Neighbors For Smart Growth and the West Haven community are fighting to protect the public’s right to use the 95th Ave trail that connects the West Haven neighborhood, Barnes Road, Providence St. Vincent Hospital, and the Sunset Transit Station.
Located between SW Spring Crest Drive and Barnes Road, the 95th Ave Trail provides valuable access to transit, increases active recreation, and reduces auto-related impacts. In addition, it was recognized as a Regional Trail in the 2014 Washington County Transportation System Plan Update, as well as an Essential Service under paragraph 501-7.1.B of Washington County’s recently adopted A-Engrossed Ordinance No. 799.
Unfortunately, the property owner has recently attempted to fence off the southern end of the trail to prevent public passage along the long-used pedestrian corridor. The community is highly concerned about the detrimental impacts of this action on active transportation and transit use throughout the region.
Without the 95th Ave Regional Trail, the walking distance from West Haven’s Transit Oriented Pedestrian District to Sunset Transit Station would increase from a short nature walk to a trek that is miles long. In addition, it would increase auto-related impacts throughout the region due to decreased pedestrian access and higher demand on Sunset Transit Station’s already over-burdened parking facility. Furthermore, neighbors are concerned that the land owner is infringing upon public prescriptive easement rights that have been established through generations of continuous, open, and uninterrupted trail use by the public.
Therefore, Neighbors For Smart Growth is currently engaged in advocacy to protect the 95th Ave Regional Trail and enhance pedestrian access to transit in the Transit Oriented community. As part of this effort, we have submitted a letter requesting that the City of Beaverton require the fence to be removed within 30 days. In addition, we have requested that the City amend all relevant development plan maps to include the 95th Ave Regional Trail as well as require improvement of the trail to meet Regional Trail specifications during any future Sunset Station development application.
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Regarding your article on saving the 95th Ave regional trail: I looked at your Facebook page, hoping to see this article and “Like” it so others would learn about this issue, but I was saddened to see that the Facebook site has not been updated for several years. 🙁 Can you post this article on your Facebook page? I am very concerned about the future of this trail!
Good suggestion, thanks. It’s been posted to the FB page.