Construction on a long-promised park recognizing a freedmen settlement has come to a halt, as residents say the city encroached on land outside its ownership, extending years of setbacks on the project.
The Mosier Valley community was promised Mosier Valley Park in 2014, to be built on what was the site of the segregated Mosier Valley School. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in February at 11220 Mosier Valley Road, but construction stopped on April 3, as residents say the city entered an area that did not belong to the city, cleared the land, and cut down protected oak trees that were of importance to the neighborhood.
Jeff Pointer, chairman of the Mosier Valley Property Owners Association, had asked for the site plans months before the groundbreaking, but never received them, he said. Once he saw the construction encroaching on land east of the parking lot on the site and trees being cut, he stopped the work, he said. The lack of communication to the Mosier Valley community continues to frustrate Pointer and others, he said, given years of being left in the dark about the park’s development…