Following a loss of insurance coverage, McClure Park’s beloved embankment slide could be at risk of closing.

Last summer, CIS Oregon, Astoria’s insurer, notified the city that it could no longer cover the slide due to safety and liability concerns. Although the steep, 45-foot slide at Eighth Street and Franklin Avenue has been routinely assessed and meets playground safety inspection standards, the insurer cited worries about the potential for injury if people misused it. Now, the city is actively seeking new insurance.

Since July 1, the slide has been uninsured. If the city can’t find an adequate insurance alternative, it may need to restrict access — but Jonah Dart-Mclean, the city’s parks director, said they’re not in a hurry to make that call.

“It’s a huge community investment and commitment that was made through a volunteer group, and it also is a really popular and beloved amenity that’s pretty unique. In our entire area, not just in the city of Astoria, there’s not a lot of embankment slides of this size and type,” he said. “We really recognize that we have some valuable facets to this slide that we want to be able to preserve if we can.”

The slide opened in 2018 with the support of a neighborhood group called Friends of McClure Park. At one point, McClure Park offered monkey bars, swings and a hillside slide, but when the group first partnered with the city a decade ago, many of those amenities had long been removed.

“And so at some point, we said, ‘Why don’t we try to put a slide together?’” said Ron Law, a group member who lives about a block away from the park.

Friends of McClure Park raised more than $30,000 for the slide — by far their biggest project, Law said. To him, the slide’s impact on the community has been clear to see.

“When I come home from work when it’s still daylight, almost always I’ll see people going down the slide that aren’t from our neighborhood, but have found it somehow,” he said.

The city has received one quote so far in its search for insurance alternatives. Although there isn’t a set timeline yet for making a decision, Dart-Mclean said he’s in an ongoing dialogue with the city manager about the process.

“Fortunately, we’re at a time of year when there’s a lot less people out in parks using playground equipment due to the weather,” Dart-Mclean said. “We’ve been having our maintenance crews doing their same regular checks, so we’re at least confident in the near term that there’s no added hazards present by having the slide continue to be open.”

Ultimately, Dart-Mclean said the decision will come down to the level of risk the city is comfortable owning. Looking ahead, the goal is to balance both safety and the desire to preserve a community asset.

“Safety is first and foremost, and really paramount for the city of Astoria, and so making sure that we can meet those kind of twin needs for any park site is really important,” he said.