Planning items:

Safe Routes to School Program:  Following the February 2020 Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Action Plan, the Development Services Department applied for a SRTS grant in August for infrastructure improvements at Sandy Grade School and Cedar Ridge Middle School.  The total request is for $718,768, of which the grant would cover 60 percent ($431, 261) of the costs.  The grant request would improve safety and equity concerns by eliminating or reducing barriers to walking and biking to school.  The grant request was supported by the OTSD, State Representative Anna Williams, AntFarm Youth Services, Sandy Transit, and the Sandy Library.

DCA Code Updates to Chapters 17.100, 17.84 and 17.10 (20-023 DCA): These code updates relating to ADT standards were approved at their second hearing at the PC meeting on August 24^th.  City Council will vote on this at their September 21^st meeting.

DCA Code Changes – House Bill 2001: Planning Commission and planning staff will hold a work session regarding these changes on October 26^th.

Sandy Crest Planned Development (20-033): This application was deemed incomplete; applicant is now withdrawing application for this planned development and will be re-submitting a regular subdivision application at a future date.

16230 Bluff Road tree removal (20-035 TREE):  Request for a tree removal is associated with the demolition and rebuilding of this single-family house on Bluff Road.

Upcoming pre-apps:  Pre-apps are scheduled for the following future projects

• Bornstedt Village addition at 38330 Highway 211
• Rogue Fabrication: zone change (I-1 to I-2) at Champion Way lot
  

Vista Loop Lot Line Adjustment (20-031):  We are still working with the property owner to define some modifications to meet the SMC.  Staff is in support of this application.

Pleasant Street Master Plan (18-022 CPA):  Staff remains working on getting data organized and collecting feedback from the development team.  This project has been put on the back burner for a bit as staff processes some large development projects.

Design Review:

• Sandy Plaza Apartments (20-017 DR):  Final order for this 18 unit apartment complex project was issued on August 6^th.
• Bull Run Terrace (19-050 CPA/ZC/SUB): Staff has completed their review of submitted application materials from the applicant and finished the staff report.  This project was granted a continuance at the August 24^th Planning Commission meeting until the October PC meeting.
• OAOR Annexation (20-025):  Staff review of this proposed annexation continues – draft of staff report is in progress.  Planning Commission will hear this at their September 28^th meeting.
• The Views Planned Development (20-028):  Staff report for this large planned development is almost complete.  Planning Commission will hear this at their September 28^th meeting.

Kelly’s Kudos:

I want to say congratulations to our Long Range Planning Intern, Christina Winberry, for accepting an employment offer with 3J Consulting in Beaverton. Christina is starting employment on the 21st of September with the title of Land Use Planner. Christina recently earned her Master of Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University in June 2020. While with the City of Sandy we have enjoyed Christina’s commitment to assisting with long range planning efforts, including but not limited to the Downtown Walkability Assessment and the Safe Routes to School program. Christina, we wish you the best in all your future endeavors!

Building Department items:

Nothing newsworthy to report from the Building Department in August.

Internal projects: 

• Minor changes to Community Center: The City of Sandy Urban Renewal Agency is looking to upgrade a couple of items at the Community Center
  • Lighting: We are still waiting on a quote from Bull Run Electric to replace the light fixtures at the Community Center. Considering current events, this may take a while to complete. Stand by.
  • Garbage enclosures:  Sandy Fence will be creating this enclosure for us as soon as their schedule permits.
  • West entrance awning:  Currently waiting on design to review from Mountain View Construction.

Economic Development items:

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

• Joe’s Donuts:  Upon permit review of the loading dock, there were a couple of items that needed to be remediated prior to approval.  There was no ADA landing pad installed for the exterior access stairs, and the handrails were 6” lower than required.  Our contractor has now corrected the hand rail problem by welding a 6” extension to the top of the handrails (see pic below).  We have another local concrete contractor lined up to install the landing pad, but he lives in Colton and is currently evacuated from his home/business.  We will revisit this issue after the fires subside.
  

• Commercial vacancies:  There have been few if any COVID related business closures in Sandy since we last reported.  I am not aware of any additional businesses that have closed their doors in August.
• Potential new light manufacturing business:  Development Services just completed a pre-app with a local business called Rogue Fabrication that has purchased the Eastwinds lot (SE corner of Champion and Industrial).  Business owner Jason Gambino intends to start building a new HQ at this site as the business has now outgrown the pole barn on his residential property.  This project is intended to be a three phase construction project, with three buildings being built over the next few years.  Ec Dev is scheduling a meeting with the business owner in the next few weeks to discuss applying for an Enterprise Zone incentive through ClackCo Business & Economic Development.

Econ Devl – Internal Projects:

Downtown maintenance:

• AntFarm downtown maintenance crew: Neal Hatley’s downtown maintenance crew has been temporarily sidelined.  Mr. Hatley’s father had a life-threatening health event several weeks ago, and Neal had to return to North Carolina to care for him.  He will not be returning to Oregon any time soon.  This one really hurts – Mr. Hatley has a gift for working with kids, and he will be sorely missed.  True to form, Nunpa already has another excellent Outdoor Programs Coordinator lined up – this man is a personal friend of Nunpa’s and has been a construction contracting work in his past, so we are hoping for a smooth fit once he gets settled in.
• Flower baskets:  The high winds we experienced in Sandy in early September dehydrated the downtown flower baskets pretty severely.  AntFarm was able to get them hydrated again right as the smoke settled in, so while some of them look pretty ratty, they are in much better shape than they would have been otherwise.  Baskets will be removed at the end of September.  Bonus info: Nunpa (and your Ec Dev Manager) made sure to get out and water the baskets during the thick of the fires; both felt it important to do what we could to maintain some color downtown during these difficult times to lift citizen spirits.

Econ Devl – Economic Development Committee:

The September meeting of the Economic Development Committee was cancelled due to the beginning of the school year and the associated chaos surrounding this event due to COVID.   The following memo was circulated to members instead – the purpose of this memo was to give members some information about current development projects going on around the City, and to refresh the discussions we had in June and August about the prioritization of urban renewal spending in Sandy.  We will begin our discussion there in October.

Econ Devl – Conferences/training:

No conferences or training in August due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I am starting to see activity again in this space.  I will be attending the 2020 OEDA (the Oregon Economic Development Association) Conference on October 26-28 (full days) as well as Travel Oregon’s Outdoor Recreation Summit from Sept 28 to Oct 17 (Zoom meeting series).  Both events are virtual, which should be the norm for the foreseeable future.