A major federal project in North Portland has moved into design, and its impacts on the ground are coming into focus — including a potential downsizing of Heron Lakes Golf Club.

The construction of new levees on the Columbia Slough will replace railroad trestles and other decades-old makeshift solutions to prevent flooding in the low-lying area. Heron Lakes was built on the site of Vanport, which in 1948 was destroyed by a flood that killed 15 people and displaced 18,500 residents.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Urban Flood Safety and Water Quality District plan to build 27 miles of flood-safety improvements. The project is funded by congressional appropriations from 2021 and a local ballot measure — call it a levee levy — that passed in 2024.

Impacts to Heron Lakes — a city-owned 36-hole complex that dates to 1971— have long been foreseen.

A 2021 feasibility study identified “possible adverse effects” for Heron Lakes, which it noted could be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The study stated that “clearing and grubbing for the new parallel levee would impact 10 acres of the Heron Lakes Golf Course.”

Proposed improvements near railroad embankments on the courses’ western edge “will require … reconfiguration of some holes of the golf course and will impact the playability of the course during and temporarily after construction,” according to the feasibility study.

Impacts may extend beyond 10 acres. An image from golf course architecture firm Robert Trent Jones II that was posted on the clubhouse door at Heron Lakes identifies a primary impact of 30 acres, with a secondary impact to another 101 acres. If that holds, Heron Lakes golf holes could be required to downsize. How many has not been determined.

The project seeks to protect 13,000 acres of floodplain by raising levees and upgrading flood walls, pumps, pipes and drains. Construction is years away — likely in the early 2030s, project officials said.

Project officials suggested that any impacts to Heron Lakes pale in comparison to the need for flood safety improvements.

“This is an area where levee failure during the 1948 Vanport flood led to devastating impacts, and while we recognize there may be impacts to Heron Lakes Golf Course, we are working closely with our partners during the design phase to minimize those effects while keeping the community informed as the project moves forward,” Army Corps project manager David J. Empel stated in an email.

The project reflects strong collaboration among the government entities to strengthen flood-risk reduction for the region, Empel added.

Heron Lakes is consistently Portland’s top-performing golf facility in terms of rounds played. It’s a favorite of golfers in North Portland and Southwest Washington, with affordable green fees and two challenging modern courses designed by Robert Trent Jones II.

A 2021 city auditor’s report found Heron Lakes’ $4 million annual revenue overwhelmingly comes from golfers’ green fees and related revenue. The only city-owned course with higher revenue, RedTail Golf Center near Beaverton, has a large-scale retail operation that dwarfs its on-course income.

City officials had few answers about Heron Lakes’ future. Mark Ross, a spokesman for Portland Parks & Recreation, referred questions to the flood safety district and Army Corps of Engineers. He did not respond to follow-up questions about the city’s plans for the golf courses.

A city council spokeswoman likewise did not comment.

The courses’ design firm is “involved with ongoing discussions regarding future changes at Heron Lakes as a result of planned flood safety measures,” spokeswoman Karen Moraghan said. She referred additional questions to the flood safety district.

If Heron Lakes ends up with a smaller footprint, it would echo the courses’ earlier iterations. The complex has grown over time: After the 18-hole Greenback course opened in 1971, nine holes were added in the late 1980s. Finally, nine more holes were built in 1992, forming the second course, named Great Blue.

The golf holes most at risk, according to the Robert Trent Jones II diagram, are on the courses’ western edge, near BNSF Railway tracks and Smith Lake.

Heron Lakes sits in a flat, low-lying area — one official compared it to a bathtub — and is nearly surrounded by water. The Columbia Slough wraps around the golf complex’s south and east sides, Smith Lake and Bybee Lake lie to the west, and the Columbia River is only about 600 yards north of the nearest golf hole.

The levee project is to be funded both by federal appropriations and a local match. Federal urgency to strengthen the nation’s levees grew after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said Corky Collier, executive director of the Columbia Corridor Association.

The local funding comes from a 2024 ballot measure allowing the flood safety district to issue up to $150 million in bonds backed by an annual property tax in the district of 11 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. Subject to appropriation, that would be paired with nearly $100 million in federal funding.

The Army Corps is leading the design process in collaboration with the flood safety district. Designs are in an early stage, project officials said.

Existing protections “were built almost 100 years ago and required major capital investment,” said Colin Rowan, director of planning and public affairs for the flood safety district. An engineered levee “is something that has been needed since the creation of the system,” he added.

An existing railroad trestle that borders Heron Lakes is inadequate to the task, Collier said. “It was never meant to hold back floodwater,” he said.

The levee project has required tricky discussions with BNSF Railway. The existing trestle’s condition “is unknown as the railroads have declined access to obtain data to fully analyze the embankment,” according to the feasibility study.

Collier said he understood why BNSF had kept the project at arm’s length.

“It’s kind of hard to blame the railroad for saying, ‘we don’t do flood levees; that’s your job,’” he said.

Discussions with state transportation officials regarding the Interstate Bridge replacement project are ongoing, as a portion of the levee system would cross under Interstate 5.

Engineers and others involved in the project continue to work together to make the project successful, Collier said.

“The engineering on the drainage district has been so good, and the collaboration on the part of the Army Corps of Engineers has been fantastic,” he said. “All of that collaboration, all of that good, productive conversation, has led to a project that I think will be really good for everybody.”

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