Planning items:

Bailey Meadows Appeal (20-009 AP):  City Council will hear the appeal to the Bailey Meadows subdivision on March 16, 2020.

Mairin’s Viewpoint (19-047 EXT): The Planning Commission extended the Mairin’s Viewpoint tentative plat approval to February 24, 2021.This is a 6-lot subdivision to the north of Green Mountain Street and west of Bluff Road.

Dutch Bros:  Construction is in full swing at the site next to 7-Eleven.  Kiosk is being constructed, and the electrical supply to the Mattress World building has been under-grounded.  The Urban Renewal Agency is paying for the electrical under-grounding (cost TBD) and will contribute $30K through Urban Renewal toward a required stormwater main and some of the streetscape improvements.

Grandma’s House: City staff is working diligently to help this daycare provider move from its current location by the Sandy Cinema to its expanded location on Pioneer Blvd. Staff is working with the provider, the Clackamas County ESD, and other agencies to help to the fullest extent possible.

City Townhomes:  The construction of this development across the street from the Sandy Post Office is almost complete.

Design Review:

• Proposed code changes to SMC (19-043 DCA): City Council will hear the recommended parking and access code changes to Chapter 17.98 of the Sandy Municipal Code on April 6, 2020.
• McCormick Drive re-zone (19-037 CPA/ZC): This request to re-zone a lot from C-2 to R-2 will be heard at the March 16^th City Council meeting.  Planning Commission forwarded a recommendation of approval with conditions.
• Trillium Machine (19-017 DR/VAR/DEV/TREE): This application is for a new building behind their existing building in I-2 zone – this application is currently under review and is anticipated to be on the agenda for the March 30 PC meeting.
• Sandy Vault Storage (19-046 MOD/VAR/DEV): This application is anticipated to be on the March 30 PC agenda – please see entry from last month for additional details.

Kelly’s Kudos:

Kelly’s Kudos: I want to send my thanks to the Planning Commissioners for their diligence and patience with the Bailey Meadows subdivision decision. The Planning Commission participated in three meetings regarding Bailey Meadows and read hundreds of pages of material. Making land use decisions is not always an easy task and is typically a pretty thankless position. As a citizen of Sandy, I am proud of our volunteers on the Planning Commission and their committed effort on making Sandy a great place for everyone to live, work, and play.

Internal projects: 

• City Hall: Blinds are installed, tinting has been replaced in both vestibules with a lighter, less reflective tint to more closely adhere to City code, and tint installed on Planning Director’s primary window.  Internal aesthetic and electrical modifications to City Hall are now complete.  Next City Hall agenda item –> attempt #2 to replace City Hall plumbing.
• Sandy Community Center:  
  • Axis Design Group and HHPR Engineering have completed an assessment of the porte cochere (the structure over the primary entrance) – there is weather-related damage to the structure due to deficiencies in its original design and construction that will require some structural beams to be replaced.  Axis also provided a code check on the entrance to the building and recommendations to bring the building into code compliance, with particular focus on ADA accessibility.
  • Matt Degner of Public Works and Development Services are assisting Tanya in acquiring and installing a grease trap at this location for the first time ever.  This will be paid for using Urban Renewal dollars.

Economic Development items:

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

• Le Happy:  Soft open dates of March 6 & 7 for selected audiences.  Opening date scheduled for March 8.  City of Sandy staff has been invited by the owners to be one of the group of participants in the soft open.

• Sandy Marketplace:  Planter project complete – all four planters at the mall have now been upgraded.  Representatives from Albanese Cormier (property owner) will be visiting Sandy Marketplace sometime during the spring of 2020 – I am looking forward to thanking them for participating in the Façade program personally and discussing future improvements at the site.
• Derelict buildings: The two derelict residences behind the Red Boot Branding Building at the corner of Strauss and Junker were demolished in early February.  The commercial building on site is preparing for a local childcare business to occupy it in the next few months.

Econ Devl – Downtown Maintenance Projects:

Downtown maintenance:

• Action Center exterior lighting upgrade:  SCAC administration now has a proper scope of work from Urban Renewal to approach lighting contractors with.  Waiting on response.
• SCC parking lot fencing replacement:  Waiting on the two gates to be installed prior to paying the contractor and closing out the job – project otherwise complete.

Econ Devl – Economic Development Committee:

The February meeting of the Economic Development Committee was well attended.  After a brief review of resource materials, the committee discussed the need for a new retail market report by briefly reviewing the last report, discussing the advantages a 2020 report would provide and requesting a comparison of quotes received from two industry leaders for a 2020 report.  There was broad support for a new report after they heard from committee member Hans Wipper (Wippersnappers) and how he used data from the 2015 report to research his business idea and present that data to a bank as justification for a loan.  The other agenda item was about the Parks & Rec district being proposed – there were differing opinions in the room on this one, but the majority expressed opposition to spending on the pool because they didn’t see how aquatic center activity translated into activity involving other businesses in the downtown area.

The March meeting revisited the retail market study concept – given a choice between Marketek (consumer-driven approach, author of past 2 studies) and ECONorthwest (never used in Sandy but good reputation, data-driven approach, slightly cheaper), the committee preferred the latter pretty overwhelmingly.  We transitioned from there into a basic discussion of urban renewal – why it exists, what it’s used for, how it is funded, etc. – and posed the question of how future UR spending should look to the members.  The meeting ended before any committee direction could be consolidated, but we will open the April meeting with a continuation of this discussion.

Econ Devl – Conferences/training:

Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory 2020 Winter FAM Tour (Feb 4^th): Clackamas County Tourism hosted their second familiarization tour on the mountain on 2/4.  These tours are primarily for tourism-industry workers and professionals to give them a hands-on experience with the tourism destinations they inform visitors about.

The tour started at the Bigfoot Center on US26, where they were met with complimentary Joe’s Donuts and Mountain Moka coffee courtesy of the City of Sandy Ec Dev office.  The tour then went straight to Timberline Lodge, then back to SkiBowl on the Mount Hood Express, a quick visit to the Mt. Hood Cultural Center and Museum, lunch at the ZigZag Inn and a short walking tour of Wildwood Rec Site.  The tour ended here in Sandy at Bunsenbrewer.