Planning Department items: 

Comprehensive Plan Update:  After two years of visioning sessions, public outreach, citizen involvement and incorporating the hard work of city staff, 3J Consulting of Beaverton has delivered a first draft of the 2050 Sandy Comprehensive Plan for review and comment.  Staff is currently assisting 3J with a final content review of the draft document before a final version of the plan is prepared for City Council review.  Further versions after amendments and our approval schedule have not yet been confirmed.

Sign code modifications:  The City of Sandy sign code regulations were last revised in 2011. Staff asked the Planning Commission to discuss the proposed code modifications and provide staff with suggested modifications for the City Council to consider.  Since Chapter 15.32 is outside Title 17 of the Sandy Municipal Code, the Planning Commission will not hold a legislative hearing on this code modification, but instead it will advance directly to the City Council.  On April 22, 2024, the Planning Commission held a work session to discuss the proposed modifications and provided staff with some input.

AntFarm – Farmer’s Market lot:  AntFarm has just set their summer Farmers Market schedule which is expected to grow significantly as summer goes on.  In anticipation, AntFarm has petitioned the City to close down Scales Avenue once again to add more booths and vendors while the market is open (2pm to 7pm) on Fridays.  Their request to temporarily close Scales Avenue on Friday afternoons from mid-May to mid-October will go before City Council at their regular meeting on May 6 for a decision.   They have also accommodated several different spring events at the Farmer’s Market lot in 2024 — the City approved two separate Saturday plant sales in April for different groups fundraising for their respective causes. 

The property owner has also started the process of removing the concrete barriers at the corners of the lot by removing the blocks at the SE corner of the lot.  Although this is a general code compliance request, staff has set this as a low priority item due to the difficulty involved in removing the blocks (requires heavy equipment) and has not given them a deadline.  The new vinyl tent that they purchased for the market (with a significant contribution from Sandy City Hall) is now assembled on site.  First market:  May 17th.

Moratorium update:  After months of negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the City of Sandy was allocated an additional 270 ERUs.  These 270 ERUs are in addition to the 300 ERUs that were originally granted under the Consent Decree in June 2023, providing a new total of 570 ERUs.  Since June 20, 2023, the City has distributed 45 ERUs to construction projects in Sandy, leaving a remainder of 525 ERUs available as of April 30, 2024.

It is important to note that these additional ERUs will be allocated almost entirely to development projects that have already received land use approval. While this enables development projects with existing land use approvals to proceed with construction, it does not provide for the submission of new land use applications with an additional sanitary sewer connection or an increase in sanitary sewer flows through an existing connection.

Based on this provision of 270 additional ERUs from EPA and DEQ, City staff drafted a new replacement sanitary sewer moratorium resolution for the City Council’s consideration. This new resolution includes several significant changes, including but not limited to: increased ERU numbers; allowance for zone change requests; terms and conditions for the limited transfer of ERUs; and an ERU allocation program for properties with an existing land use approval. The negotiations with EPA and DEQ also resulted in conditional provision of an extra 190 ERUs in the future, contingent upon the City completing additional sanitary sewer system improvements.

Land Use Approval Extension Ordinance: City staff believes it is just and equitable to allow for the extension of the expiration date of land use applications that were submitted prior to the adoption of the sanitary sewer moratorium in October of 2022. Allowing extension of such land use applications will stimulate responsible and needed development activity in the city of Sandy to the extent possible under the consent decree and moratoria, help address the state’s current housing crisis, enable property owners to recoup their investments, and reduce the amount of staff time necessary to review these projects again if land use approvals were to expire and new approvals would be required.

On April 22, 2024, the Planning Commission held a legislative public hearing to consider the extension ordinance.  The Planning Commission received public testimony and discussed a few modifications that could be considered to the ordinance.  Based on testimony it was the Planning Commission’s understanding that some of the developments with approval may need a two-year extension to satisfy their lenders and to construct the project.  In response to the testimony and Planning Commission’s desire to create an equitable and just process, staff provided a few options to allow developers to request a two-year extension.  The Planning Commission liked the options as presented by staff and requested that staff and the City Attorney add an additional section to the draft ordinance for a two-year extension option.

Development Services Code enforcement items: 

• Code Enforcement closed 31 cases in April. 
• 2 citations were issued to one property owner with violations to development code, building code, sign code, and business licensing code.
• 64 Businesses operating without a business license for 2024 were brought into compliance in March and April with 2 failing to comply. Citations are pending if compliance is not achieved by deadlines in May.
• Code Enforcement has 3 open Junk Accumulation cases and closed 4 cases in April including the self-abatement of appliances, junk vehicles, vegetation debris, construction supplies, and rubbish from residential and business properties.