Central Waterfront Community Open Houses | sthelensoregon.gov
Central Waterfront Community Open Houses | sthelensoregon.gov
Central Waterfront Community Open Houses
The City of St. Helens invites the community to attend one of two upcoming Central Waterfront Open Houses to learn about the City’s current wastewater system, hear an overview about the Central Waterfront project, and tour the facility. The open houses are being hosted on Thursday, March 2, 2023, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Thursday, April 6, 2023, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the City’s wastewater treatment facility, 451 Plymouth Street, St. Helens. The same information is being presented at both open houses.
The Central Waterfront Property is approximately 50 acres and the current location of the City’s 39-acre wastewater treatment plant facility. The facility’s secondary lagoon was built in 1972 as a partnership with Boise Cascade. Today, the facility is oversized, expensive to maintain, and is not the best use of a large stretch of Columbia River waterfront property. The 50-year-old lagoon also creates environmental permitting challenges due to its age and outdated technology.
The City of St. Helens is currently exploring options to repurpose part or all of the wastewater treatment plant facility. By doing so, the City will be able to:
If repurposing the wastewater facility site can be done safely, St. Helens will be in a unique position to create a waterfront that attracts development, improves resiliency, generates tax revenue, creates jobs, and builds a community asset for residents and visitors alike. In 2022, the City of St. Helens was notified that it would receive $1.4 million in state and federal funding to assist with the Central Waterfront Project.Original source can be found here