Oregon City's 60-year-old swimming pool has earned a statewide award for two decades of upkeep, even as the city plans its eventual replacement.

The Oregon Recreation & Parks Association (ORPA) honored the Oregon City Swimming Pool with its Outstanding Maintenance and Asset Management Award, the city announced Monday, Sept. 28. The award recognizes agencies that demonstrate long-term care of a public recreation facility.

The pool opened in 1966, when Oregon City's population was about 8,500. The city has since grown to nearly 40,000 residents, all sharing a single rectangular 25-meter pool.

"When the Pool opened in 1966, it served a community of approximately 8,500 people, compared to the current population of nearly 40,000," Parks and Recreation Director Scott Archer told the city's Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee on April 23.

Archer said the pool is older and undersized for the current population, but the city has continued investing in it.

Over more than 20 years, the city has replaced boilers and pumps, repaired the concrete deck, renovated locker rooms and upgraded accessibility features.

Crews also swapped out windows, updated the roof and completed major replastering and gutter tile work. The result, according to the city's announcement: the pool is in better condition now than it was two decades ago.

That track record is part of why residents keep asking a pointed question. The city's statement noted that as planning begins for a new Aquatic and Recreation Center, people want to know why the pool needs replacing at all.

The city hired Counsilman-Hunsaker, a national aquatics consulting firm, in fall 2025 to conduct a comprehensive assessment. Archer told the advisory committee that planning, funding, building and opening a new facility would take several years at minimum. A public open house on the project was held June 23 at the Libke Public Safety Building.

At the committee's May 28 meeting, member Ken Worcester raised the pool's annual operating subsidy, which he put at roughly $1 million.

City staff did not confirm or dispute that figure in available meeting records.

The city credited parks and recreation employees, maintenance staff, city leaders and community partners for keeping the pool running.

No ceremony date for the ORPA award has been announced, and the next step in the aquatic center planning process has not been publicly scheduled.