The City of Sandy is expected to award a bid for a company to perform a
Phase 1 Environmental Assessment on the Cedar Ridge Middle School campus
at the city council meeting on Monday, Feb. 1, according to City Manager Seth
Atkinson. The assessment process will delay a potential sale of the property
by the Oregon Trail School District (OTSD) to the city by approximately one
month.

The assessment will primarily deal with paperwork about the building,
including titles, liens and permits, while also interviewing anyone who worked
on the site. That information would be used to determine if a higher order
assessment is necessary.

Atkinson noted one of the bigger worries about the property is potential soil
contamination from heating oil tanks, but added the potential sale was
nearing completion.

“If we can get this worked out between us, things will move forward pretty
quickly,” he said.

The city’s plan for the campus, which includes the Olin Y. Bignall Aquatic
Center, is to turn it into a recreational hub. The sale agreement is expected to
allow the school district use of the property while it renovates the Pioneer
Building (the former Sandy High School) to be used as a middle school.
A possible agreement between the two government entities had been
expected to be reached as early as last September, but Atkinson noted that
despite wanting things to move a little faster, the process necessitated more
time.

“People want us to be careful and considerate,” he said. “We want to be sure
we’re doing this the right way.”

Background
The school district implemented an exit strategy to end its support of the pool
at the Nov. 12, 2013 board meeting, including a limit of $400,000 or through
Nov. 30, 2015, whichever came first. (Julia Monteith, Communications
Director for the OTSD, confirmed that the district will continue to fund the
pool operations while negotiations continue.)

In January, 2014, the city formed a task force to gather information, identify
options for continued operations and improvements and survey the
community.

Both the city and the district performed appraisals of the campus in 2014. The
district’s appraisal, including two buildings and 43.65 acres of land, placed the
value at $3.4 million, while the city’s appraisal valued the campus at $2.2
million for the land and $230,000 for the buildings. Differences in the
appraisals, such as a value for timber included in the district’s but not the
city’s, put the two valuations closer than the raw numbers.

The city hired Moore Information to conduct a survey between July 14 and 22,
2014, which revealed support for the continued operation of the Olin Y. Bignall
Aquatic Center from city residents.

At that time, it was noted that a fee between $3 and $7 might be added to
Sandy residents’ utility bills to help pay for pool operations. Atkinson
confirmed that a potential fee is still in line with that survey, adding that the

city will perform a “big public outreach” before any fee is instituted to inform
what the city is trying to accomplish, what the fee would go toward and why it
is needed.

Last year, the city successfully completed a substantial amendment to its
urban renewal plan, helping to provide money for a variety of city projects,
including the recreation hub and assistance to the Sandy Fire District.