The Portland Water Bureau on Monday celebrated up-to-date progress on its massive 12.4 million-gallon Washington Park reservoir project.

The major portion of work on the nearly $200 million project is essentially complete. However, some final tasks remain before the new reservoir can begin supplying fresh water to Portland residents – likely sometime in mid-2021.

“So after leak testing, which is a very involved process, we go into the disinfection of the yard piping and ultimately into the disinfection of the interior of the reservoir,” Geoff Christie, a superintendent with general contractor Hoffman Construction, said during a video presentation on Monday. “And once all those have passed with good Bac-T tests (used to detect fecal coliform and other contaminants) we will be moving into filling the tank for service, which is obviously the purpose of the whole thing. So it’s on the horizon and it’s very exciting.”

Then, several years later, reflective pools will be constructed atop both the new reservoir and the decommissioned one to the south.

Planning for the project began in 2010, and construction commenced in September 2016.

Washington Park’s water infrastructure – previously open reservoirs 3 (upper) and 4 (lower), along with two gatehouses, a weir building, three pump houses, a generator house, and underground piping – all was built more than 120 years ago. The need for better safety and security, as well as seismic resilience, led the city to seek something better. The new enclosed, concrete box is anchored to bedrock with dozens of reinforced pilings up to 5 feet thick. The reservoir is engineered to withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake.

Cary Bubenik, operations manager for Hoffman Construction, said Monday that effective communication has kept the project on track.

“I think the communication and collaboration with the water bureau and the city as a whole and the neighbors made this project successful to the point we are at today,” he said. “We thank you very much for allowing us to run over 5,000 trucks of concrete through the neighborhood with very, very little incidents, no safety issues and very little complaints.”

Richard Turner, an Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association board member, agreed.

“Having a giant construction project in my backyard was really not something I was looking forward to,” Turner said. “Then we had a meeting with (the Portland) Water (Bureau), Hoffman, PBOT. And to everybody, the explanation – the plan that was presented to us – was superb. And it’s followed the plan, the presentation, everything.”

Bubenik also noted that resilience does not apply only to the reservoir, but to the men and women who have built it.

“Our crews since the March onset of the pandemic never left the site and they never missed a concrete pour to successfully get us to where we are today,” he said. “I think our last pour over what we call the fly-hole lids, to get the shoring out of the reservoir lid, is coming up mid-December. And then you’ll see the tower crane 2, which remains, coming down mid-January.”

Two historic gatehouse structures fronting the old reservoirs are being refurbished in order to house control valves for the new reservoir.

The reflective pools will resemble the original reservoirs, which were open air. Officials closed them for security reasons following 9/11. In addition to the new pools, crews will construct a grand staircase and other public amenities. Work on those elements is expected sometime in 2024.

“All in all, I think this has been a very good project for the city from a resilience view and also from a water quality point of view,” said Mike Stuhr, who was the head of the Water Bureau when planning for the project began but has since retired. “It will be great to see in a couple, three years when they finally get around to putting a reflective pool on top.”

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The first Washington Park reservoirs, built in 1894, featured state-of-the-art engineering.

Their replacement, now being built by general contractor Hoffman Construction in Portland’s West Hills, will as well – but at a 21st century level.

Originally, two large concrete vessels were constructed to hold the city’s drinking water. The Portland Water Bureau, for many reasons, years ago began an effort to replace one and decommission the other. Ground was broken in 2016.

One of the major reasons why the project is so challenging is because it’s taking place on an ancient landslide that is still moving – approximately a quarter of an inch each year.

“The different elements had to be done in a specific order to not trigger that landslide,” said Thomas Gilman, a project engineer with the Water Bureau. “Hoffman and its subcontractors did an excellent job working around tight constraints of the site to move forward, with 50-foot limits on excavation before they can place things back, all the coordination between trades, and how complicated it was and how well all that coordination went with the site restrictions and constraints we had.”

Construction of a 12.4 million-gallon, enclosed, concrete box is now essentially done. It’s engineered to withstand a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and continue providing water following such an event. The concrete box had to be anchored to bedrock with dozens of reinforced pilings up to 5 feet thick, some extending more than 100 feet into the soil.

Cary Bubenik, operations manager for Hoffman Construction, said the new Washington Park reservoir resembles the 25 million-gallon one his firm completed at Kelly Butte in 2016 … but not exactly.

“It’s a different structural design,” Bubenik said, noting that upon completion of the new reservoir at least two years will be required for soil at the site to settle completely.

“The tank on reservoir 3, it doesn’t settle; it’s the fill that’s anticipated to move,” he said. “The main things were how to go about early on for identifying concrete cracks and leaks, identifying the leaks and the commissioning procedure. That’s what we’ll bring forward from Kelly (Butte). The rest of the project, they’re pretty different designs and fills. This one is much more complicated.”

Another difference between the two projects will be eventual construction of reflecting pools atop both the new underground reservoir and the decommissioned reservoir, which was filled with excavated material from the latest project. The pools will be modeled after the original reservoirs, which were open air. They closed for security reasons in the wake of 9/11.

The final result will be a huge positive for the surrounding neighborhood, said Kathy Goeddel, a member of the Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association board. It worked closely with the Water Bureau and Hoffman Construction to ensure the project’s impact to the area would be minimal.

“They came to us before the project started,” she said. “They told us what they were planning to do and the time frame – when they would be closing things off and how many thousands of truckloads of concrete there would be. And they asked for feedback.”

That made a big difference for local residents, Goeddel said.

“It’s just been really good communication,” she said. “It is a disruptive project, but it’s going to be gorgeous in a couple of years; it will be better than what we had before.”

Neighborhood input, she added, helped transform what would have been a standard industrial project into a public attraction.

“When we started it was going to be a covered, ugly pock on the park,” she said. “But they came up with a plan, (and) coordinated with neighbors and others to keep it beautiful and historic. Now it will be open to the public with beautiful reflective pools and gardens, and you’ll be able to walk around it, which we haven’t been able to do for a very long time.”

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Tucked away in Portland’s West Hills beneath the International Rose Test Garden, two reservoirs for more than a century sat quietly at Washington Park. That is now changing.

The two reservoirs, operated by the Portland Water Bureau, have provided water to residents since 1894. But one is being replaced and the other is being taken offline. The challenge for the project team is that a gravity-fed system that allowed efficient operations also placed the reservoirs in the path of an ancient landslide. And that means construction of a new reservoir is complicated.

“It’s nice to build reservoirs in gullies and ravines because then you only have to dam one side, so it’s a nice place for water storage,” said Thomas Gilman, an engineer with the Portland Water Bureau. “What geologically existed here was a stream, and the landslide would move and block the stream and the water would come and wash the soil out and it would move again. When they started construction in 1894 the landslide hadn’t moved; it had filled in and was in the process of being washed out.”

Excavation for the original project, however, reactivated the landslide and forced engineers to come up with a solution on the spot. A series of dewatering tunnels bored into the hillside did the trick. The slide was slowed to a geological crawl and the reservoirs went on to serve without incident for many years.

When crews began construction in 2016 on a replacement reservoir, however, that slide once again had to be taken into consideration. Building at a new location was considered and rejected for a variety of reasons, said Teresa Elliott, the chief engineer for the water bureau.

“We would still have had to do something about the slide because it has to have weight on it,” she said. “And all of our infrastructure goes through here, so if we built somewhere else we would have had to build new infrastructure, new piping and everything to get there.”

In the end the estimated $190 million project to replace the two old open-air reservoirs with a new 12.4-million-gallon underground reservoir got started in 2016 with excavation and site work as well as construction of a massive temporary shoring wall on the east side of the site.

Reservoir 4 on the south side was also disconnected from the water supply infrastructure, excavated and used to hold earth excavated from Reservoir 3. It will also support a future decorative reflecting pool.

There is an eight-year timeline for construction of the new reservoir. Work started in 2016 and now has progressed to the point where crews from general contractor Hoffman Construction, Western Rebar and other subcontractors are now roughly 40 percent of the way finished pouring slab-on-grade sections for the four-foot-thick floor of the reservoir. Other crews are now busy constructing massive steel wall forms for the equally thick south walls.

A total of 176 shafts were drilled into bedrock to anchor the reservoir structure into the hillside. On the site’s west side, a new concrete, mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall has been constructed to anchor the toe of the landslide.

“This project has caused it to move faster than it had been,” Gilman said. “But it’s still well within our criteria for what is allowable.”

A second tower crane with a luffing jib has been erected at the north end of the construction site and will supplement the first crane operating at the south end of Reservoir 3.

“It took about two years to get to the point where they could start building the concrete structure itself after all the shoring, walls and the shafts,” Gilman said.

“We’re now working on the end walls, and that’s what you’ll see,” Elliott added.

Two historic gatehouse structures fronting the old reservoirs are being refurbished in order to house control valves for the new reservoir.

“The gatehouse is one of those things they wanted us to preserve,” Gilman said. “So we gutted it out and brought it up to seismic standards.”

Construction of the new reservoir is scheduled to be completed by early 2020; then two years will be allowed for the soils to settle and the massive concrete vault to do the same. Crews will then return to the site to build the decorative reflecting pools atop the old reservoir footprints, along with a new grand staircase and other features. Completion is expected in 2024.

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Portland’s first chief water engineer, Isaac Smith, identified a pair of ravines flowing down the West Hills and determined in the early 1890s that the location would serve as a suitable spot for a reservoir for West Portland.

The Portland Water Bureau is now in the midst of a $190 million project to shore up Smith’s site. As it turned out, the Washington Park site has a large landslide that pushes against the reservoir. Plus the structure was determined to be at risk of failure in a massive earthquake. Also, the reservoir’s open-air design was deemed unwise.

Construction to address those issues began in 2016. A two-year pause is scheduled in 2020-21 to allow the reservoir to settle. Then a reflecting pool for visitors will be built atop the reservoir, along with other features. Completion is scheduled for 2024.

The reservoir walls will be surrounded with blocks of a product called Geofoam, which looks like Styrofoam and is used to cushion the reservoir from the crush of land gradually pressing down the hill. Instruments will be placed with the Geofoam to monitor its compression. Eventually, the foam will have to be replaced.

“We can’t stop the slide,” said Stan VandeBergh, a West Yost Associates principal engineer who has stayed with the project since retiring from the Water Bureau. “We just have to manage it crushing against the reservoir, and that’s how we’re proposing to do it.”

Hoffman Construction is serving as general contractor. Participation of women- and minority-owned businesses is at 32 percent – above the city’s goal of 22 percent, said Cary Bubenik, operations manager for Hoffman Construction.

Sub-bids for about $15 million of work on the reflecting pools and other amenities will be available in 2021 or 2022, Bubenik said.

Approximately 50 workers are on site each day. Much of the work now involves driving shafts up to 100 feet underground. The network of 176 shafts – reinforced with no. 18 rebar weighing 13.6 pounds per foot – will support the reservoir’s weight. Pacific Foundation crews are installing the shafts at a rate of about two a day, Bubenik said.

A “toe block” concrete wall that’s 15 feet high, 15 feet deep and 900 feet long will help to hold back the landslide.

It’s all meant to shore up the reservoir site. The Washington Park reservoirs dated to 1894. Millions of gallons of water sitting in seismically vulnerable reservoirs uphill from downtown Portland came to be seen as an unacceptable risk.

“The driver of this project is seismic,” VandeBergh said.

The reservoir will be served by pipes made to twist instead of break during an earthquake. They’re being installed inside protective concrete so they won’t be pressed in by fill dirt.

The project repurposes two 1890s gatehouses that were made from poured concrete, then chiseled to look like masonry. The structures will house the systems used to filter the reflecting pools. The gatehouses received new floors and reinforced walls.

The new reservoir will actually have less storage capacity than the old ones – 12.4 million gallons, down from about 17 million. That’s because of the decision to retire the lower reservoir and concentrate storage in the upper vessel.

Construction managers have had to use creative staging for the project, which is hemmed in by roads. Traffic on Southwest Sherwood Boulevard is readily visible from the site. In the beginning of the project, Uber drivers were coming through the construction site on Southwest Murray Street, Bubenik said. A gate fixed that issue.

Hoffman Construction and the Water Bureau have engaged in extensive outreach to neighborhood groups and Washington Park institutions including the Oregon Zoo, Bubenik said.

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The expected cost to cover and seismically secure city water stored at Washington Park has ballooned as a result of a tight construction market and shortages of labor and materials.

The Portland City Council on Wednesday agreed to a guaranteed maximum construction price of $152 million, and accepted a contract with Hoffman Construction.

The estimated price of construction has risen by $12 million and the overall price has increased by $20 million to $190 million since the project previously went before the council in September 2015, when designs were 90 percent complete. The water bureau’s lead engineer, Teresa Elliott, said the construction market has changed as the project team has hammered out final details.

“We’ve had to adjust our prices for labor and materials escalation,” she told the council. “And we’ve added some contingencies so we don’t have to come back to you.”

Elliott said the project team is on track to meet federal compliance dates, including a July 1 deadline to begin construction. Work burying and fortifying Reservoir 3 is to be completed by 2019. Work on the now-disused Reservoir 4 is to conclude by 2020, and the overall project is to wrap up by 2024.

Wednesday’s hearing also included discussion of the city’s lofty equity goals for the project. Hoffman, which performed preconstruction services for the project, helped convince a five-member selection committee that it was serious about meeting diversity targets by identifying DMWESB (disadvantaged, minority-owned, women-owned or emerging small business) subcontractors it intended to work with. Five of them – O’Neill Electric, F.M. Burch & Associates, PLI Systems, Star Construction Services and IQ Traffic Services – already make up 26 percent of the subcontracting goal.

The city will employ the Community Benefits Plan for the project to disburse subcontracts set aside for DMWESBs. Similar to “Community Benefits Agreements,” CBPs contain guarantees that project developers make to various interested parties. The water bureau tested the efficacy of CBPs as a way of boosting minority participation in a pilot program involving two recent projects – the new Kelly Butte Reservoir and the Interstate maintenance facility renovation.

Water Bureau Director Michael Stuhr acknowledged that with CBPs there is potential for conflicts of interests. But he said all players for the Washington Park Reservoir project will sign pledges to avoid them, and city staff will oversee the process.

“The actual choice to disburse city funds will be made by city employees,” Stuhr said.

Approximately $1.1 million will be disbursed through the CBP, with up to 75 percent going to workforce training and support, and 25 percent going to DMWESB subcontractors. Approval of the CBP will require a second reading by the council.

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Nearly three years after design began, the land use process is over, the contractor and the city of Portland have agreed to terms, and work is impending on the Washington Park Reservoir project – a massive infrastructure effort rolling together several big goals of the city. It will involve about 100 workers a day over about eight years, an 80-foot truck turntable, two tower cranes and a 1,000-foot conveyor system.

A project like this comes along once in a career, said Teresa Elliott, chief engineer of the Portland Water Bureau.

“In the water industry, you don’t get that many big projects like this,” she said.

Though promoted last fall to her perch as chief engineer, Elliott is committed to seeing this project through, having come up through the water bureau and worked on the project from its inception.

Ensuring earthquake readiness

Seismic resiliency is a huge issue for Elliott. She said this project and another, installing an earthquake-proof drinking water pipe deep under the Willamette River, are the biggest ones the city has going.

The crossing is intended to provide a reliable backup water source for a huge swath of Portland that includes downtown. The city’s six existing crossings are buried near the river bottom and not expected to fare well in a major seismic event.

Elliott said the two projects go hand in hand.

“We’ve told people, it doesn’t do any good to have a pipeline to get reliable water across the river, if we don’t have a place to store it,” she said. “And it doesn’t do us any good to have a reliable storage site if we don’t have a pipeline to bring water.”

Generally, the project, currently estimated at a total cost of $170 million, will replace the upper of Washington Park’s two reservoirs – Reservoir 3 – with a below-ground reservoir in roughly the same footprint as the existing one. To preserve the site’s appearance, a reflecting pool will be built on top. The lower Reservoir 4 will be taken offline and the area used for landslide abatement and a bio-swale.

There are four big reasons for the project:

• First and foremost, it conforms to a 2006 federal mandate against uncovered supplies of public drinking water, known as LT-2. The city’s EPA-approved timeline specifies that design work be completed by the end of this month, and that construction begin by July 1.

• Second, the reservoirs are both 120 years old and at the end of their serviceable lives. A rubber liner has been used to keep water in Reservoir 3.

• Washington Park is located in the path of an ancient landslide. Though the city has been reducing its effects by draining underground water, the slide still moves about a quarter-inch each year. Evidence of movement is apparent all around the park, as Elliott pointed out on a site tour last week. Big gashes are visible in the 100-year-old concrete. Trees grow in “J” shapes. A drainage ditch has nearly folded over on itself.

• The new underground reservoir will feature rebar and thicker, stronger concrete as well as other design aspects intended to aid in seismic resiliency and help it survive an earthquake.

The Oregon Resilience Plan specifies that a city’s primary water system be operational 24 hours after a major seismic event. Right now, Portland isn’t there, Elliott said. And though this project includes softer amenities like wildlife habitat, for Elliott, this project is about securing a public utility well into the future.

The new reservoir has been designed to survive a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake as well as one from one of the three local faults (which could arguably do the same amount of damage, according to Elliott). A CSZ quake is said to be 15 percent likely to occur in the next 50 years.

The new structures also will be able to handle 75 years of landslide movement. A kind of engineered Styrofoam will be installed as a seismic buffer, or “compressible inclusion buffer,” between the landslide and reservoir and then backfilled over.

Originally, the site was chosen by city engineers because several natural springs arrive at the site. But today, the land has presented a number of difficulties to project engineers. (Farther uphill, the Portland Japanese Garden is practically built on top of the slide.) During the lengthy public review process, some residents wondered why the city chose to build new reservoirs in such a problematic location. Project managers believe that although the site isn’t perfect, it is the best option available.

“It’s close to the backbone system, so we won’t have to build new connections to another site, not that there’s even one available,” said Stan VandeBergh, the water bureau’s principal engineer and this project’s lead.

Portland’s drinking water originates as rainwater and snowmelt in the Bull Run watershed, 24 miles to the east. About 80 percent of the city’s water is gravity-fed, with users above the park mainly getting their water pumped.

Gravity-fed water is cheaper and greener than other options, and large-capacity water storage at Washington Park is important to maintain supply for Portlanders west of the Willamette River. Pumping facilities at the park also provide water to uphill users.

Anticipating neighborhood impacts

With infrastructure this old, historic preservation factored heavily into the design of the project. The Washington Park Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Key to project plan was keeping the appearance of these water features.

“People cherish these here,” Elliott said. “They’re sacred ground. From day one, when they first built the park, the reservoirs were always part of the park.”

Though reticent at first, neighbors have come around to project. The worry now is over the anticipated construction impacts, according to Todd Talcott, board member of the Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association. Those include the practical effects of 100-plus workers coming and going each weekday. About 19 percent of the park’s parking will be affected, Elliott said, as well as closures to Southwest Sacajawea and Sherwood boulevards.

Talcott’s house in the quiet neighborhood is one of the closest to the project site.

“It’s a big project,” Talcott said. “It’s going to be a big part of my life. But it’s for the betterment of the city. Really, when you’re going up against a giant, that’s just how it is.”

Hoffman was hired two years ago to participate in the design process. The firm will serve as construction manager-general contractor for the project.

The deadline to finish Reservoir 3 is the end of 2019, and Reservoir 4 must be disconnected from the city’s water system by the end of 2020. Then the earth will be given two years to settle, before crews go back, evaluate and add the reflecting pools.

Work won’t fully wrap in 2024, Elliott said.

Engineers, like those who built Portland’s water system, work on a different kind of timetable.

“They were amazingly smart; they had great forethought,” Elliott said. “You figure that, 120 years ago, with the technology they had, they surveyed from Bull Run all the way to here, and came up with a gravity-fed system that’s still usable today. I think that’s pretty cool.”

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A city Historic Landmarks Commission hearing earlier this month that focused on plans to make major changes to city reservoirs in Washington Park went smoothly, but one member of the commission still has his doubts.

The $76 million project includes construction of a new underground reservoir to replace two existing open-air reservoirs, demolition of the historic Weir Building, restoration work to dams and gatehouses, and a new hiking path.

Plans also call for the addition of a reflecting pool on top of a buried reservoir in the same location as existing Reservoir 3, which is set to be demolished. In addition, a series of tiered pools and a nature area will be built on the current location of Reservoir 4, which also is scheduled for demolition.

City officials announced last year they had received a mandate from the Oregon Health Authority to follow a federal regulation that outlaws the use of uncovered reservoirs to store drinking water, leading to the plans for changing the park’s reservoir system.

During the recent hearing, a handful of people testified both for and against the project. Among those testifying was John Czarnecki, a former member of the Historic Landmarks Commission, who spoke about what he feels is the historic character of Reservoir 4. Czarnecki also wrote a letter to the landmarks commission in which he stated that Reservoir 4 “is worthy of conservation for continued use” and should be retained.

While four of the commission member said they support the $76 million project, Commissioner Harris Matarazzo said he agrees with Czarnecki’s assessment of Reservoir 4.

Matarazzo added that he feels the reservoirs have been poorly maintained and wants more reassurance from the water bureau about the future.

“We don’t have any assurance from the water bureau that historic structures would remain,” he said. “My real concern is whether any new projects will be maintained.”

Another formal review of the reservoir plans will be held before the Landmarks Commission at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 9.

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The Portland City Council is scheduled to decide Wednesday on whether to demolish a historic building and portions of the reservoirs in Washington Park.

Council deliberations on the topic start at 2 p.m. in City Hall, 1221 S.W. 4^th Ave. At the meeting, city commissioners will decide whether to grant a Portland Water Bureau land use application for a $76 million project to build a new underground reservoir in place of the park’s existing open-air reservoirs.

With the land use application, Water Bureau officials are seeking the City Council’s OK to demolish the historic Weir Building and remove portions of two existing reservoir basins to make way for the proposed Washington Park Reservoir Improvements Project. Wednesday’s council meeting follows two public hearings held in March and April to gather feedback on the project and the demolition plans.

The proposed project would create a fountain consisting of a series of tiered pools and a nature area atop a planned 15-million-gallon underground drinking water reservoir in the footprint of one of the existing reservoirs. Washington Park’s other reservoir would be decommissioned and a lowland habitat area and reflecting pool would replace it.

Officials announced last year that they planned to 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.

Hoffman Construction crews are scheduled to start work on the project on July 1, 2016, and wrap up in late 2020.

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Geotechnical testing scheduled to start next week in Washington Park will aid the design of a new underground reservoir that will replace the park’s existing open air reservoirs.

Testing work for the Portland Water Bureau‘s proposed Washington Park Reservoir Improvements Project is scheduled to start during the week of April 20 and be complete by mid-May. Crews will drill geotechnical test anchors along Southwest Sacajawea Boulevard on the east side of the upper reservoir and along the promenade on its north side.

Information gathered will support design work for a plan to build a 15-million-gallon underground reservoir with a reflecting pool on top in the footprint of the existing upper reservoir. Washington Park’s other reservoir would be decommissioned, and a lowland habitat area and reflecting pool would replace it.

Geotechnical testing will assist Water Bureau engineers in evaluating soil properties and behaviors, and understanding how the soil will perform under certain conditions and how it may impact the construction of the new reservoir. Information gleaned will be used to evaluate and minimize potential risks associated with issues such as load-bearing capacity, slope instability and water infiltration.

The testing, which will be handled by Condon-Johnson & Associates, will reduce a degree of uncertainty in the design work by helping engineers accurately anticipate factors that may come up during construction that could potentially reduce the overall project cost, Water Bureau spokeswoman Jaymee Cutisaid.

The information will help engineers design the shoring wall that will hold up the soil during construction, she said. Testing will also tell engineers the strength of the soil to accurately account for the number of anchors needed for the project.

City officials announced last year that they plan to 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.

Along with geotechnical testing, Water Bureau officials are seeking Portland City Council approval to demolish the historic Weir Building and remove portions of two reservoir basins to make way for the project. A City Council hearing to review these plans is scheduled to take place April 23 at 2 p.m. at Portland City Hall.

Hoffman Construction crews are scheduled to start work on the project on July 1, 2016 and wrap up in late 2020.

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City planners are seeking public comments on plans to demolish a historic building and reservoirs in Portland’s Washington Park.

Bureau of Development Services staffers issued a last week, for the first of two land use review applications that Portland Water Bureau officials submitted in December. The applications are for a $76 million project to build a new underground reservoir in place of the park’s existing open-air reservoirs.

A copy of the first application is posted on the PWB website. Comments sent to city planner Hillary Adam by March 9 will be included in the official record, and a staff report will be presented at a Historic Landmarks Commission public hearing scheduled for March 23 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 2500A, 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave.

A second public hearing before the Portland City Council is scheduled for April 23 at 2 p.m. at Portland City Hall, 1221 S.W. Fourth Ave.

With the PWB’s first land use application, officials are seeking the City Council’s OK to demolish the historic Weir Building and remove portions of two reservoir basins to make way for the proposed Washington Park Reservoir Improvements Project.

Project plans call for a fountain consisting of a series of tiered pools and a nature area atop a planned 15-million-gallon underground drinking water reservoir in the footprint of one of the existing reservoirs. Washington Park’s other reservoir would be decommissioned and a lowland habitat area and reflecting pool would replace it.

PWB officials plan this spring to submit a second land use review application for construction of the new covered reservoir, reflecting pools, lowland habitat area and walkways as well as rehabilitation of historic structures nearby.

Officials announced last year that they plan to 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.

Hoffman Construction crews are scheduled to start work on the project on July 1, 2016 and wrap up in late 2020.

Public comments on the initial land use review application for the project can be emailed before March 9 to hillary.adam@portlandoregon.gov, faxed to 503-823-5630, or mailed to Hillary Adam, Land Use Services, Bureau of Development Services, RE: LU 14-249689, 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave., Suite 4500, Portland, OR 97201.

Comments submitted after March 9 can be faxed to 503-823-5630, or mailed to the Historic Landmarks Commission at 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave., Suite 4500, Portland, OR 97201.

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