Woodburn to ask voters to pass $40M bond for new community center

Bill Poehler, Salem Statesman Journal
·6 min read

Settlemier Park has sentimental memories for people from Woodburn.

The 10-acre park, named after city founder Jesse Settlemier and located a couple of blocks south of downtown, contains the city’s pool, picnic areas, some tennis courts and a lot of trees planted almost a century ago by the Settlemier family.

But use of the park and its amenities has declined significantly.

As the city has grown in the past few decades, the need for event space and the lack of fitness clubs has become a problem.

The city is asking voters to approve a 21-year bond in the Nov. 5 general election to help pay for a proposed community center. If it passes, the $40 million bond's rate would be 99 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value and would pay the remaining amount for the projected $60 million needed for the center.

Woodburn is putting a $40 million bond to voters in the November election to renovate the pool into a community center with a gymnasium, park improvements, a community room and event spaces, an indoor track and other exercise facilities.
Woodburn is putting a $40 million bond to voters in the November election to renovate the pool into a community center with a gymnasium, park improvements, a community room and event spaces, an indoor track and other exercise facilities.

The proposed community center would include a revamp of the existing pool. The space would be expanded to include things like basketball courts, a multi-purpose room with space for weddings, an indoor track, weights and exercise facilities, a heated therapy pool and slide.

Outside there would be new tennis/pickleball courts, basketball courts, a playground for children and walking paths that connect with other trails in the city.

“This is what the community wants,” Woodburn Mayor Frank Lonergan said. “It would be easy to pare it back. We could say, ‘Let’s do away with the heated therapy pool.’

“This is what we feel that the people need.”

Woodburn received $15M from state in 2021, but had to sue to keep it

Lonergan said conversations about the need for a community center started as far back as 2008.

“And that didn’t get a whole lot of support, so we let it sit,” Lonergan said.

It took a decade for the idea to gain traction again. This time, surveys of residents came back supporting it. The city formed a committee about the community center in 2019.

The city of just under 30,000 already has the highest tax rate among cities in Marion County.

If voters in Woodburn pass the bond, property owners would pay approximately $247.50 more per year.

The city was given $1 million by the state Legislature in 2019 for planning of the center.

Then Woodburn was given a $15 million appropriation of economic development lottery bond money by the Legislature in the 2021 session. But a year later, the state wasn’t going to give it the funds.

A rendering of what the proposed community center in Woodburn would look like. Voters in the city are being asked to pass a $40 million bond in the November election.
A rendering of what the proposed community center in Woodburn would look like. Voters in the city are being asked to pass a $40 million bond in the November election.

Woodburn sued the state Department of Administrative Services and the state treasurer's office in 2023. That came after DAS told the city it wouldn’t give it the $15 million the Legislature earmarked for the center because it wasn't confident the city could get the rest of the money for the center from other sources.

The city and state settled out of court, and the city has the $15 million available to it for the center.

“We have to use it by July of 2025. Otherwise it goes back,” Lonergan said.

The city also received a $2 million loan from Business Oregon for expenses prior to the bond’s passage, said Jim Row, assistant city manager.

And the city has pledged $5 million in money from its general fund toward the project.

Lonergan said city leaders are seeking out additional grants and other sources of funds to use if the bond passes.

Woodburn's pool dates back to 1948, but use is declining

Settlemier Park includes the Woodburn Aquatic Center, a playground, baseball field, skate park, tennis courts, restrooms and picnic shelters, and the Boys & Girls Club Teen Center is located in portable buildings on the south side of the park.

The pool was called War Memorial Pool when it was built in 1948. It was severely damaged in the 1993 Scotts Mills earthquake — also known as the “Spring break quake.” The pool was repaired, a covered building was built over it and it reopened as Woodburn Aquatic Center at a cost of $2.3 million.

Lonergan said he learned to swim at the pool as a child growing up in Woodburn.

In some of those summers, the pool was so popular there would be a line of people waiting to get in.

It’s not used as much anymore.

Woodburn High School’s swim team used to be an anchor tenant of the pool. Over the past decade, there have been years where the school didn’t have a team and thus didn’t use the pool.

On a recent Tuesday morning there were 12 swimmers. Money from admissions isn't enough to keep the pool operating. Declining use of the pool is costing the city money, nearly $400,000 in 2023.

“We know that pools are never 100% self-sufficient,” Lonergan said. “So the city has to subsidize that, and it’s a matter of what level.”

Use of Settlemier Park in Woodburn has declined in recent years. New tennis and pickleball courts, basketball courts, a playground and walking paths are part of the proposed $40 million bond the city will put to voters in November for a new community center.
Use of Settlemier Park in Woodburn has declined in recent years. New tennis and pickleball courts, basketball courts, a playground and walking paths are part of the proposed $40 million bond the city will put to voters in November for a new community center.

As part of the bond, repairs would be made to the pool and existing building. The south wall would be removed and the existing deck would be lengthened, a warm water pool and slides would be added next to it and connected to the rest of the community center.

The city believes if it can increase usage of the pool when it is part of the new community center, it won’t have to spend as much subsidizing it.

Lonergan said the city anticipates operating the community center, and charging people an affordable price to use it.

“We hate to build this $60 million building and make it a price where people won’t use it,” Lonergan said.

Lonergan said that if the bond passes, he will insist the city offer free swimming lessons to fourth graders, as it did decades ago.

“We got to do that again,” he said. “I’m worried, and that’s a safety factor. When we get this new pool, that’s something I’m going to insist on.”

Construction on new Woodburn community center could start in 2025 if bond passes

Lonergan said that if the bond passes in November, he hopes construction would start in the spring of 2025 and the community center would be open in fall 2026.

If the bond fails, the city could put it to voters again in the May 2025 election. That would allow the city to still use the $15 million from the state Legislature.

Otherwise, if the bond doesn't pass, the city won't get the state money.

Lonergan said that in community groups he and others have brought the proposal to, it has received significant support, and only a few people have spoke against it.

And, he points out, the City Council voted 7-0 to put the bond on the ballot.

“The city council’s unanimous in knowing that we need this,” Lonergan said.

Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Woodburn asks voters to pass $40M bond for community center