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Negotiators for Portland Parks & Recreation and Portland Public Schools have reached a tentative agreement on the fate of the athletic field at Grant High School, two months after the turf was closed to most uses, throwing fall sports into chaos.
As demanded by Grant parents during a two-month lobbying campaign, the city parks bureau would lease the field to PPS for 20 years, with two 10-year renewals, according to an Oct. 16 draft of the agreement obtained by WW. PPS would pay for all improvements to the field. It was closed suddenly in August after tests showed the artificial turf had become compacted, increasing the risk of concussions.
“We’re hoping to have this signed quickly,” said T.J. McHugh, senior policy adviser to City Commissioner Dan Ryan, who oversees the parks bureau. “It’s in PPS’s court. We gave them everything they wanted.”
The agreement came after a productive meeting Monday at Grant among Ryan and his staff, parks officials, PPS staff and Grant parents, McHugh said.
PPS indicated that a final agreement may be further off. District spokeswoman Valerie Feder said parks and PPS are still negotiating. “We will be sending parks a new lease next week,” Feder said.
A group of Grant parents, organized as the Grant Bowl Community Coalition, had been pressing the parks bureau to either sell or lease the field to PPS. Parents said the city agency had been negligent by not replacing the turf before the end of its 10-year life span. The closure in August sent Grant soccer and football teams scrambling to Delta Park and other far-flung venues for practices and games.
“Our coalition had three goals,” the parents group said in a statement. “Immediate replacement of the track and field, shifting planning and maintenance responsibilities to PPS to allow for future improvements including lighting, and preserving community access while prioritizing Grant High School students. Not only does this proposal provide all three, it shifts the permit revenue to PPS which provides a starting point to fund needed improvements like lighting. PPS needs to sign this agreement immediately and initiate the permitting process to install the lighting so students stop missing school and play home games. It’s time to move the Grant Bowl into the 21st century.”
Under the tentative agreement, PPS would pay to replace the field and the track that surrounds it. PPS would handle all operations, maintenance and security. PPS would also handle permits for non-school groups to use the field. PPS and the parks bureau would meet every year “to make a good faith effort to support historic use levels of track and fields in Grant Park,” the agreement says.
Because PPS would handle permitting, it would keep any fees, McHugh said.
PPS would provide public access to the football field, track and the smaller upper field, from 5 am to 10 pm when there are no conflicts with Grant activities or permitted use, the tentative agreement says. “Lessee will post public hours on its school website and at entrances to the site,” it says.