Portland to resume construction on $2B water treatment plant after clearing legal hurdle

After overcoming a legal obstacle that had put the $2 billion water filtration plant east of Gresham on hold months ago, Portland officials say the project will resume construction next week.

After a state agency ruled against the Bull Run water treatment facility and reversed part of a conditional land-use permit that the project needed, officials put the brakes on in February.

Multnomah County officials, according to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, did not assess whether the filtration plant’s installation on city-owned property would negatively affect the natural resources of the rural area.

The conditional land-use application was returned to Multnomah County for additional examination by the agency, which upheld other permit terms.

This Monday, Liz Fancher, a county land use hearings officer, concluded that the project may proceed since it won’t negatively impact any category of natural resources.

In order to further preserve wildlife habitat and enhance water quality in the region south of Oxbow Regional Park, Fancher additionally placed extra obligations on the city. These include improving the stormwater management strategy and planting over 3,000 trees at the 95-acre filtration facility.

According to Portland officials, in order to meet federal drinking water rules and remove impurities such as the parasite cryptosporidium, the city must have the new water treatment facility functioning by 2027.

If this isn’t done, the federal government may impose daily fines or order Portland to start issuing boil water alerts until the new filtration plant is operational, the city said.

Because the Bull Run water filtration facility is located on a sizable piece of forest land that the city bought in 1975, it requires a conditional land-use permit because it is not zoned for the project.

When the city started planning the project about ten years ago, it took into consideration at least six different places.

For years, a collection of farmers, businesses, and rural people have opposed the city’s major public works project near the 95-acre building site.

The filtration facility has had multiple delays and a skyrocketing cost of $2.1 billion, four times the $500 million plan initially approved by municipal elected leaders in 2017, due to strong opposition and a variety of other causes.

The project was eventually started last year in Portland, and officials now have just over two years to finish it before the statutory deadline of September 2027.

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— Shane Dixon Kavanaugh focuses on accountability and watchdog reporting while covering politics and local administration in Portland. You can contact him at skavanaugh@oregonian.com or 503-294-7632.

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