Development Services – Monthly Report – January 2019

Planning items:

Ambrose Glass:  This Gresham glass manufacturer proposes to build a 12,000 SF Web Steel warehouse with offices on the Northwind site (NE corner of Industrial and Champion).  This is a union glazing shop affiliated with Local 740 employing 7 people at a living wage.  This facility hopes to add capacity and employees in the future.  Pre-application meeting on February 11.

Mt. Hood Cigar Co: Cigar store has proposed an outdoor smoking shed to be constructed in two parking spaces outside their store.  Pre-application meeting held on 1/30/19.

Sandy Community Campus: Staff has received the updated plans completed by the contracted land surveyor for the proposed final plat of the Sandy Community Campus and Sandy Grade School campus. Staff will complete an internal review of the plans to determine if they depict the intended outcome and proceed accordingly. 

Stowaway Mini Storage: Staff has not received any additional submittals from Stowaway after issuing an incompleteness letter on 10/25/18, although there is a dialogue going between Development Services staff and an attorney for the applicant. 

Sign code: A future work session with Council and staff shall take place, potentially in the spring, regarding proposed updates to existing sign code regulations.

Knollwood Estates: A request (19-003 TREE) to remove four trees from the Knollwood Estates property.  Application received; waiting for completeness check.

Bloom Annexation: Case No. 18-026 ANN, Bloom Annexation, has been granted an extension not to extend beyond May 27, 2019 (245 days). The applicant’s representative submitted the required TPR analysis and ODOT has provided their response. Currently the applicant’s representative is working with outside agencies with regards to the existing historic designation(s) associated with the property to determine how they would like to approach that element of the project before proceeding to Planning Commission for consideration.

Bird Property (19124 Jacoby): Annexation application for this property has been deemed incomplete.

Design Review:

  • McDonald’s: Final Order for the McDonald’s exterior remodel (18-050 DR) should be submitted to the applicant the week of February 11.
  • Robert Mottice: At the January 28, 2019 Planning Commission Hearing, the Commission denied the setback requests of Case No. 18-051 VAR.  Jerry Crosby has been contacted to sign the Final Order.  
  • Fun Time RV: Fun Time RV (18-030 DR) submitted additional information on February 7, 2019 for consideration. Completeness check shall occur.
  • Double Creek Condos modification:  This 69-unit condominium modification has been deemed complete and notifications have been sent.  This project is currently under review by Planning staff.
  • Snowboarding school/camp: This project has been deemed complete and is on the agenda for the March 19th Planning Commission meeting.
  • Jacoby Heights subdivision:  Completeness review is finished for this 32-lot subdivision on Jacoby and is on the agenda for the February 25 Planning Commission agenda.
  • Center City Townhouses: At the January 28th Planning Commission meeting (19-001 TREE) a tree variance to remove a required retention tree at Center City Townhouses (Wolf and McCormick) was approved; final order dated Feb 5

Other large reviews being conducted:

  • TSC, Inc.: Grading on hold until Spring 2019 (weather) but otherwise complete.
  • Sandy Vault Storage: This project has been deemed complete, and is on the agenda for the March 19th Planning Commission meeting.

Parks & Trails Advisory Board:

  • The February Parks Board Meeting scheduled for February 9 was cancelled due to snowpocalypse.  A new meeting will be scheduled by Kelly O’Neill and Jordan Wheeler.
  • City staff (James Cramer) has received two quotes for restroom facilities to strategize on incorporating these facilities within City parks.  Mr. O’Neill will present to the Board at the next board meeting.  Additionally, Mr. Cramer is coordinating with Tanya Richardson to determine the cost associated with renting portable restrooms for the park as a cost comparison.
  • Mr.  Cramer has received a quote for a seasonal shade structure for Bornstedt Park.  Mr. O’Neill will present to the Board at the next board meeting.

Internal projects

More internal changes on the Planning side of the building…. 

  • City Hall – Minor Electrical:  Work is being slightly expanded from last month. 
    • We are adding one more outlet at the utility desk outside of Kelly’s office
    • The Building Official asked for an additional circuit to be added and to have his office on this new circuit – that side of the building seems to trip breakers occasionally, so we are hoping that this will correct the problem (this is difficult (read: more expensive) because of the way the exterior walls to City Hall are constructed – metal beams and concrete to drill/saw cut through)
  • Best Western facade project redux: At the direction of the Façade Board, we have engaged Mr. Patel for the second round of bids to replace the siding on his hotel.  We sent the bid request to all of the former bidders and posted in the Daily Journal of Commerce as we would do for all projects required to use the ITB process (large projects).  We got 5 qualified bids in this round and have sent that information to Mr. Patel to see if he has any objections to the selection of the lowest bidder.  We are awaiting his response.
  • Paola’s Pizza Barn:  We did a quick TI grant for the purchase and installation of the grease interceptor at this location.  Three bids received, took the lowest bid, and installation is already complete.  Reimbursement check for 50% of cost ($5,250) is pending with regard to our next check run.

Economic Development items:

Econ Devl – Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):

  • Brady’s Brats & Burgers:  Our first Tenant Improvement grant project couldn’t have turned out better!  Brady’s Brats & Burgers had their grand opening on January 25th, and a good time was had by all.  Since then, the place has been packed at all hours, and owner Chris Corbin is absolutely delighted with the results so far.  The space has had a total overhaul on the inside, with a new kitchen, a new layout, proper ADA bathrooms and new concrete floors.  Special thanks to Mayor Pulliam for emceeing the ribbon cutting, and there were a few other Councilors at the event as well.  Mr. Corbin and the Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce really appreciate the support.

For those that know more of the back story here, this was an extremely difficult project for Chris right from the very beginning.  The City of Sandy really owes Mr. Corbin a debt of gratitude for the work he has undertaken to rehabilitate this restaurant into a clean, new space that we can all be proud of.  And this project — which may not have happened without assistance from the Tenant Improvement Program – is proof that incentive programs are an important tool in helping to reshape our city.  More work will go into the building in the summer, as Ec Dev plans to partner with Mr. Corbin again in a larger façade project for the exterior of this building. 

Econ Devl – Internal Projects:

  • Downtown maintenance:
    • Bignall Pool, north wall:  100% Complete.  Wall is now weather-tight and looks much, much better.  Laverne’s Rock Works did great work and was extremely easy to work with.  We will request bids from them again if the opportunity arises.
    • Derelict buildings – residential:  There has been a slight delay on this project as one of the property owners would like to explore the possibility of rehabbing one of the structures they have scheduled for demolition to see if it makes financial sense to do so.  A request for bid is essentially complete and waiting for this property owner to decide what they will do. 
    • Derelict buildings – Smith Building:  There has been some miscommunication on this project that needs to be resolved.  There are essentially three ownership principals here, and the internal communications between them don’t seem to be functioning very efficiently.  We need to get a design professional to assist the owners by suggesting the best way to go about the surface prep and painting as we are not familiar with this type of surface.  This is less than a full rehab report, which is what we would normally request of commercial building owners going through this process, and much less expensive.  The responses we have received from the different owners have been disjointed, but they don’t seem to be reading the lengthy email messages I am sending explaining the situation to them.  I am going to reach out to two of the principals by phone this week to see if we can get this issue resolved.
  • Clackamas County Tourism’s & Cultural Affairs Community Partnership Program (CPP) grant projects:
    • Jonsrud Viewpoint:  With the installation of new signage for ClackCo Tourism Heritage Trail audio tour scheduled for the 12th of February, this project is 100% complete.  The Sandy Parks Board is currently exploring the possibility of submitting for another CPP grant to replace the interpretive signage at Jonsrud (the current signage is old and faded and needs to be updated) and the viewing telescope, and maybe some repairs to the rock wall and the fence at the viewpoint as well.  This would be a logical next step to improving the site.  I strongly support the Parks Board’s efforts here.
    • Meinig Park Entry Arch: With the installation of the plaque on the back side of the arch thanking ClackCo Tourism for sharing the cost of construction, this project is now 100% complete.  Total cost to City of Sandy: $9,433.

Econ Devl – Conferences/training:

  • Enterprise Zones and Other Oregon Tax Incentives Workshop (1/7/19 – ClackCo Red Soils Campus, Oregon City): Annual refresher from my man Art Fish about Enterprise Zones.
    • Mt. Hood Territory visitor profile and transportation study (1/7/19 – Business OR offices, Portland):  This was the final report from the tourism studio that I generated about how to bring visitors without cars to Sandy, Estacada and the mountain communities.  The final report is posted on the Ec Dev page – just click on the button entitled “Local Government Publications”….it’s the first link.  There are also links to two other interesting reports right beneath that one; both ClackCo Tourism and the Sandy River Basin Watershed Council did reports on water-based tourism last year that are worth