Planning Department items:

Knollwood Estates tree removal (21-013 TREE):  This request to remove a tree at Knollwood Estates was approved and the final order was issued on April 9^th.

20-032 DCA code changes associated with House Bill 2001 related to duplexes and ADUs: Planning staff held a PC work session regarding HB 2001 on October 26^th.  These proposed code changes were heard by the PC on January 25^th, and by Council at the March 15^th City Council meeting and continued at the April 19^th meeting.  This has been continued on to the May 24^th City Council meeting.

Creekside Loop duplex garage (20-049 ADJ):  Appeal of the appeal of the garage setback adjustment request for the duplex on Creekside Loop (previous appeal to PC was File No. 21-001 AP, and previous staff decision was File No. 20-049 ADJ)  This item is currently scheduled to be heard at the May 17^th City Council meeting.

Leslie Pole Barn 37625 SE Kelso Road (21-005 VAR): This application for a variance to an accessory structure on a residential property has now been deemed incomplete. Staff is currently reviewing the application and putting together the staff report for the May 24^th PC meeting.

Leslie Property Line Adjustment (21-016 PLA):  This is an application for a simple property line adjustment.  Staff is currently reviewing the application and writing the final report.

Downtown Walkability Assessment:  Final edits and review are still in process.  Staff is currently trying to determine timing and best practices for presenting this assessment to Council.

Pleasant Street Master Plan (18-022 CPA):  Planning staff is currently engaging in several rounds of editing and proofreading in preparation for final presentation of this plan to the City Council. 

City of Sandy Comprehensive Plan Update:  Staff is currently finishing up an RFQ to hire a consultant and reviewing the online engagement platform already under contract with the City.

38105 Jonsrud Lane (21-009 FSH):  This request for landscaping and tree removal in the FSH is currently under review by staff.

Next Adventure Phase III Addition (21-006 DR/VAR):  This project has now been deemed complete and is currently under review by staff.

Bull Run Electric Building:  Framing of the building mostly completed.  Anticipating a summer 2021 completion date.

Cedar Creek Heights Subdivision (21-012 SUB TREE FSH): This application for a type II subdivision was originally known as “The Views Plan B”.  Staff has deemed the application complete and are currently reviewing it.

Ten Eyck Rim Subdivision (21-015 SUB/TREE):  This application for a 9 lot subdivision along Ten Eyck between Pleasant and Hood has been deemed incomplete. 

Wells Fargo lighting upgrades (21-007 DR):  This application to upgrade the lighting at the drive-up ATM in the Safeway parking lot has been deemed incomplete by staff.  Waiting on additional information from applicant.

Chase Bank:  This applicant is requesting to install an ATM next to their location on 362nd.  The pre-app is currently being scheduled for late May.

Champion Collision:  This applicant is planning some upgrades to their current building.  The pre-app is currently being scheduled for late May.


Kelly’s Kudos:

This month I would like to say thanks to Jeff Aprati for helping successfully launch the new Municode website.  During my tenure in Sandy, Planning Division staff have always assumed the task of making updates to the Sandy Municipal Code (SMC) documents whenever modifications occur in Title 15 or Title 17.  These modifications to the SMC are time consuming, could lead to errors, and involve staff interpreting ordinances.  Additionally, the old process did not include any easy way to notify the development community or residents when modifications to the SMC occurred.  Mr. Aprati’s work on launching Municode is very appreciated by Development Services staff.

[note: The Economic Development Office would also like to extend our thanks to Mr. Aprati for assuming the responsibility of being the first point of contact for staff with regard to editing the new Municode site.  It has been very helpful to this office to be able to hand off that responsibility to our City Recorder, and he has performed admirably in this role.  Many thanks, Jeff.]

Internal projects: 

• Permanent Outdoor Covered Structures grant program:  This program was given a status review at the April Ec Dev Committee meeting – here is the status of the program as of May 1^st, 2021:
  
  • Ria’s/SFR – Construction is complete! – structure passed final inspection on 5/5/21 pending the completion of the electrical work by subcontractor.  
  • Le Happy –Mt. View Construction has started construction of components of this structure; has already started building the support posts for this structure in his shop as he did with the Ria’s project.
  • Sandlandia – Currently out to bid — bid due date is 5/14. Bidders are Neilson Construction of Sandy, McCord Construction of Gresham and Darwin Buswell Construction of Eagle Creek.
  • Boring Brewing – Currently out to bid – bid due date is 5/26.  Bidders are Neilson Construction of Sandy, McCord Construction of Gresham and Columbia Cascade Construction of Boring.
  • No Place Saloon, Red Shed Public House – waiting on engineering (next due: Red Shed, week of 5/10.  NPS due before end of May)
  • Tollgate Inn – This is a unique project.  Project specifications by business owner called for opaque roof panels for natural light.  We are currently waiting on a design from a contractor that specializes in opaque roof panels for outdoor structures.  We should be receiving a design from this contractor some time in mid-May.
  • Beer Den – This project was cancelled by the business owner – reason unknown.

• Cedar Ridge Demo RFQ:  The Development Services Director and City Manager are continuing their work to refine the scope of work to save costs and plan to meet with Hod Wells of PBS Environmental in this month.

Economic Development items:

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

• Façade project – Old Church on Pioneer Blvd:  The general contractor working on the exterior of the building is still in the final stages of wrapping up this project.  All County Surveyors has completed the design work for the entry path, and this work has been forwarded to Mr. Fleischman along with a scope of work so that he may begin soliciting bids for this work.  He is also having his general contractor build him a new set of wooden stairs for the emergency exit on the west elevation of the building.

Econ Devl – Internal Projects:

Downtown maintenance:

• AF Downtown Maintenance – hiatus ending:  We have started up the AntFarm Downtown Maintenance crew again for 2021.  New Outdoor Programs Manager Max Krieger is going to get the crew started by weeding and cleaning the front of the Sandy Public Library.  Flower baskets should be installed on Wednesday, May 12^th.  As always, if Council members take notice of any specific areas in downtown Sandy that need maintenance attention, please send an email to the Economic Development Manager detailing the issue and we will get it on the schedule for maintenance.
• Smith Building:  The owners of this building have switched realtors; it is now being represented by Tom Giusto of Oregon First.  Mr. Paletti and Mr. Goldenberg are still receiving a fair amount of interest in the building, and the Economic Development Office has been receiving inquiries about this building regularly.  However, potential buyers seem to be seeing a disconnect between the current condition of the building and the asking price.  No offers are on the table at this time that we know of.

Econ Devl – Economic Development Committee:

The April meeting of the Economic Development Committee was held virtually on Wednesday, April 7^th at 6:30 pm.  The meeting began as it always does with Ec Dev Office updates – this month the focus of the updates was on the status of the Covered Structures grant program and some new pandemic-related visitor data from Mt. Hood Territory.  The biggest takeaways from this new data set are as follows:

1. Perceptions about the safety of travel during the pandemic are improving
   1. 57.8% felt unsafe to travel on 1/1/21.
   1. 46.2% felt unsafe to travel on 2/14/21.
   1. This is rapidly trending downward.
2. Clackamas Co. citizens are starting to feel positive about marketing our area again.
3. American’s next leisure trip – most noted reasons:
   1. #1 response – Outdoor recreation (50.3%)
   1. #3 response – Connect with nature (45.5%)
   1.  We are well positioned to take advantage of post-pandemic travel

Following these updates, the committee was given a presentation by Shelley Denison about the need for economic development input in Sandy’s Comprehensive Plan, a request for the EDC to provide the conduit for this input and some examples of how other cities have incorporated economic development into their comprehensive plans.  We were finally joined by Joey Gambino of Rogue Fabrication at the end to discuss light manufacturing businesses – why they’re important for the community (living wage jobs, lower impact than you think) and how to think about recruiting more of these types of businesses in the future – before running out of time.  Mr. Gambino will be invited to the next meeting to continue our conversation.

Econ Devl – Conferences/training:

There were no conferences or training opportunities for Economic Development in the month of April.