Internal projects: 

• Permanent Outdoor Covered Structures grant program:  The status of the first round of this program is reviewed semi-monthly at the City of Sandy Ec Dev Advisory Board meeting – here is the status of the program as of July 2022:
  
  • Tollgate Inn – Now that the City Building Official, the Fire Marshal, the applicant and the architect are all on the same page, Keystone Architecture is currently moving forward with a final design for the covered structure.  We expect to see this final design by the end of August and will put the project out to bid immediately upon receiving it.
  • All other projects are now complete, structurally and financially.
    

• Covered Structures Round 2:  Designs for the second round of the City of Sandy Covered Structures grant program were reviewed at the SURA and City Council meetings on January 3^rd, 2022.  Here is the status for this round of the program as of July 2022:
  
  • La Bamba Mexican Restaurant – This project was completed and passed both Building and Planning inspection on July 21^st.  Carlo is already seating his customers outside under the structure.
  • Thai Home – Project on hold pending resolution of applicant medical situation.
  • Wippersnappers Kid’s Play Place – Received revised plans from engineer on July 21^st.  Project put out to bid on July 26^th.  Bids due on August 17^th at 3:00 PM.
  • The Smoky Hearth – This project was completed on August 2^nd.  Final inspection pending, but not expected to be problematic.  This project, for all intents and purposes, is complete.

Economic Development items:

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

• Smith Building – discussion with property owner: On July 28^th, staff (Economic Development, Development Services) joined the Mayor at the Smith Building for a “meet and greet” discussion with the new owner of the property, Mr. Chris Gunderson.  The meeting was requested by the Mayor as an opportunity for us as representatives of the City of Sandy to have a friendly “get to know you” chat with Mr. Gunderson, get an update as to his current thoughts about the project and check in to see if there’s anything else we can do to help him out.

It turns out this was a great idea, because although Mr. Gunderson is very busy with other projects right now, he did say he wasn’t exactly sure how to proceed with the next step – making streetscape improvements to the 211/Tupper side of the property.  As a result of       this trepidation, staff happily committed to putting the bid process together for this piece of the project as part of the City’s contribution to keeping this project on the front burner.    Special thanks to Mayor Pulliam not only for requesting this meeting, but for his positive   vision and encouraging words on behalf of the City of Sandy.  The meeting seemed to re-energize Mr. Gunderson about the project, relay to him that this project is vitally important to City leadership, and that our staff really is here to help him succeed.  

• Façade project – Alan Fleischman church entry:  Emergency exit stairs on west side of building now installed.  We are currently waiting for the installation of railings and handrails at the new building entry as the last element of this project that needs to be completed.  Mr. Fleischman has already ordered and paid for these railings through a local contractor – he is simply waiting for them to be delivered and installed.  This should happen by the end of August.
  
• Public Infrastructure project – City Hall ADA door electrification:  This project to make all entrances and public restroom entrances at Sandy City Hall ADA compliant by adding electric push-button opening has completed the bidding process.  There was only one qualified bid, but it was a reasonable one and the County will place the bidder (Becmen LLC) under contract on 8/3.  The vast majority of this project is being paid for with federal CDBG funds.
  
• Façade project – Clackamas County’s Sandy Health Clinic:  This project is very near to completion.  However, the general contractor (Banlin) has run into some challenges of late, including their paving contractor being currently down with COVID-19.  They are still waiting on one of the panels (HVAC?) to arrive and have a bit of flat work and landscaping to finish but are otherwise complete.  Finish date was supposed to be July 13^th, but it is now looking like mid-August for a certificate of occupancy.
  
• Façade project – Boring Brewing exterior painting:  This project to put a new coat of paint on the Boring Brewing building was completed on July 15^th.   Although the new color combo is different to say the least, staff did confirm that all of the new colors are present in the official City of Sandy color palette.

Econ Devl – Internal Projects:

Downtown maintenance:

• AF Downtown Maintenance:  AntFarm Outdoor Programs Manager Neal Hatley and his downtown maintenance crew have completed the first tranche of summer maintenance work, which was mostly spot weeding and planter strip overhauls at the following locations: Museum, Sandy Family Dentistry, Sandy Bicycle, old La Bamba building, DQ,  Barlow Trail Vet Clinic and 7 Eleven, and the transit stop in front of Timberline Meats.

The crew is now working on the second tranche of downtown maintenance work, which      will include work at the following sites:  the Smith Building, Sandy Smoke Shop/Sandy Auto Body, the Coin-op Car Wash, the old La Bamba site, the Heritage Square public parking lot, the Sandy Public Library, Brady’s Brats & Burgers, the old Sandy Clinic next to the cleaners and the Edward Jones Building.

Econ Devl – Economic Development Advisory Board:

The EDAB meeting on July 27^th was an continuation of the last meeting held on May 18^th, in which Elliot Weiss of CAI continued a discussion about this group’s community vision and feelings about our strengths and weaknesses.  Mr. Weiss also started getting into some of the demographic data that CAI has collected thus far, although this research continues with much of the data being collected by our contractors putting together the EOA and the Comp Plan.  This started with business sectors that are over & under-represented in Sandy, and market area information including where our residents work and shop.

The next EDAB meeting has not been scheduled yet, but will probably be in September.  Stay tuned.

Econ Devl – Conferences/training:

There were no training opportunities for Economic Development in the month of July.