The Oregon Trail School District (OTSD) and the City of Sandy made a splash
heard ‘round Clackamas County in October, as the OTSD board of directors
and city council both approved a sale agreement for the Cedar Ridge Middle
School campus and the Olin Y. Bignall Aquatic Center. The city will lease back
the school to the district while upgrades are made to the Pioneer Building
(former Sandy High School), before potentially turning the campus into a
recreation hub.

Sandy City Manager Seth Atkinson noted the magnitude of both entities
signing off on the deal after referring to the potential transaction as a “slow
moving train” numerous times.

“It’s exciting,” Atkinson said. “I kind of feel like we passed a major station.”

“We knew from the beginning if we could make this happen, it would be
mutually beneficial to students and our whole community,” added OTSD
Superintendent Aaron Bayer in a newsletter release. “I’m excited about the
outcome.”

The agreement includes a $3 million sale price, which includes $2.2 million to
the school district and a loan of $800,000 to the city at zero percent interest
because the district will not be able to vacate the property until after upgrades
to the Pioneer Building. Proceeds from the sale will be used for the upgrades,
with a target of fall 2017 for students to relocate.

Julia Monteith, OTSD Communications Director, noted that construction
documents were expected to be released in early November. The Sandy Grade
School campus will be partitioned into a separate lot and retained by the
district.

Atkinson noted that while the school is still occupied, the city hopes to put
together a team for site visits at various recreation centers in the region to
see the pros and cons on what other cities have done.

“We want to learn from any mistakes and obviously build the best facility we
can,” Atkinson said.

The city will also solicit a request for qualifications from architect and
engineering firms with the goal of putting together a master plan for the site,
including preliminary sketches. Atkinson added that multiple public forums will
be held to discuss what the public wants and the funding of the project.

“From that point forward, we’ll have a plan in place so whenever the school
vacates, hopefully be ready for construction,” Atkinson said, noting public
forums could be held as early as next spring.

Monteith added that the Sandy High School swim and water polo teams will
retain access to the pool after the transfer.

“The city has been very willing to work with us on that,” she said.

The city council unanimously approved the agreement at their Monday, Oct. 3
meeting, while the OTSD board of directors unanimously approved the
agreement at their Monday, Oct. 10 meeting (Candice Lindberg was absent
and did not vote, while Kurt McKnight was absent but submitted his approval
vote to the board chair prior to the meeting).