Owned by Portland, the facility also treats sewage from Lake Oswego

Changes are in the works at the Tryon Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, although citizens won’t be seeing activity for a while.

The plant, located near Foothills Park, is due for an update to its facilities plan, a document often required by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality during the waste discharge permit renewal process.

The changes under review will ensure the plant meets government standards for wastewater that aim to protect public health and the environment. In addition to safety renovations, future projects at the facility could also factor into Lake Oswego’s long-term plan for the Foothills district, where city officials hope that new residential and commercial development could transform the industrial area.

The plant, constructed by the city of Portland in 1965 within Lake Oswego city limits, was expanded in 1976 and modified in 2003. Upkeep of the plant is imperative, as it treats sewage from parts of Southwest Portland, unincorporated areas of Multnomah and Clackamas counties and, most prominently, the city of Lake Oswego.

According to the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services, the purpose of a facilities plan is the updated facilities plan will identify future capital improvement projects needed for the plant.

The process for the facilities plan update will take approximately 18 months. Changes to the plant are necessary mostly because of the age of the facility. Brant Williams, assistant city manager and economic and capital development director for Lake Oswego, said changes must be made because “standards since 1960 have changed, and the plant has evolved. Looking into the future, there’s more this plant can do. We need to make sure we’re doing our part for not only Lake Oswego but for people downstream and fish and wildlife.”

Williams is also a member of the plant’s facility plan team, which is advised by a 10-person citizen advisory committee. The CAC also provides commentary for the project oversight committee.

Over the next 18 months, changes will be invisible to citizens of Lake Oswego, but when the facilities plan updates are finalized, land use in the Foothills area around the plant may be subject to change. Changes would center around the idea of transforming the area from being largely industrial and relatively removed from the city.

On the heels of this idea, Williams said, “Regardless of what happens to the industrial area, we want to make sure that the treatment plant is improved to be a better neighbor, with existing neighbors and potentially future neighbors.”

David Allred, member of the facility plan team, also works with the Bureau of Environmental Services for the city of Portland.

“Future plant facilities are not likely to have any more impact on Foothills Park than they currently do,” Allred said. “Future facilities will fit on existing treatment plant property. In addition, it is not very likely that current or future treatment plant facilities will be visible from Foothills Park as currently configured due to elevation differences as well as an appropriate amount of landscaping and fencing.”

Williams added to that, while changes to the plant are intended to bring it up to date with modern wastewater quality standards and reduce odors or noise from the area, there is also the opportunity for both commercial and residential growth.

“If we can deal with certain aspects of the plant, it would accommodate the existing development in the Foothills area better than it does today but would also allow for private investment in the Foothills area,” Williams said. “Relatively minor modifications could eventually provide opportunities for private investment to transform this area from an industrial area to a more pedestrian-friendly residential area that could provide more households for the community, which ideally could provide more students for our schools, a greater tax base for our public schools (and) more people shopping and interacting in our downtown area.”

Changes to the plant directly affect the citizens of Lake Oswego not only because they are one of several areas providing waste to the plant, but because Lake Oswego provides about two-thirds of the flow coming into the plant. In terms of costs, according to Williams, Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services divides up the costs to all of the areas that receive services from the plant.

Because Lake Oswego provides the majority of the flow coming into the plant, costs from the plant, including those for doing an updated plan, will be paid mostly by the facility’s Lake Oswego customers. However, because this is just a planning project, Williams said “fees will be rolled into annual distribution of costs for the overall facility” without any immediate financial impact. As the project moves out of the planning phase, the financial impact for the citizens of Lake Oswego will become clearer.

Allred said that while it is too early in the process to make definitive statements about the financial effect to be felt by the plant’s customers in Lake Oswego, “costs associated with capital improvements to the plant are shared between Lake Oswego and the city of Portland per an intergovernmental agreement.”

The citizen advisory committee overseeing the facility plan team and oversight committee is comprised of residents from Portland, Lake Oswego and unincorporated Multnomah County (Riverdale area), as well as a representative from the Portland Utility Review Board and a representative of the Foothills District.

Citizen committee member Dan Vizzini, a former employee at Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services as well as interim city councilor for Lake Oswego from August to December 2010, shared his experience of the project thus far.

Vizzini said his focus as a member of the CAC is making sure there are open channels of communication to the public, as well as “avenues for the public to comment — and that’s already the case.”