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Designs for a $67 million project to cover one of Washington Park‘s historic open-air reservoirs and decommission the other are more than halfway complete, and the Portland Water Bureau is seeking public input on the latest refinements.

Water bureau officials on Wednesday will meet with members of a nine-person community sounding board committee to discuss the designs and potential construction impacts on nearby residents and businesses, bureau spokesman Tim Hall said. The group includes representatives of Portland neighborhoods surrounding the park and Portland Parks & Recreation.

Wednesday’s meeting is open to the public and will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Zion Lutheran Church, at 1015 S.W. 18th Ave.

Committee members have been meeting since the summer to develop concepts for park features in the footprint of the existing reservoirs. Community input helped water bureau officials and the project’s designer and engineer, AECOM, create plans for water features and a nature area atop a planned 15 million-gallon underground drinking water reservoir and nearby overflow and dechlorination tanks, Hall said.

鈥淭hese are concepts that have been put forth by sounding board members,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is what we heard from the community.鈥�

City officials announced last year that they would proceed with the project after receiving a mandate from the Oregon Health Authority to follow a federal regulation that outlaws the use of uncovered reservoirs to store finished drinking water. The rule is intended to reduce the risk of exposure to contaminants.

Project plans, not yet approved by Portland City Council, call for a nature area and fountain consisting of a series of tiered pools over the new underground reservoir.

Washington Park’s other reservoir would be decommissioned and used for overflow, dechlorination and stormwater management. Based on suggestions from the sounding board group, water bureau officials are considering the addition of another water feature over the decommissioned reservoir and transforming that area into a lowland habitat area, Hall said.

Construction is scheduled to start in summer 2016 and wrap up in late 2020.