The Lake Oswego City Council voted against appealing a court order regarding public access to the city’s namesake lake.

The 5-2 vote Monday followed a passionate public hearing before the city council where residents expressed support and opposition for public access to the lake. They raised concerns about safety, the environment and water quality. Others spoke about private property rights, discrimination, and the perception of being a relatively affluent community with a private lake.

“As a resident I urge you not to appeal,” Patrick Gutierrez, who also serves as co-chair on the city’s Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Advisory Board, testified Monday. “I believe it is a waste of taxpayers’ money and resources.”

Access has long been restricted to members of the Lake Oswego Corporation, a group primarily made up of shareholders who own the property surrounding the water or pay for the right to access it. City residents could use a seasonal swim park, but the general public was not allowed to enter Oswego Lake to swim, fish or boat.

“The Lake Corp. has been a good steward of the lake for 80 years,” Katharyn Thompson, a lake corporation board member, said Monday, encouraging city councilors to appeal. “Managing and operating the lake requires significant financial investment.”

A series of court rulings, starting back in 2022, determined the public has a right to access the water and the city’s restrictions were unreasonable.

In March, the Lake Oswego Corporation filed a notice to appeal. The city had until April 2, to decide whether to join.

Lake Oswego Mayor Joe Buck, who voted against an appeal, said it’s clear the city cannot have a rule that “blanket prohibits access.”

“Folks can enter the lake, they are entering the lake,” Buck said Monday night. “It’s imperative that we work collaboratively to put guidelines and practices in place so that that can be done safely.”

Buck said he understood that many homeowners and lake corporation shareholders felt “the rug had been pulled out from underneath them.”

Councilor Aaron Rapf, a shareholder with the Lake Oswego Corporation, was one of the two council members to vote in favor of appealing the ruling. He said he took “great offense” to those trying to make lake access an issue about race or class.

“This is not a war against those who are wealthy,” Rapf said. “This decision is going to impact our city for decades. I will not be one of the councilors that destroys this city.”

The mayor asked City Attorney Ellen Osoinach the chances of the Oregon Court of Appeals blocking the public access order from going into effect while the court considered the city’s appeal. Osoinach said it was her “strong opinion” the city would not succeed.

A long-running legal fight

The case dates back more than a decade and pits two Oregonians against the city and the Lake Oswego Corporation.

On April 3, 2012, the Lake Oswego City Council passed a resolution banning people from entering the lake from three waterfront parks along Lakewood Bay. City staff posted signs prohibiting access from Millennium Park Plaza, Sundeleaf Plaza and Headlee Walkway.

That same year open water swimmer Todd Prager and kayaker Mark Kramer filed a lawsuit challenging the city’s rules. They argued that under Oregon law, all navigable waterways are public and must be accessible from public land. To prevent that, they argued, would set a dangerous precedent.

In 2019, the Oregon Supreme Court heard the case, but it remanded it, ruling that lower courts never developed a complete factual record.

In 2022, Clackamas County Circuit Court Judge Ann Lininger ruled the lake was historically navigable and therefore subject to the state’s public trust doctrine, meaning the public must have access. Lininger was removed from the case over a perceived conflict of interest, but her ruling stood.

Last fall, Clackamas County Circuit Court Judge Kathie Steele ruled that the city’s ordinance violated Oregon law because it was an unreasonable restriction on the public’s right of access. Steele said the city can set limits, but cannot restrict access.

In March, she ordered the city to remove all “boulders, metal reeds, and any other obstructions to public access to Oswego Lake from Millennium Plaza Park.” That order also requires the city to remove any exclusionary signage that says “Private Lake” or “No Trespassing.”

Before voting Monday night, other city councilors also explained their views towards public access,

Several councilors noted that people who lived around the lake bought their property with the expectation of private access, and expressed sadness at how the issue had divided the community.

“I respect the private property ownership rights, but if that right has been built on perhaps illegal terms, do those rights still need to be honored?” Lake Oswego City Councilor Ali Afghan, who voted against appealing the ruling, said during the Monday meeting. “Somebody sold the shareholders a private lake. They just want what they bought. They want that right.”

Councilor John Wendland, who voted to appeal, said the way the order was written has implications for the future and that “outsiders,” rather than the city and its residents, are “determining our future – that doesn’t sit well with me.”

Other councilors noted that even if the city did continue with the case, they probably wouldn’t succeed at court.

Councilor Massene Mboup, who also voted against, referenced the legal advice he’s received. “They told me if you appeal you’re going to lose,” he said. “What government should do is face the truth.”

The council also voted 7-0 to pass a resolution directing the city manager to implement safety measures. Those could include everything from regulations to which hours the public can access the water or the size of boats.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/04/01/lake-oswego-city-council-declines-to-appeal-public-access-ruling/