Milwaukie engineering staff report pond near completion, multiple street projects and yearlong water treatment study

Milwaukie engineering staff updated the City Council on May 20 on a cluster of capital improvement projects and on water system planning tied to PFAS testing and EPA timelines.

The briefing matters because the projects affect street access, stormwater management, sewer and water reliability, and multi-year budgets and bids the city must schedule and fund.

Jennifer Gardley, city engineer, told the council the large stormwater pond project is nearly complete and that the only remaining major items are planting the pond banks and installing temporary irrigation and fencing. "We are super close — right now, only thing we gotta finish up is the pond," Gardley said. She said crews will install two years of temporary irrigation to establish plants and that a final walk-through is expected in June.

Engineering described several street projects with near-term schedules. Washington Street paving and associated concrete work are expected to be largely completed by fall 2025, with most plantings postponed until September. A street-maintenance package that would cover about 4.7 miles of work is out to bid with responses due June 5; Gardley said the product would be completed by fall 2025 but that the city may not have budget to do all segments. A slurry-seal program covering about four miles is scheduled for late July to early August, weather permitting.

Monroe Greenway work and coordination with the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) remain on ODOT's schedule; Gardley said the East Washington–Monroe segment (30th to Lynnwood) is expected to go out to bid in summer 2026 subject to ODOT process. King Road was described as nearing bid advertisement in early June, with construction likely to start in late October and to run about a year. Other neighborhood projects discussed included Stanley improvements, Waverly (sewer easements delaying bid), and localized curb/sidewalk work and new sidewalk punch lists.

Gardley also summarized utility coordination: PGE and Lumen relocations are complete at several sites; ODOT staging was already appearing on Milwaukee sidewalks and engineers are coordinating to avoid conflicts with city paving schedules.

On water system planning, staff reported PFAS sampling and early treatment work. Gardley said Well 8 testing did not show PFAS in the initial run but that the well had not been run long enough to be conclusive, so follow-up testing and a cleaning are planned. The city received notice that EPA compliance deadlines likely will be extended from 2029 to 2031, which staff said gives additional time for planning and funding.

To evaluate treatment options, the city will deploy a treatment skid and run a roughly yearlong study of PFAS, volatile organic compounds and treatment technologies; staff said hydraulic modeling and consultant task orders to define reservoir siting and pressure zones will start soon, with more detailed results expected in the next six to 12 months. Gardley said the city is considering consolidating treatment at a single site and will study pressure-zone transfers and valve configuration as part of reservoir siting.

Staff also said they will issue on-call construction inspection contracts (two consultants, six-year term, budgeted at $750,000 each) to augment inspection capacity; a contract award was anticipated to come forward in June. The CIP roadmap presented to the council set an August discussion on affordability goals, November policy direction on CIP prioritization, a February draft CIP and an adoption window in May of the following year.

Council members asked about neighborhood access during narrow-street projects, whether planned medians would block bike/pedestrian routes, and outreach to affected residents; Gardley and staff said they plan mailed notices, neighborhood open-house booths and coordination with contractors to maintain traffic lanes where possible. She told council that some sidewalk tree-well performance will need a full winter season to evaluate.

Next steps: bids and consultant negotiations scheduled this summer; final walk-throughs and project close-outs for several streets this fall; hydraulic modeling and the PFAS treatment-skid pilot over the next 12 months, and formal award actions for inspection contracts and design consultants at upcoming council meetings.