to do this in a community that doesn’t want this.”

The project may also include a city trail starting on Salamo Road that would cut behind homes on Riverknoll and Barrington Drive to provide a view over the hillside.

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