A survey conducted by Moore Information for the City of Sandy between July
14 and 22 revealed a total of 82 percent of respondents believe the continued
operation of the Olin Y. Bignall Aquatic Center is either “very important” or
“fairly important.”

Fifty-five percent of respondents also supported the idea of the city
purchasing the Cedar Ridge Middle School campus, Sandy skate park and the
pool to create a recreational hub.

Two hundred residents were surveyed via cell phones and land lines.

“I was actually pleasantly surprised by the level of support,” said Sandy City
Manager Seth Atkinson, who presented the survey results to city council Aug.
4. “We could tell that even amongst those people who didn’t want to fund
anything, continued operation of the pool was a big priority.”

Atkinson also noted the property was appraised at $2.2 million for the land
and $230,000 for the building (the appraisal did not include value of timber on
the land, value for the track or furnishings or fixtures in the building).

Atkinson added that it was assumed any renovations needed for the pool and
skate park negated their value.

The council also instructed Atkinson to create a schedule of events to extend
the urban renewal area.

Julia Monteith, Oregon Trail School District Communications Director, noted
the district expects to have an appraisal of the property performed by
sometime in early September.

After that appraisal, Atkinson said the two entities will have to come to a final
figure if the sale is to go through, adding that any sale would be a large
transaction for both parties with some logistics to be worked out.

“It’s a slow moving train, but it’s moving,” Atkinson said. “We can’t make a
purchase like this quickly. I would hope taxpayers wouldn’t want us to. We
both want to take our time and do it right.”

Atkinson added that if the sale goes through, the city will still need to figure
out what kind of fee city residents might see on their utility bill to help pay for
pool operations. As it stands, the fee could be between $3 and $7, which had
differing degrees of support from residents in the survey (73 percent and 53
percent of respondents had either “strong support” or “support” for $3 and $7
fees, respectively).

“We think we’ll be able to do it for something within that range,” Atkinson
said.

Monteith noted the district is enthusiastic about the support from the city’s
residents for the pool and recreation hub and about a potential sale.

“We are pleased with the results of the survey,” she wrote in an e-mail to The
Mountain Times. “A good percentage of our community supports paying a
small fee to allow the City to operate the pool, and they support the concept
of a recreation campus.

“This is an exciting opportunity that we will continue to discuss with the City in
hopes of reaching an agreement that best serves our students and
community.”