PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Community reaction is heating up on the streets of Lake Oswego after a judge announced a ruling on public access to the lake this week.
There are two phases of this lawsuit. The first phase happened on Tuesday when a judge decided that Oswego Lake falls under the “public trust doctrine,” meaning the public has the right to access it.
However, this doesn’t apply just yet — because the City of Lake Oswego has a resolution in place that still blocks public access. The resolution says the city didn’t build their parks for safe lake access, so they don’t want to be held liable, therefore the public can’t get in the water.
Phase 2 of the trial will be fighting over that resolution. That doesn’t come until late July.
Meanwhile, people are weighing in with their thoughts on if the public should have access to Oswego Lake or leave it to the private landowners.
Many told KOIN 6 News they’d love to simply take their canoe or paddleboard for a dip.
“I look at this location and I think, ‘Oh, that’s really nice,’ but I don’t know anyone who has a home on the lake so I will never have that opportunity,” Emily Flood, a Lake Oswego community member, said. “I can see both sides — I can understand that if you’re spending all that money on a home, you want to benefit from that privacy. But also, water should be accessible to everyone.”
That’s the argument Mark Kramer and Todd Prager are making in their lawsuit. The two men are suing the City of Lake Oswego, the State of Oregon and Lake Oswego Corporation for public access to Oswego Lake.
According to their attorney, Nadia Dahab, Kramer is an avid kayaker while Prager loves to swim. Both men are activists involved in public rights issues outdoors.
Lake Oswego Corporation General Manager Jeff Ward, who speaks for the landowners along the lake, says his shareholders’ biggest concern is safety.
“We are not on the side of the plaintiffs. We are on the side of the defendants,” Ward said. “You know, you see a lot of people on social media saying, ‘I’m gonna go throw my powerboat in the lake and I’m gonna race it around,’ and things like that… There’s no place to put a powerboat in the lake.”
According to Dahab, however, the Clackamas County judge’s ruling earlier this week “acknowledges that our state’s natural resources can’t be privatized.”
“They must be protected for public use,” Dahab explained. She also reminded people that there is still some time to go until phase two of the trial — so you can’t go into the lake quite yet.
The second part of the trial will begin on July 17, where a jury will have to decide if the city’s rule that says the public can’t get in the water because it’s unsafe is “reasonable” or whether it’s arbitrary and doesn’t apply.