October 2013 – Planning and Building Report

1) APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED/UNDER REVIEW – OCTOBER 2013

a) File No. 13-031 DCA. – The Commission held a public hearing on October 28 to review recommended code revisions creating a Type CUP process and other Development Code changes.   These amendments have been forwarded to the City Council.   

2) BUILDING DIVISION ACTIVITY – So far in 2013 we have received 58 residential building permits.  This number exceeds the number in each year for the period 2009 – 2012.  The next threshold would be to beat the 77 permits issued in 2008.

a) Total value for the month was $2,629,880.
b) 10 permits for single family dwellings with a value of $1,935,852.
c) 4 permits for additions to single-family dwellings with a value of $14,000.
d) 0 duplexes.
e) 15 commercial permits with a value of $679,439.
f)  2 other permits with a value of $589.

FROM TERRE GIFT, BUILDING OFFICIAL – The City of Sandy Building Official, Terre Gift, Posted Fire Damaged home located at 16215 Bluff Road was posted “UNSAFE. – Do not occupy” and is secured from unauthorized entry.   The owners were notified and stated they are working with the insurance company with hopes to restore the home.

On Tuesday, October 22, 2013, the Building Official attended an all-day ATC 20 Post Earthquake Rapid Assessment Training on Tues, 10.22.13.  The training brought attention to the need for municipalities to assess their staff and facilities preparedness in the case of a catastrophic seismic event, projected to happen within the next 100 years.  Terre also attended the half-day ATC 45 Rapid Assessment Training for Post Wind and Flood Events on Thursday, 10.24.13.    Training was in Oregon City and hosted by Clackamas County.   

On Friday, 10.25.13, the Building Official met with Sandy City Council member, Carl Exner and was joined by City Manager, Seth Atkinson for a hour-long tour of the City.   Together they looked at 6 buildings in Sandy that are in various stages of deterioration or disrepair, and discussed some of the associated problems and history of building.   This followed the recent posting of the fire-damaged house located on Bluff Road.

The number of permits issued and the number of inspections performed rose significantly in October.  Ten single family permits were issued, which was a 150% increase over each of the previous two months and 188% of the average Single Family Residential (SFR) permits issued over the past year   The number of commercial permits issued in October was also the greater than any month in the past year.

3) URBAN RENEWAL – The contractor, Full Throttle Construction, has finished facade improvements on the Wong’s King Restaurant, Prudential Real Estate, the Heritage Square projects.  Staff is working with the City Architect to develop projects for next year.

On November 8, I was asked to to be part of a panel to discuss Sandy Style and our facade enhancement efforts at an “Economic Vitality Summit” in the city of La Pine.  The summit was attended by at least 100 persons with an interest in the economy of the “Newberry Country” area (Sunriver and La Pine).  I received many positive comments regarding the presentation and what we have accomplished in Sandy.