SouthLake Church recently purchased property across from Lakeridge High School. The Lake Oswego School District hopes to acquire the property, seen here on Aug. 10, 2026.
Holly Bartholomew / OPB
The Lake Oswego School Board took the first step Monday toward condemning property recently acquired by a local church.
Land condemnation, also known as eminent domain, is a legal tool governments can use to procure land deemed necessary. It’s typically used as a last resort. While school officials in Lake Oswego prepare for the possibility that condemnation may be necessary, members of the church feel like their new home could be snatched away from them.
SouthLake Church bought the 2.5-acre property from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for $3.25 million in June. The parcel sits across the street from Lakeridge High School.
According to school board meeting materials, “The District jumped at the opportunity to acquire” the property, offering $3.4 million, when the Mormon Church listed the site this spring. The district says it needs the space for its community transition program, which supports students with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 21. District leaders also want the property for its gym and parking space.
SouthLake parishioners packed Monday’s board meeting. The three church members who gave public comment urged the board not to approve the resolution declaring the church property a public necessity — a required first step before a government can take property through eminent domain.
Ultimately, the board unanimously passed the resolution. Still board members said they hoped to acquire the property through negotiation with the church rather than invoking eminent domain.
“This is not the school against a church,” board member Brian Bills said.
Members of SouthLake saw it differently.
“It’s the government doing a taking of a sacred place for a community,” Parishioner Jeff Martin told OPB after the decision. “So it’s serious business and we will treat it that way.”
Building ‘uniquely suited for district’s needs’
In addition to parking and the community transition program, the district says it needs the church property for new career and technical education and STEM space at Lakeridge.
The district’s community transition program, which aims to provide life skills and career opportunities to young adults with developmental disabilities, has long operated in two buildings at the Lake Oswego High School campus. The district plans to use voter-approved bond funds to convert those buildings into additional CTE and STEM classrooms, meaning the community transition program will need a new home.
The district said a portion of the church building could be remodeled to fit the needs of the community transition program.
At a meeting Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, Lake Oswego School Board members discuss condemnation of a property recently acquired by SouthLake Church.
Holly Bartholomew / OPB
Other parts of the building could also be converted for additional CTE and STEM space for Lakeridge, to match the planned upgrades at Lake Oswego High School.
Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Stuart Ketzler told the board Monday the district initially planned to meet these needs by constructing new facilities on Lakeridge’s existing campus. Buying and using the church property instead would save the district millions of dollars, he said.
According to Ketzler, the size and proximity of the building to Lakeridge made the church uniquely suited to fit the district’s needs.
The district also says the church’s gymnasium could help alleviate some of the community’s struggles with limited gym space. The property’s parking lot would similarly help with the school’s finite parking capacity.
SouthLake Pastor Jonathan Simmons said that in the first weeks after acquiring the property, he offered the majority of the church’s parking to the high school free of charge.
Board members sought to assure the public they were not considering condemnation as a result of a mistake or failure by the district to acquire the property.
“We submitted a bona fide offer with reasonable conditions, we had the means and ability to close on a very quick timeline. The records available to us show we submitted the most competitive of the two,” Ketzler said. “To my belief that’s not a defect in what we did.”
Ketzler added he did not know why the Mormon church opted to go with the lower of the two bids but said that the church’s listing agent told him decisions would be made by the church’s “corporate office” in Salt Lake City. The Church did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SouthLake moves from longtime home
According to Simons, who declined to comment on the board’s decision but testified during the meeting, the SouthLake church had long sought a new home before buying the Mormon church property earlier this year.
For several decades, the church operated on a 30-acre site it purchased on Borland Road in West Linn in 2001. Due to financial constraints, the church sought to sell the unused 24 acres of field next to the church to a local youth soccer club that hoped to develop the land into soccer fields.
The church and soccer club began working on the deal in 2016, but it eventually fell through in 2025.
According to a timeline Simons shared with the school board, this left SouthLake “facing the potential closure of its longtime property.”
The church spent the next year looking for a new location. After selling its Borland Road property to the growing Athey Creek Christian Fellowship, which had its own church a half mile away, SouthLake moved into a shared space with the nearby Neighborhood Church.
According to Simons, SouthLake learned that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ property would be up for sale in May. The two churches entered a purchase and sale agreement that month.
The following month, SouthLake learned that the district had considered using eminent domain for the property after failing to acquire the site. After finalizing the purchase, SouthLake informed Lakeridge High School that a majority of the church’s parking would be available for the school.
SouthLake began moving into its new property last month, holding worship and prayer services there, as well as leadership meetings and pastoral counseling. SouthLake leaders say they’ve also begun a $700,000 renovation of the church.
Simons told the board he hoped they could work together on a resolution.
“I’m asking you tonight to let that relationship grow, to choose collaboration, not condemnation,” he said.
District staff said they would continue to talk with SouthLake. According to the resolution, the district’s leadership and lawyers will attempt to reach an agreement with the church for “just compensation” for the property.
“In the event that no satisfactory agreement can be reached, the District’s staff and the District’s legal counsel are authorized to commence and prosecute condemnation proceedings and to take other steps as they determine are necessary to acquire the Property,” the resolution states.
