Building Department items:

October 2021 Building Division Report

The summer of 2021 has been busy, and the year has been full of changes in the City of Sandy.  New home construction and commercial building projects have kept the building division busy. 

SPACE AGE Gas Station was able to open early this summer, but still has a few minor landscaping details to finish.  The new Clackamas County Health Clinic got off to a slow start by getting their permit late due to plan changes, followed by supply shortages and difficulties in scheduling sub-contractors.  The general contractor is now rushing to get the roof on before the winter snows.  

The new business building located between Industrial way and Highway 26 is being built by Kyle Ruthardt, owner of Bull Run Electric.  The attractive red metal building is nearing completion, and Kyle hopes to obtain occupancy and get his business moved in before Christmas.  The large building can accommodate at least 2 or 3 other businesses.   

Foundation work is in progress for the Sandy Vault Storage buildings south of Tractor Supply and the Arco AM/PM.   And the project manager for the Trickle Creek Apartments is also rushing to construct foundations for their 69 unit apartment complex just west of Ruben Lane.

Residential projects worth noting are the 100 single-family homes being constructed by Lennar Homes at Shaylee Meadows, north of Highway 211.  Also, the last of the new homes are now in the finishing stages at Mt. View Ridge and the Marshall Ridge Subdivision.

A few last items of note have to do with the Building Division and Permit Staff:  Noryne Robinson, our Permit Technician II, retired on September 3^rd.  Noryne was an exceptional team member, working tirelessly in the Building Department more than 14 years.  Over the past year, Noryne spent many a late evening working to help merge Sandy’s permitting system with the Oregon E-Permitting system.  It was a huge undertaking.  The State’s system has been a nightmare and looking back, we realize now how easy we had it with Sandy’s GRAIL system (created by former City Manager Lazenby).  But we are moving forward and onward.   And several months before Noyrne’s retirement, we hired Marisol Martinez to become Permit Technician.  She is a quick learner and has done a terrific job in keeping things flowing at the counter. 

We are all looking forward to the Thanksgiving Holiday!

               Respectfully submitted by

               Terrence Gift, Building Official

Planning Department items:

Ace Hardware accessory structure (21-060 DR):  Staff has received this application for an accessory structure to provide additional materials storage at Ace Hardware but has not started a completeness review yet.

Mt. Hood Cleaners addition (21-057):  This Type I application for the construction of a storage addition to their existing building is currently being processed by staff.  Final order will be complete in the coming weeks.

The Pad Townhomes (21-046 DR):  This application for a 10-unit townhouse development on Meinig Avenue just south of Joe’s Donuts has now been deemed complete; staff is currently working on the staff report for this item.  This Type III application will be heard at the November 22^nd PC meeting.

Bornstedt Views Subdivision (21-021 SUB/TREE):  Staff review is complete for the application for this 42 lot subdivision between Bornstedt Rd and Averill Parkway south of Cascadia Village.  The Planning Commission has scheduled this project to be heard at their regular meeting on October 25^th.

39480 Kimberly tree removal (21-054 TREE):  This request to remove trees at a residence on Kimberly Street has been approved with conditions.  The final order was issued on October 29^th.Deer Meadows Subdivision (21-014 SUB/TREE):  With all three open records periods now officially closed, this application for a subdivision moves forward and will be heard by the Planning Commission at their regular meeting on November 8^th.

Sandy Woods Phase 2 (21-037 SUB/VAR/TREE):  This application for a 43 lot subdivision south of Kelso Road was deemed complete on October 29^th and is currently under review.  This project is scheduled to be heard by the Planning Commission at their regular meeting on November 22^nd.

City of Sandy Comprehensive Plan Update:  Staff continues to work with 3J Consulting to develop the scope of work and contract details for this report.

OTSD tree removal (21-042 TREE):  This request by the Oregon Trail School District to remove trees at Cedar Ridge Middle School was deemed incomplete in September.  Staff is still waiting on additional information from applicant.

New Building Inspector: The Building Division has contracted with Johnny Vollendroff, a Sandy resident, to assist our Building Official with plan review and inspections on a part-time basis. 

Transportation System Plan update:  Staff, ODOT and DKS continue to work on the revised Transportation System Plan (TSP).  The City launched a survey on October 29.  The survey closes on November 19.

Kelly’s Kudos:

I want to thank Marisol Martinez for stepping up in a big way since Noryne’s retirement in early September.  Marisol has assumed Noryne’s job duties and is doing a superb job in her new role. Marisol is great at handling customer issues and resolving complicated building division matters. She is a true team player and is a phenomenal asset to the Development Services Department. Thanks Marisol!

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Internal projects: 

• Permanent Outdoor Covered Structures grant program:  This status 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 the beginning of November 2021:
  
  • Ria’s/SFR – Construction is complete!
  • Le Happy – Construction is complete!
  • Sandlandia – Construction is complete!
  • Boring Brewing – Construction is complete! 
  • Red Shed Public House — Construction is complete!
  • No Place Saloon – Construction is almost complete.
  • Tollgate Inn – Staff is meeting with Mr. Lesowski during the first week in November to discuss options for how to move forward with this project.  This project will likely be kicked into the 2^nd round of this program.
    
• Covered Structures Round 2:  The application period for the second round of this wildly successful program is now closed.  We received eight applications from eligible businesses, and one application from a business that is not eligible according to program rules.  They are as follows:
  
  • La Bamba Mexican Restaurant
  • Smoky Hearth
  • Thai Home
  • Mount Hood Athletic Club – 2 separate applications
  • Sandlandia – 2^nd structure
  • Bigfoot Growlers
  • Wippersnappers
  • Sandy Inn Best Western (ineligible under current rules)

• Trick or Treat Trail:  This Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce event occurred on Saturday, October 30^th and once again was a smash hit.  The weather was very cooperative – while there was a brisk chill in the air and a little bit of wind, clear skies and sunshine more than made up for that.  Final counts from the day saw 618 at the Sandy Historical Museum and 1942 kids at the Sandy Public Library.  While this is not a record for this event, it was pretty close….and a solid showing for the community.  Our local business owners seemed quite pleased with the turnout.

Economic Development items:

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

• Les Schwab:  This project is approaching completion, although it seems to have stalled out over the last few weeks.  Les Schwab project manager Jordan Hoffart confirmed for me that they have been having some minor labor availability issues with the contractors as well as some weather delays, but they are still hoping to have the project completed by the end of November.
• Façade project – Fun Time RV fencing:  Contractors have paved the lot and are moving along briskly with the project.  Fence construction will likely be one of the last elements of this project to be constructed, so stay tuned. 

Econ Devl – Internal Projects:

Downtown maintenance:

• AF Downtown Maintenance: 
  • The AntFarm crew helped us out with a spot maintenance problem in October over at the new home of Impact Jiu Jitsu at US26 and University Avenue.  The landscaping at this site (formerly Precision Archery) was not properly maintained over the years, resulting in English ivy and a rogue rhododendron growing out into the pedestrian ROW.  The crew removed all of this vegetation and cleaned up the site, including around the transit stop.
• Flower basket program: 
  • Fall/winter plantings are now installed in the downtown planters.
  • Our contractor (Cedarglen Floral of Damascus) will be installing holiday lighting on the street trees on Pioneer and Proctor in early November.

Econ Devl – Economic Development Advisory Board:

The EDAB met in person on October 6^th, once again at the SandyNet offices.  This meeting featured Community Attributes, Inc, a firm that specializes in local/regional economic data analysis, giving a presentation to our board defining what an economic development strategic plan is, how one is developed and how analysis like this can guide the development of our local economy to our satisfaction.  CAI has performed many economic development strategic plans for cities in Washington state, and more recently for the cities of McMinnville and Astoria.

Econ Devl – Conferences/training:

There were no training opportunities for Economic Development in the month of October.  The Oregon Economic Development Association 2021 conference will kick off virtually on November 8th.