As a steady stream of customers flowed through the doors at the Sandy
Aquatic Center on a weekday morning in August, Sandy Community Services
Director Tanya Richardson was hesitant to say that numbers of users were up
over previous years. She noted it was “hard to determine,” but that lessons
had more students (including up to 200 during the summer) and that open
recreation time had been busy.

But with visions of a Sandy Community Campus, including a new recreation
pool and parks improvements to the property the city acquired from the
Oregon Trail School District, the work and progress already undertaken is
notable. Since Richardson took her position in March 2017, the facility’s
upgrades include replacement of bleacher seating, ADA bathrooms, safety
upgrades, designated areas for parties, family changing areas, painting, a new
front desk area and even an inflatable course for the pool.

These are the first steps for the city as it looks toward the loftier goal of a
Community Campus, a projected $74 million project that will take many years
to complete, all while improving the current facility after years of disrepair and
deferred maintenance and installing programming that will (at some point)
offer sustainability.

“It’s an art, to be able to program and understand what people need and what
they want,” said Kim Yamashita, Sandy City Manager, about Richardson’s
work. “As we move forward and improve (the pool), it’s just going to get
better.”

Richardson came to Sandy after undertaking a similar project in Virginia,
where she had three years to get that pool to pay for itself but accomplished
the goal in six months.

“The community obviously needed it and we filled the need,” Richardson said.
“We’d like to see something like that in Sandy.”

Yamashita, who sees the campus project as a way to provide a destination for
visitors, noted that the lack of space is the biggest obstacle for making the
current pool financially successful. The current operations are being
supplemented by the city’s general funds, while upgrades to the pool’s HVAC
and plumbing will close the facility for up to a year starting in the fall of 2019
as part of the first phase of construction of the Community Campus.

Phase 2 of the project will include construction of a new indoor recreation
pool, including slides and other features, in front of the current pool building,
while Phase 3 will offer improvements to the surrounding park areas.

Yamashita noted that the city currently has funding for Phase 1, which will
leave the current pool facility “operationally efficient.”

To help pay for the campus, Yamashita sought feedback from city residents on
funding options (including a utility fee of up to $8 and a bond) during the
Mountain Festival, adding that just one person opposed a bond.

“We might explore that option as well,” Yamashita said, adding that the city
will meet with local organizations and hold open houses to get more feedback.
“We have a lot of research to do before we launch that.”

Yamashita noted that a fee structure at the new facility would include
discounts for Sandy residents with the opportunity for those outside the city
to buy a discount card at the same rate of the utility fee to gain the same
discount.

The full scope of the project will also see the demolition of the front building
at the former Cedar Ridge Middle School, while the city’s Information
Technology Department has moved into the bottom of the rear building.

Yamashita noted the city is currently out of storage space and part of that
rear building could serve as storage, and eventually she envisions an event
space, with a patio for catered events, overlooking an amphitheater with
seating for approximately 700 people.

“We’re just exploring all of those options and funding for those,” Yamashita
said, adding that another option would be to move City Hall to that building
and use the current City Hall building for a library annex. “I appreciate the
community’s patience and support while we work through this huge
undertaking.”

The city will hold two open houses for community input: from 9-11 a.m.
Saturday, Sept. 8 and 7-9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14, both at the Sandy Library
community room, 38980 Proctor Blvd. in Sandy.