Baker City approves Court Plaza construction, ending 40-year wait

Court Avenue’s blocked-off stretch between Main Street and Resort Street is set to become a 90-day construction zone this summer, as Baker City moves to turn the long-standing temporary parking lot into Court Plaza. The finished space is expected to bring benches, other seating, eight trees, new plantings and a bronze centerpiece to one of downtown Baker City’s most visible unfinished corners.

The Baker City Council voted 7-0 on April 14 to hire R6 Contracting of Union for the project’s $678,673 low bid. That price came in well below the project’s original $1.3 million estimate, which included a large contingency. City bid documents posted in March laid out a build that includes decorative concrete sidewalks, exposed aggregate paving, ornamental light poles, electrical and irrigation trenching, and a stacked-rock-faced sitting wall with capstone. An additive bid alternative would remove the existing concrete walks, curbs and asphalt drive now covering the site.

Court Plaza has been part of Baker City’s downtown planning story for more than four decades. Baker City Downtown says the idea began in 1982 with a local student’s proposal, and a design concept was sketched by Wayne Sieg in 1984. The plaza was intended to connect downtown to Geiser-Pollman Park and other pocket parks along the Powder River, tying it to the broader Leo Adler Memorial Pathway plan. Public input on Resort Street and the plaza design was gathered from 2005 through 2009. The street segment was cut off from the city street system in 2013 and rezoned as city park in 2015. Baker City Downtown formally partnered with the city in 2019, and updated plans were completed and approved in 2023 after a Ford Family Foundation grant helped pay for engineering work.

The plaza’s focal feature will be a bronze replica of a 1902 watering trough that once stood in the middle of Main Street at Court Avenue before being destroyed by a runaway team of horses a few years later. The replica will not carry water, but its base is designed to hold the community holiday tree and provide outlets for seasonal lights, preserving a downtown tradition while giving the plaza a stronger identity.

Funding for the project came from several directions. The city received a Local Government Grant Program award in fall 2024 to cover 60% of the estimated cost, up to $700,200, through an Oregon Parks and Recreation Department program funded by the state lottery. Baker County commissioners approved a $200,000 lodging-tax award, the Leo Adler Foundation contributed $100,000, and Baker City Downtown’s pledge drive brought in $62,300 after launching in June 2025 with a $50,000 goal. Additional support came from the Ford Family Foundation, the Ash Grove Charitable Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation funds and the Buerkel-Zoellner Foundation.

With construction now approved, Court Plaza is poised to do what downtown boosters have promised for years: turn a dead-ended block into a real civic space and give Baker City a finished link in the pathway that was supposed to knit the heart of town to the river.