Pacific Power’s Mirror Pond Dam reversal surprises many

Pacific Power made the decision some time last week to keep the Mirror Pond Dam after initially saying in 2013 it would divest itself of the century-old structure.

After Pacific Power announced they wanted to get rid of the dam, the conversation over the future of Mirror Pond was sparked, wider than the earlier talks about the need for silt removal.

An ad hoc committee was formed and meeting after meeting was held to come up with plans.

“We’re going to take out this dam and replace it with a rock feature to hold back water,” Bend City Councilor Victor Chudoswky said in a video produced by the city in 2014.

The power company said in 2013 the 100-year-old dam was very costly to maintain. Now Pacific Power has made a complete 180.

“We’re going to maintain it,” Pacific Power spokeswoman Angela Price said Wednesday. “We’ve been maintaining it, and the repairs that we’ve been making to the dam have been working.”

Price said part of the reason for their decision to keep the dam came from lack of clear direction of what was going to happen to Mirror Pond.

“If a workable solution was to emerge that the community supports, we really want to take a look at that,” Price said.

City officials were stunned by the announcement, saying they were never informed about it by Pacific Power.

“Communication is probably the toughest thing most of us do,” Price said.

The decision to keep the dam is now causing confusion about what this will mean for the future of a multimillion-dollar Mirror Pond project discussed in recent years.

Just last week, the Bend Parks and Rec Board agreed to a memorandum of understanding with Mirror Pond Solutions LLC, a partnership of Old Mill developer Bill Smith and construction business owner Todd Taylor. The plan called for the private partners to discuss acquiring the dam, having already purchased the land beneath the pond in recent years. Meanwhile, the park district would look at projects to restore riparian habitat along the shores of the pond.

Bend Park and Rec Director Don Horton did not want to comment on the topic Wednesday, saying he’s still lacking information about the details.

City Councilor Doug Knight said he wants to see a clear timeline by Pacific Power of how long they’re planning to keep and maintain Mirror Pond. Price said while the power company has no specific timeline, they’re planning on a long-term solution.