The Columbia County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday approved a right-of-entry request allowing the city of St. Helens to conduct site testing at up to five candidate locations as part of a reservoir siting study, including a potential site at the Columbia County fairgrounds.

Ed McGlone, county counsel, explained the city is evaluating multiple locations for a replacement reservoir to replace aging tanks on Pittsburgh Road. He said the city’s consultant, Keller Associates, is narrowing five candidate sites to three or four and that one previously considered site (a Weyerhaeuser location near Knife River) was removed because of an existing lease.

McGlone described the proposed replacement as a single roughly 5,000,000-gallon reservoir likely to be a welded or cast concrete tank aboveground or partially buried, depending on site topography. “It’s going to be a 5,000,000-gallon reservoir,” McGlone said.

McGlone said the Pittsburgh Road reservoirs have been problematic — one tank has been offline since February 2016 after multiple repair attempts — and that a new, larger reservoir is intended to meet long-term (100-year) system needs.

The right-of-entry request (listed in the packet as C134-2025) authorizes non-destructive testing and drilling necessary to determine site suitability; McGlone said the city would repair any damage caused by testing. The county’s fairboard previously reviewed the request but deferred final approval, leaving the county board to make the decision.

Commissioners approved the right of entry by motion and voice vote. McGlone and city representatives said the action authorizes only site access for testing and does not approve construction or final site selection; any future lease, acquisition or construction agreements would be negotiated separately.

The county counsel and city representatives discussed the potential for the county or fairgrounds to receive some compensation or benefit if the fairgrounds site is selected, including increased fire-suppression capacity and options to negotiate lease or access arrangements, but said compensation terms are yet to be determined.

The board approved C134-2025 allowing the city of St. Helens to enter and test identified candidate sites for the reservoir siting study; the motion passed by voice vote.