Washington Park Reservoir Improvements
Project Overview
The Washington Park Reservoir Improvements Project, currently under construction, is a new reservoir created to meet federal and state drinking water regulations, meet modern public health and safety practices and standards, and make the water system more reliable, resilient and secure. JLA has worked on this project for more than 10 years, starting during design and now into construction.
Title
At the outset, JLA created a thoughtful public involvement program to support the Water Bureau in moving forward on this controversial new reservoir. JLA led an extensive engagement program that allowed the community to shape design. Messaging focused on making Portland’s water system more reliable, resilient and secure — distilling the project need into straightforward talking points, and clearly explaining significant technical constraints. Activities included public meetings, stakeholder interviews, and walking tours. A committee of neighborhood and partner agency representatives had a profound impact on design, which was approved unanimously by City Council and the Landmarks Commission.
Interpretive elements, including education and history: As a historic site located in a prominent area, there was much public interest in the reservoirs but no public access.
JLA’s work included many elements to help people learn about the history and project, as well as explore the site. This included leading many tours for the public, neighbors and school groups, as well as development of an interactive virtual tour that explained the project, provided construction updates and allowed stakeholders to explore various phases of the project.
See online: maps.jla.us.com/washington-park-reservoirs
JLA has continued to support the Bureau in person and virtual engagement throughout construction. This has included serving as the main point of contact for public inquiries and concerns and neighbors for several years, as well as facilitating construction team partnering sessions.
Ensuring decision-makers hear the voices of those impacted: The project began in the face of vehement protest. A federal mandate meant the project had to move forward; however, a body of well-organized opponents planned to obstruct discussion. It was essential to find a way those affected by the project could have a voice in shaping the outcome without being “shouted down.”
JLA worked with the Bureau and technical consultants to identify exactly what the public could have input on, then created a step-by-step decision-making process and outreach approach that would stimulate a productive public conversation and get focused feedback, while providing clear direction to opponents on other avenues still open to continue their battle. The resulting thoughtful community engagement, coupled with a responsive agency staff and design team, were the cornerstone of successfully passing through a tough permitting and public hearing process in the face of the controversy.
Practice areas
Branding, Community engagement, Strategic Communications