A major federal project in North Portland has moved into design, and its impacts on the ground are coming into focus — including a potential downsizing of Heron Lakes Golf Club.
The construction of new levees on the Columbia Slough will replace railroad trestles and other decades-old makeshift solutions to prevent flooding in the low-lying area. Heron Lakes was built on the site of Vanport, which in 1948 was destroyed by a flood that killed 15 people and displaced 18,500 residents.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Urban Flood Safety and Water Quality District plan to build 27 miles of flood-safety improvements. The project is funded by congressional appropriations from 2021 and a local ballot measure — call it a levee levy — that passed in 2024…