Planning items:

Gunderson Road & Parkland Annexation:  The annexation, comprehensive plan map, and zoning map proposal will be heard by Planning Commission at the May 27 meeting.  This land use item will be heard by the City Council on June 15.  The UGB Expansion related to this same property was continued to the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners meeting on June 3.

Bailey Meadows subdivision: The City Council will hear the proposed revisions to the conditions of approval on May 18, and a decision regarding the Bailey Meadows subdivision appeal is anticipated.

DCA 5G Small Cell code adoption (20-012 DCA): Staff is currently compiling a draft code for presentation to the Planning Commission.  Aiming for a June PC meeting.

McCormick Drive re-zone (19-037 CPA/ZC): After a recommendation of approval with conditions was forwarded by the PC, City Council heard this at their April 20th meeting.  Council approved the requested comp plan map and zone change, which will go into effect on May 20, 2020.

Sandy Vault Storage (19-046 MOD/VAR/DEV): This request for modifications to the previously approved storage facility was heard at the PC meeting on April 27 and was approved with some conditions.  Approval was issued May 1, 2020.

Sandy Community Campus Replat (18-045 MP): Staff is currently working on the final order for this project.

Pleasant Street Master Plan (18-022 CPA):  After a temporary hiatus due to a heavy Planning division workload, staff is re-starting work on this project and currently determining the best route to proceed.  More to come soon.

Design Review:

• Clackamas County Health Clinic (20-014 DR/VAR/DEV/ADJ): This request to construct a new county health facility for Clackamas County Health, Housing & Human Services is currently under review.
• OTSD/Bull Run tree removal (20-014 TREE): A request to remove five trees from the OTSD property on Industrial Way as part of the new Bull Run Electric facility on Industrial Way is currently under review.
• Trillium Machine (19-017 DR/VAR/DEV/TREE): A final order for the request for a new building behind their existing building will be issued in May.
• Sunflower Ave tree removal (20-011 TREE): This request to remove a required retention tree from Sandy Bluff Annex 5 subdivision was approved and issued on April 9, 2020
• Bull Run Terrace (19-050 CPA/ZC/SUB): Staff is working on the staff report and presentation in preparation for the May 27 PC meeting.

Kelly’s Kudos:

I want to thank Marisol Martinez for her commitment to keeping the lights on in Development Services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Marisol has been instrumental in helping business remain close to normal. She has assisted Noryne in City Hall drop box appointments and created a ‘quarantine’ station for items that we recently received from the public. These modifications to our processes have allowed staff to continue processing land use applications and building permits. Thanks, Marisol, for your commitment during this very difficult and challenging time.

Internal projects: 

• Emergency Small Business Assistance Program:  In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development completed the creation of an emergency small grant program to distribute $75,000 in aid to 25 Sandy small businesses in the form of $3K grants.  The program received 109 applications, 73 of which met the stated criteria for acceptance.  We received a lot of thanks from grant applicants for not requiring an abundance of paperwork in order to apply.  While there have been some inquiries by businesses not chosen to receive a grant as to how applications were analyzed (and a couple of disgruntled responses), the reaction to this program has been largely positive.  Thanks to Councilors Lee, Exner and Pietzold, and to SACC Executive Director Khrys Jones and Everfresh CEO Kurt McKnight for serving on the application review work group and helping to choose our grant recipients.
• Dutch Bros:  Construction at this site is edging closer to completion.  The overhead electrical line to Mattress World is scheduled to be undergrounded during the week of May 11, and the undergrounding of the telecom pedestal in the pedestrian right of way in front of the site is complete.  The construction of the building is about 80% complete, and the installation of the required stormwater infrastructure is complete (see picture below) and awaiting Public Works approval.  Remaining to be completed: surface work (blacktop and concrete), Pleasant Street access and landscaping.  The Urban Renewal Agency is paying for the electrical undergrounding (cost: $10,670 + cost of removal of contaminated soil, if necessary) and will contribute $30K through Urban Renewal toward a required stormwater main and some of the streetscape improvements.  The URA also split the cost of the pedestal with Frontier to ensure that it was completed in a timely manner (URA cost: $3,575).

Economic Development items:

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

• AntFarm Youth Services:  We have engaged in two small projects with AFYS during the lockdown period that are both now complete.  The first was to do a small Tenant Improvement project to correct all of the electrical issues creating code issues in both of their buildings – Bull Run Electric was able to get about 8 different small issues completed in one day.  The second was a Façade project to replace the rear doors and widen the rear entrance to the Café so that they meet ADA requirements – a project almost 10 years in the making!  This rear entry is now fully ADA compliant and approved by our Building Official.  Special thanks to Todd Speck at Mt. View Contracting of Sandy for getting this work done quickly for us.

Econ Devl – Internal Projects:

Downtown maintenance:

• Action Center exterior lighting upgrade:  We have a signed Façade contract with the Action Center now, and Bull Run Electric will be installing the new lighting during the week of May 18^th.  This project not only upgrades lighting at this facility to fully dark-skies compliant fixtures – it also resolves a code enforcement complaint from a residential neighbor.
• AntFarm downtown maintenance crew:  Neal and company continue to work on trimming up city street trees on Proctor and Pioneer Boulevards.  Proctor Blvd is largely complete in the couplet; crew is now working on Pioneer Blvd.  We have also renewed AntFarm’s maintenance contract for another full year – this crew has been exceptionally responsive to City needs and requests and is providing us with good value for their work.
• Mountain Moka Building:  Brad Picking has recently contacted us about the possibilities of a façade project to paint this building and make some minor repairs to go along with the new signage he has installed on Proctor Blvd.  Arts Commission Chair Becky Hawley has been working with Brad to secure another mural to the back of his building and has also been helping him with the selection of paint colors.
• PGE power pole streetscape repair work:  Contractors will be out during the week of May 11 to finally repair the pedestrian rights-of-way where their new power poles were installed late last year on Proctor Blvd.  Concrete work is almost complete as this report is being completed, and brick work will complete the repairs later in the week.

Econ Devl – Economic Development Committee:

The scheduled April and May meetings of the Economic Development Committee were cancelled due to the pandemic.  We are currently operating on the assumption that the committee will meet again at our scheduled date in June (Wednesday, June 3^rd), but will re-evaluate as the date gets closer depending on the availability of City facilities.

Econ Devl – Conferences/training:

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no conferences or training opportunities for the foreseeable future.