A 10-acre field the West Linn-Wilsonville School District held for 56 years as a potential school site is headed for housing, and the Rosemont Summit neighbors who used it for baseball and dog walks got their first close look at the plan on Aug. 6.

Venture Properties, the Lake Oswego-based developer that bought Oppenlander Field for $7.925 million, presented 43 finalized lots at a neighborhood association meeting hosted by president Abby Farber, according to the West Linn Tidings. The subdivision will include a mix of single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes along Rosemont Road at the intersection of Meadowlark Lane. No park space is included.

The lot count is down from the 45 shown in Venture's April pre-application filing, and the developer revised the road layout for the new Miles Court. Instead of connecting to Miles Drive at a right angle, the road will wind around the property to preserve some of the 28 trees inventoried on site. How many trees can actually be saved won't be known until the formal planning process advances.

"I do empathize with a lot of the feelings in the community, but what we try to do as developers is bring what we think fits in with the community best because if it's not us, it's somebody else, and so we try to approach it with community in mind," Venture representative Levi Levasa told the crowd. Levasa said he lives in West Linn, grew up with family in the area and played baseball at Oppenlander as a kid.

How the district's land ended up for sale

The school district purchased Oppenlander in 1970 as a possible school site but eventually declared it surplus. West Linn voters approved Measure 3-582 in May 2022 with 66.57% support, authorizing up to $3.5 million in bonds to buy the property as a park. But the district's asking price climbed to $7.875 million, and in February 2025 the City Council unanimously voted not to pursue a new bond.

A 2022 lawsuit between the city and the district over differing appraisals ended in the district's favor. After the appeal window closed, the district moved to sell. Icon Construction initially won the bid at $7.875 million but backed out, citing the lot count and clay infill at the site. Venture said at the Aug. 6 meeting that it does not feel constrained by either issue. Its $7.925 million offer was $50,000 higher than Icon's and the second-highest among 10 bids received by broker Capacity Commercial Group.

The West Linn-Wilsonville School Board unanimously approved the sale on April 20.

Neighbors voice traffic, tree and character concerns

Dean Suhr, founder of Friends of Oppenlander, whose backyard abuts the property, opened the meeting by acknowledging the park dream is over. He had spent years pushing the city to buy the land.

Residents pressed Venture on Rosemont Road traffic. The developer said it will conduct additional traffic studies during the pre-application process. No formal development application has been submitted to the city.

West Linn planning manager Darren Wyss told OPB in a July 24 report that the last time a development of 45 or more homes was approved in West Linn was nine years ago. The city hasn't seen a new multifamily development since the late 1990s. The surrounding neighborhood consists of large single-family homes; Venture's plan would place duplexes on roughly 5,000-square-foot lots next to those properties.

Venture must next submit a formal subdivision application to the West Linn planning department for review before the project goes to the Planning Commission. No timeline for that filing has been announced.