North Portland Aquatic Center Why is it NOT coming to St. Johns

Portland Parks & Recreation (PPR) announced they are putting in a new aquatic center in North Portland, and it is not in St. Johns. We reached out to PPR and asked them why Northgate Park in the Portsmouth/E St. Johns neighborhood was the choice while St. Johns was not chosen. This is the response we got:

“Portland Parks & Recreation is excited to have the new North Portland Aquatic Center fully funded. The project is currently in the contracting and procurement stage, with the next community engagement phase anticipated for this coming fall.

“St. Johns Park ranked fifth among five potential park sites (those deemed viable by the PPR Property and Planning department experts). Some reasons for this ranking include the fact that the 50,000-square-foot building and parking lot would have taken up the entirety of the existing green space at St. Johns Park, and St. Johns Park was not as centrally located as other potential sites.

“In July 2023, after extensive community feedback and with equity factors being the deciding criteria, Vibrant Communities Commissioner Dan Ryan and Portland Parks & Recreation Director Adena Long announced the new North Portland Aquatic Center will be built at Northgate Park.”

The St. Johns Review is looking into why funding to this project was not allocated to fixing the existing Columbia Pool, nor the Pier Park Pool in St. Johns. See more on this topic in the article titled “The Columbia Park Pool: Where is Our Support?”