What to do with Mirror Pond—the body of water that sits behind the 110-year-old Newport Dam on the Deschutes River—might be one of the most contentious topics for Benditos in recent memory. Many people living near the pond, and some that own businesses that overlook it, want the City of Bend and the Bend Park and Recreation District to help fund the over $6 million project to remove silt from the river’s bottom. Some of those same people see the pond as “iconic” and want it preserved through dredging.
Others favor a “do-nothing” approach. Still others want to see the dam removed and the river put back to its free-flowing days. But that might not be possible since PacifiCorp—which owns the dam and sells its hydropower to nearby Pacific Power customers—decided in 2016 to keep the dam intact for an unforeseen amount of time. This leaves the pond in flux and has set off countless public meetings, private meetings between Mirror Pond Solutions—the group that owns the ground under the pond—and BPRD.
On Monday, the Bend City Council had a listening session—yet another public meeting—where dozens of people came to speak up for their side.
Last week, Spencer Dahl, who lives a few blocks from the pond, filed paperwork to get a measure on the ballot this November which would prohibit the City from contributing to the dredging project, unless PacifiCorp commits to keeping the dam and the pond in place for at least five years. According to Anne Aurand, the City of Bend’s communications director, the city recorder has certified Dahl’s petition and the city attorney’s office has prepared the ballot title.
In order to get the item onto the November ballot, Dahl has until Aug. 7 to get 15 percent of registered voters in Bend to sign his petition. According to the Deschutes County Clerk’s office, Bend has nearly 67,000 registered voters, meaning Dahl would need about 10,000 signatures.
Dahl’s ballot measure would also bar the city from spending money on dredging until a hydrologist completes a report detailing current sediment levels and compares them to levels found in a 2005 study.
The City, BPRD and PacifiCorp have each pledged $300,000 toward dredging. In December 2018, the City Council discussed the possibility of raising the remaining $5.5 million through a 1.5 percent increase in franchise fees charged to Pacific Power customers, but that was before the City Council got two new members.
The funding debate will continue at the May 1 City Council meeting.
The Back Story
Deciding how to handle sediment in Mirror Pond is far from a new conversation. The City last dredged the pond in 2004.
In 2009, the Bend City Council created the Mirror Pond Steering Committee to once again address sediment buildup. The committee was comprised of representatives from BPRD, the City of Bend, environmental organizations, business and neighborhood associations and other stakeholders. That committee later formed in 2013 the Mirror Pond Ad Hoc Advisory Committee to negotiate options with PacifiCorp.
In December 2013, the City Council and the BPRD board unanimously approved a resolution to affirm the recommendation of the Mirror Pond Ad Hoc Advisory Committee to pursue the preservation of the pond. Community meetings and online surveys had resulted in input from more than 4,000 people, indicating an even split between those who preferred the river to flow in a more natural manner versus those who favored the pond, according to the BPRD memo. A third option would have reintroduced habitat to the banks of the river along Drake Park, created a fish passage and preserved the water elevation of Mirror Pond. Seventy-four percent of those polled preferred this option—but that one was taken off the table, because in 2016, PacifiCorp decided to retain ownership of the dam, after company officials had previously stated a desire to dispose of it.
In March 2015, BPRD’s Board and the City Council passed a resolution to keep Mirror Pond near its historical form, enhance habitat, maintain or improve public access, identify funding other than tax dollars or reduce the frequency and quantity of future sediment efforts, according to the BPRD draft.
Mirror Pond Solutions purchased the land from the McKay Trust under the pond in 2015, and last year, paid for and obtained permits for dredging from various state and federal agencies. Since that time, it signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with BPRD, calling for both entities to work together to resolve the Mirror Pond Project.
This article appears in Apr 24 – May 1, 2019.
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Nice reporting, Chris.
Just a few caveats: The Mirror Pond Steering Committee did not “form into” the Ad Hoc Committee, but was disbanded and replaced by the Ad Hoc Committee. The reason: The Steering Committee consisted of too many environmentalists who could not be trusted to toe the pro-pond line.
Only one scientifically accurate survey has ever been done on Mirror Pond–a 2015 City of Bend survey that clearly indicates significantly more Bendites prefer habitat and stream bank restoration at Mirror Pond over preservation of “historic” views. (See this survey on http://www.freetheriver.org.)
Judging by this 4 year old survey, the community is not split 50/50. If you keep perpetuating this myth, then you can get away with anything, including spending 6.75 million dollars of precious public funds on an ultimately unnecessary, useless, and habitat destroying dredging project.
This is why Spencer Dahl’s initiative is so important: It will bring about what the Bend Power Brokers have long feared–an actual vote.
More information can be found at http://www.ditchthedredge.org.
The Deschutes River is a…RIVER! Let it BE a river. Remove the dam and let her flow. The only folks who want it to be an unnatural “pond” are those that live adjacent to it. A river will NEVER need dredging and takes care of itself.
As many of the people said at the Council listening session, Mirror Pond is an iconic asset of Bend.
Pacific Power reported they are keeping and investing in the Newport Dam. It is time for the Bend community to protect, preserve and improve on one of our communities’ greatest assets. The anti Mirror Pond groups will do anything to delay the protection of this great community assets – on-going delays is a principle tactic. Do not let this tactic continue.
The discussion about dredging Mirror Pond is a distraction from saving Mirror Pond. Mirror Pond is dependent on a dam and the deposits that have accumulated have little effect on the looks or function of the pond. The MPS proposal of dredging has derailed the important funding, planning and collaboration that is needed to save the dam that creates Mirror Pond. Without a strong determined effort to replace the failing timber-crib section of the Bend Hydro Dam, it is likely that Mirror Pond will resort back to a natural river along with the decommissioning of the Bend Hydro Project.
The Bend Hydro Dam is governed by the authority of the Oregon Water Resources Department. The OWRD is now reviewing the hazard rating to consider the increased housing and recreation that has occurred below the dam in the last decade. This review could change the hazard rating from significant to high to address the probable loss of life in the event of a dam failure. The hazard rating is the basis of all dam safety and a high rating will increase inspection and safety standards, including the creation of an emergency action plan.
There could also be addition analysis of the structural stability of the dam due to the increased occurrences of needle bay failures and the use of sheet-pile to control these failures as stated in the recommendations of the 2015 OWRD inspection. These single skin sheet-pile repairs disregard the recommendations of Gannett Fleming Engineering who performed a condition assessment of the dam in 2014 for the Bend Metro Parks and Recreation District. This report stated that dam failure could happen at anytime and recommended that the timber-crib section be replaced with a new concrete dam.
At this time, HB 2085 dam safety bill, is working its way though the Oregon legislature on its way to becoming law. This law will give the OWRD the authority to obtain an injunction to lower the water level behind dams that are a threat to lives and property. This could leave Mirror Pond without water and expose the dreaded mudflats.
Its time for the City of Bend to realize that PacifiCorp is acting in the best interest of their stockholders to rid themselves of this deadbeat dam that has no financial prospects, and understand that the community’s emotional attachment to the pond is being used as a bargaining chip.
Groups have spent millions of dollars upstream and downstream of this project to improve flows and habitat. Others have spent millions to get rid of fish barriers at North Unit and Colorado dam. No one is going to spend the 6-10 million dollars on this decrepit dam to provide passage even though it has killed hundreds of thousands of fish over the years. Take out the dam and go back to the modified vision that 74% of Bendites liked.
Is this the same Spencer that works/worked for GL Solutions? The company owned by Bill Moseley? Isn’t that a conflict?