Joint Beaverton City Council and THPRD Board Meeting - September 26, 2025
Joint Beaverton City Council and THPRD Board Meeting - September 26, 2025
The Beaverton City Council and the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD) Board met jointly on the evening of September 26, 2025, to discuss collaboration on parks, trails, housing, and a potential Bloomberg Mayors Challenge project. The meeting featured presentations from city and THPRD staff, followed by discussion among elected officials. No public testimony was taken, and the meeting ended with a vote on a settlement agreement.
Discussion Items
1. Metro 2019 Parks & Nature Bond – Local Share Collaboration
- Staff (Lee Crabtree, City; Aisha Panis, THPRD) presented background on the bond's six programs, highlighting the $92 million 'Support Local Projects' program. Beaverton received $5.7 million and THPRD $8.6 million in local share allocations. THPRD has already committed most of its allocation to projects like Willow Creek Greenway (under construction, completion end of 2025), Sakasaka Park (design phase, construction summer 2026), and accessible play structures.
- The city has not yet dedicated its $5.7 million. Staff requested guidance on whether to enter an agreement for THPRD to deliver projects using the city's allocation.
- Mayor Beatty expressed support for trails and a "cool park" within city limits. Councilors Duggar, Hasson, Hartmeyer-Präg, and Teter emphasized access to parks, especially via trails, and the need for safer connections to Cooper Mountain and downtown. Board members Moreno, Minor, and Palacios voiced strong commitment to collaboration, noting that Beaverton is 37% of THPRD's service population and contains most of its facilities.
- Key constraints: Local share funds cannot be used for sports courts or tennis courts; THPRD SDCs can only cover 40% of trail costs; upfront costs required before reimbursement.
2. Downtown Confluence Concept – Large-Scale Community Vision Grant
- Staff introduced the 'Downtown Confluence Concept' as a candidate for Metro's $50 million Large-Scale Community Vision program. The concept integrates nature, housing, transportation, and job opportunities around downtown creeks, building on the Downtown Parks and Open Space Framework Plan and the Downtown Subbasin Strategy.
- Project requires at least $6 million total cost, $2 million in habitat restoration, and meaningful engagement with marginalized communities. The city has not yet applied; staff sought feedback on proceeding with a letter of interest.
- Councilors and board members expressed strong enthusiasm. Councilor Hartmeyer-Präg praised the water-related potential. Mayor Beatty noted Metro has not substantially invested in District 4 before. Board Chair Moreno emphasized THPRD's ability to adapt its suburban park expertise to urban settings.
- Specific ideas included: bathrooms (Councilor Hasson), dog-friendly spaces (Hartmeyer-Präg), flood mitigation (Duggar), and placemaking to boost economic vitality (Tivnon).
3. Housing Collaboration – SDC Waivers and Bloomberg Mayor's Challenge
- SDC Incentives: THPRD staff (Gary Keck, Javier Mena) described the SDC credit program (developer provides open space in exchange for credits) and the affordable housing SDC waiver program. Since 2020, waivers have provided $2.5 million in relief, with $1.7 million from four projects within Beaverton. In April 2025, the board increased the unit cap by 268 units (now 900 total). Current example: Lombard West development (231 units, 131 affordable).
- Bloomberg Mayors Challenge: Mayor Beatty framed the city's participation, noting a $1 million prize and two funded FTE positions for the winner. Javier Mena presented the city's idea: a program to support middle housing (duplexes, triplexes, cottage clusters) in walkable neighborhoods, using the LC STER Center site (THPRD-owned) as a case study. The site is currently green space in front of the senior center. The program aims to create moderate-cost housing without deep subsidy, addressing roadblocks like high land costs and ambiguous processes.
- Councilors and board members raised questions about land leases (Duggar), parking for caregivers (Ping), modular housing (Duggar, Kimmy), deed restrictions for affordability (Ping, Kimmy), and the scope of the project (Hasson). Board Member Minor expressed concern about impact on existing senior programming and green space. Mayor Beatty clarified the existing agreement to explore housing at the site and noted zoning allows six stories; the proposed designs are low-rise (1-2 stories) to fit community desires. Staff emphasized the project is still in idea/application phase; no commitments have been made.
- The winner is selected from 50 finalists; final application due October 17, 2025.
Key Outcomes
- No formal decisions were made on the local share allocation, downtown confluence, or Bloomberg challenge. Staff will continue refining ideas and report back.
- Settlement Agreement Vote: The council voted 7-0 (Counselor Kimmy moved) to authorize the city manager to sign a settlement agreement in litigation Captain the Round Owners LLC v. City of Beaverton (Case No. 24CV51423), including dismissal of third-party claims against ABM Industry Groups LLC. This was the final action of the meeting.
- Both bodies agreed to hold joint meetings more frequently and continue dialogue on housing and parks collaboration.
Meeting Transcript
Executive session and back in regular meeting, but for posterity, I will have the recorder recall the city council's role to include our colleagues from THPRD. Councilor Duggar. Councilor Hartmeyer Prague. Here. Councillor Hassan. Here. Councillor Kimmy. Here. Councillor Teeter. Here. Counselor Tibanon. Here. Mayor Beatty. Here. Joining us from our Twalton Hills Parks and Recreation District. Our board members Pradna Patil. Here. Alfredo Moreno. Here. Barbie Minor. Here. Miles Palacios. Here. Tia Ping. Here. All right. Thank you for joining us this evening. We do have a just a couple of agenda items on our joint agenda tonight, but they are robust. With this amount of people, I want us to think about here when we're in a setting like this. If you want to talk, we turn our table of plants up so I could go. I will try hard to kind of see the order that people bring things up. We have a general working rule on the city council that not all of us need to thank the staff, like seven times. Now we've added five. I want to thank all of the staff on behalf of the elected officials today. You guys are wonderful public servants that do the Lord's work every single day. I know the amount of emails and phone calls I answer about THPRD every day because people assume I'm in charge is probably just a small amount compared to the work that you guys do. I will note that a meeting like this is not usual. It's been a few years since we've met in this capacity before, but I do think it's special. I think it it signals a working relationship with our special district, with us, our joint work together. Um we have a new opportunity that our financial constraints have offered all of us, which is working together. We can do more together with the resources we have, and I think it's normal for governments to start fighting when money is short, and I think we have an opportunity to rewrite the script tonight. So some of the things we're going to be talking about are going to give us an opportunity for collaboration, both from THPRD's perspective and the cities. With that, I'm going to turn it over to our first presenter, which is Lee Crabtree from the City of Beaverton. Is that working? Good. Okay. Good evening, counselors and board members. My name is Lee Crabtree. I'm the assistant director for community development here at the City of Beaverton. I am joined tonight by Aisha Panis, and she is our um THPRD's deputy general manager.
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