Cost escalation from $4.4 million to $31 million raises questions
Yes, you read the headline correctly: Columbia Pool may be revived after all.
Portland Parks & Recreation was three days away from razing Columbia Park Pool in March when Mayor Keith Wilson stopped the demolition. New PP&R leadership may be open to strategies to restore the pool.
Friends of Columbia Park Chair, Chris Manno is optimistic after recently meeting with PP&R interim director Sonia Schmanski and Deputy City Administrator Priya Dhanapal. In July, Dhanapal announced the resignation of PP&R director Adena Long, who received a $140,000 severance.
“The willingness of city leadership to engage is a major step forward to reverse this injustice for our community,” said Manno, whose coalition supports restoring Columbia Pool to complement the North Portland Aquatic Center scheduled to open in 2029–30.
PP&R leaders met with architects Jamin AAsum of AAsum Design, Dev Naik of Bassetti Architects, and Chris Forney of Brightworks Sustainability, on July 22. AAsum and Forney helped author the 2021 Columbia Pool Community Task Force Facilities Assessment Report. The architects said that previous Parks administrators should have mothballed the structure to preserve it for future use, rather than let the building assets deteriorate.
In response, Dhanapal said, “Columbia Pool is important to the community…Sonia [Schmanski] and I can connect with our teams and circle back with you on next steps,” which she said would include immediate next steps and maybe ones in the longer term.
“The ‘immediate’ need is to stabilize the pool building,” AAsum emphasized. “We need to ventilate the building, turn on fans, and dry it out this summer” to prevent any further deterioration from moisture and mildew, he said.
AAsum also proposed installing temporary roof protection, which could be as basic as tarps, before the winter rains come. “These measures could be simple, temporary and relatively inexpensive,” he said.
Dhanapal said that PP&R could have a response within a week on immediate steps to prevent any structure degradation.
City cost escalation from $4.4 million to $31 million raises questions.
Forney said the Portsmouth neighborhood, where the pool is located, would be an exceptional example of the city applying its equity values to funding decisions. Portsmouth, he said, ranks first among the city’s 90-plus neighborhoods in percentage of families living below the federal poverty line and second in racial and ethnic diversity.
He also noted that since PP&R estimated in 2019 that a total renovation of Columbia Pool would cost $4.4 million, the bureau’s recent estimate of $31 million in 2025 might merit some independent review.
Naik proposed funding options, including private-public partnerships. Dhanapal said she is in general open to private funding but needs to look at the options. Wilson and Portland City Council president Elana-Pirtle Guiney have endorsed exploring private sponsorships.
Manno and the architects have scheduled meetings with Wilson’s staff, Pirtle-Guiney, and Councilors Dan Ryan and Sameer Kanal, who represent District 2 (N/NE Portland).
The author is a longtime FOCP board member.