We are dismayed with the decision that was made by the Hearings Officer to approve the land use application for Phase 3 of PGE’s Harborton Reliability Project. The mission of the Forest Park Conservancy is to protect and restore the ecological health of Forest Park, and this proposal threatens to remove 4.7 acres of trees, and potentially more in future phases. To that end, we are filing to appeal this decision.
The PGE Proposal does not comply with the Forest Park Natural Resource Management Plan (FPNRMP). PGE cannot fully mitigate the damage from the proposed project, there are alternatives to their proposal, and this proposed project disrupts the forest’s trajectory to becoming an ancient forest. For these reasons and more, we believe their application should have been denied.
FPC supports the Portland Permitting and Development staff members’ report that recommends denying an exception to the Forest Park Natural Resources Management Plan, as well as denying PGE from filling of two wetlands, impacting two streams in Forest Park, and removing 376 living trees and disturbing 4.7 acres of forest.
We will be providing updates on how our community can participate in order to fight for Forest Park. If you would like to stand by us as we take on this appeal, we encourage you to become a donor to help fund our appeal and the staff time this appeal will require.