Author Archives: koneill

May – Planning and Building

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PLANNING
On June 2, 2017 we received confirmation from the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) that the Sandy UGB Expansion was approved. On June 9 Planning staff sent notices to all property owners affected by this change congratulating them on being included in the revised UGB boundary. This is a monumental task that takes some communities well over a decade to accomplish. After much consideration we mutually decided with our new permitting software host that for the best transition we would not launch our software in June. Our staff discovered numerous errors with the software setup in regards to our fee schedule. We are actively renegotiating a new Go Live date, but it will most likely not occur until fall of 2017.

Planning Commission is being held on June 27th and will include three land use applications. Below is a brief summary of each application:

Cashatt Apartments – Cashatt Construction Inc. submitted an application to construct five (5) apartment units on the 0.35 acre property located at 38262 Hood Street. The project will include two buildings, one with three attached units and a second with two attached units. Each unit will be two stories and includes an attached garage and private back patio area. The proposal includes an application for a conditional use permit to allow stand alone multi-family housing in the Central Business District (C-1) zone.

Birdsong Retaining Wall – Ramsey LLC submitted an application for a variance to increase the height and length of the retaining wall to be constructed as part of the Birdsong Subdivision development at 19550 and 19404 Arletha Court. Construction of a 4 foot to 8 foot retaining wall was previously approved (16-039 SUB/VAR). The applicant is applying for a Type III variance to increase the maximum height of the retaining wall to 13 feet 4 inches, with a maximum wall reveal of 12 feet. The length of the approved retaining wall was 192 linear feet, but the length of the newly proposed wall is approximately 298 feet. 

Tankersley Hardship Permit – The owners of 16950 Hoffman Avenue submitted an application for a hardship permit. The proposal is to allow a thirty foot trailer to be parked in the back yard of the subject property for the purposes of a hardship trailer as set forth in Chapter 17.70 of the Development Code. The trailer will be occupied by the applicant’s 82 year old mother so that the applicant can better help with her mother’s care needs.

BUILDING OFFICIAL UPDATE
“Spring seems to be flying by quickly for the Sandy Building Department, due in large part to the increased building activity. Residential has been largely dominated with townhouses, while commercial projects have been varied and busy. With the completion of the new Goodwill building, the renovation of the Old Sandy High School (Pioneer Building) has become the largest project in Sandy. Another special project is the opening of the new Wolf Pack Theater in the Argue Building at 39570 Pioneer. Equally interesting is the activity at the new Sandlandia Food Court, and the Facade improvements to the Shell Station across the street. Finally, approval for occupancy was given to the new location for La Bamba Restaurant. It has made a very noticeable improvement to the Pleasant Street commercial district.

Residential construction remains steady with a tally of 56 active residential dwelling permits in May. Palladian Group leads with 21 single family town homes being constructed in Champion Village (behind Sandy Cinema) and many more about to begin. National Development is constructing new 7 townhouses near Tickle Creek, and excavation completed for 7 more. And the Zion Meadows subdivision is being very active with Raze Custom Homes, D. A. Gray, and Richard Haggerty currently working on 14 homes combined. Lastly, Vanport Builders is nearly completed with their model house, and is nearing finish stages of their second.” – Terre Gift

URBAN RENEWAL
Staff has been working with the owner of Next Adventure (formally the location of Winter Fox) to upgrade the building and site. As part of the ingress/egress improvements to the building the urban renewal district is contributing funds to increase the width of the sidewalk and install two tree wells. This sidewalk improvement will help improve the street presence of the building and the new walkway from the new front porch. See the second picture below.

Timberline Meats – June 7

Next Adventure – June 7

Champion Village – June 7

April – Planning and Building

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PLANNING AND BUILDING
On April 24, 2017 the Planning Department welcomed our newest member, Emily Meharg. Emily is filling the vacant position of associate planner and learning quickly. Our department is very happy to have Emily, not only for her glowing personality, but to assist with the high volume of pre-application meetings and what sounds like a multitude of land use applications for apartments and subdivisions coming our way. There are also a handful of excited property owners waiting for the anticipated UGB Expansion so they may request annexation.

Speaking of the anticipated UGB expansion. Also on April 24, 2017 we received confirmation from the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) that the Sandy UGB Expansion is being processed. DLCD staff states they hope to have a decision regarding the expansion in the next few months.

The month of April included the issuance of 10 permits for new houses. This brings the total of new houses permitted in Sandy to 18 for the first four months of the year. The building department has also been busy with the conversion of the Pioneer Building to the new Cedar Ridge Middle School and with other commercial property upgrades and conversions.

Just as a reminder we are launching our new permitting software, Energov, on June 6th. This permitting software will eliminate the need for Microsoft Access (building permits) and Excel (planning applications) tracking lists for our departments. The permitting software will enable all permits, land use applications, and code enforcement cases to be linked to ArcGIS by address. The ArcGIS mapping system will also enable staff to link important deadlines, documents, and agreements to individual properties, thus assisting the reliance on institutional knowledge. In the future this permitting software will also feature a ‘citizen access portal’ that will allow contractors and developers to submit permits/applications on-line, request inspections on-line, and tract their submittal items.

URBAN RENEWAL

A few of the projects using facade grant money are now nearly complete, including the La Bamba restaurant on Pleasant Street and the Timberline Meats Market at Proctor Blvd. and Beers Ave. Both of these projects are looking fantastic and once again prove the value of a successful urban renewal facade program. The Shell gas station at the west end of the couplet also received facade grant money as is evident from the application of the stone base being applied to the building. Other projects receiving funding that are welcomed additions to the Sandy Style color palette include Scooter’s Bar & Grill, and the soon to be upgraded Muff multi-tenant building (i.e. the location formally housing the Tamale Factory and Tovar’s Automotive). The fire station also received facade grant money.

The ad hoc facade grant review committee that will review all projects exceeding a project cost of $50k has been formed. Members include Bill King, Ron Lesowski, Khrys Jones, David Snider, and myself. This committee consists of two business owners, a business liaison, and two staff members.

Shell Station stone work

Fire Station remodel

March 2017 – Planning and Building

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The Planning and Building Department is working expediently to move the La Bamba restaurant project on Pleasant Street and the Sandlandia food cart pod on Pioneer Blvd. forward. Both projects have been a long time coming and we are eager to help these business establishments succeed. Construction season is in full swing and we are seeing more building permits submitted than occurred over the winter. The Zion Meadows subdivision which was just platted in March already has building permits submitted for 13 of the 43 lots.

Platted Lots List:

The Planning Department has been tracking platted and tentative platted lots since the beginning of 2015. The number of buildable single family home lots in the city of Sandy was depleted until the recent additions of Zion Meadows and Fleischman Estates 3; however, with the hot market in the Portland Metro area the available lots inventory is expected to be depleted once again by this fall. See the following list describing platted lots, tentative platted lots, and expired subdivision lots:

Platted and Tentative Lots List 3_31_17 updated on April 11, 2017

1st Quarter Building Official Report:

“March 2017 saw more progress at the Sandy Fire Station remodel.  Underground utilities and more footings were poured to support the large steel columns and framework for the seismic upgrade.  The first shipment of the steel framework has arrived and is being staged in the open training yard. The project manager for Skyward Construction, Rick Courtney, says the project is still on schedule for completion before this winter, in spite the above average rain fall.  The concrete floor will be poured by the end of April.

Residential items worth noting for March, is that the Tickle Creek Subdivision is nearly built out.  The first of Palladian Group’s town-houses in the Champion Village Subdivision are at finish trim stages.  However, the quality of the plans were deficit, so future plans for 3 more groups of town-houses in the Champion Village are being revised and readied for submittal.  And Jim Raze Custom Homes has several more plans for new homes in Zion Meadows that were submitted in the first week of April.

Four Commercial projects were permitted in March.  The remodel of the old Sandy High School complex is in full swing.   Additional complex plumbing and structural challenges have been revealed that is adding greatly to the project costs.   We expect even more will be revealed in the weeks ahead.

One last item that is worthy of mention is how the Planning and Building Department has successfully gone thru a recent transition.   Staff quickly adapted and have fully supported Kelly as he stepped up and went above and beyond the call of duty to keep the departments running smoothly.  Congratulations Mr. Kelly O’Neill on a job done well.”

La Bamba (April 11th)

Sandlandia (April 11th)

February 2017 – Planning & Building Report

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As you are all aware the Planning and Building Department has underwent a major change in leadership. As a group we are excited about the future and hopeful to meet (if not exceed) your expectations for the business community and existing/future residents. We are introducing a new community oriented planning/building approach that is focused on assisting applicants and finding creative solutions to issues. The goal is to have Planning and Building Department staff working in coordination with the community, not from the assumption of a one size fits all approach. Over the coming months we anticipate a rejuvenated business community that feels welcome in City Hall and feels Planning and Building Department staff is here to assist, not impede.

The department plans to hire an associate planner in the next few months and move forward with an internship to help with master planning this summer. Noryne Robinson has been reclassified as a Permit Technician II and Rebecca Casey is becoming a full-time employee to assist with the increasing workload of the department

Future Projects:

Pleasant Street Master Plan – A Council goal is to complete the Pleasant Street Master Plan this next biennium. Planning staff will be engaging the community on a visioning process and hiring a consultant and intern to assist in the creation of the Pleasant Street Master Plan. This project is exciting and will be done in coordination with the future development of the Community Center on Pleasant Street. I also want to include realignment of Shelley Avenue/Alt Avenue in the plan. Much more to come on this project starting in early summer.

Code Revisions – We are planning on code revisions to numerous sections of the municipal code and development code. Modifications to the sign code, annexation provisions, residential design standards, and fence/retaining wall standards are just to name a few.

Rezone Parkland – We are planning on rezoning some of the existing parkland in Sandy to the Parks and Open Space (POS) designation. This modification will clean up the zoning map, but more importantly will streamline modifications to the parks for the Community Services Director.

Consolidate the I-3 and I-2 zones – We are anticipating a major modification to the I-3 zoning district. Again, this is a Council goal. I anticipate some push back from ODOT, but making this change before any I-3 zoned property is within the city limits will limit the TPR (Transportation System Planning) findings the City is required to conduct.

Annexation of Cedar Ridge Campus – Staff will propose annexation of the fields to the north of Cedar Ridge Middle School this summer once the UGB Expansion is complete.

Other Projects:
-Update the hillside overlay and FSH Overlay mapping layers for the new property in the expanded UGB area.
-Annex Islands as directed by City Council.
-Implement fee modifications if necessary.

Recent Planning Action:

UGB Expansion – On February 27, 2017 the Clackamas County Planning Commission forwarded their recommendation to approve our UGB Expansion to the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners. On March 15, 2017 the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners will review the City of Sandy UGB Expansion. Planning staff is hopeful the Board will adopt the expansion so we can move forward with sending ‘the record’ to DLCD for state acknowledgement. We anticipate that the director of DLCD will acknowledge the UGB Expansion in the next few months. I have already heard from several landowners within the expansion area who will be requesting annexation this summer.

Energov Permit Software – Sometime in May or early June our department will be launching new permit software for both Planning and Building permitting. The software has the capability to link with GIS to track data and will allow for remote inspections. Eventually this software will also contain a citizen access portal that will enable residents, contractors, and other applicants to submit applications online. Staff is excited to launch this system and join the 21st Century. That being said there will be a learning curve and unanticipated hurdles just like any new software.

New Subdivisions – Zion Meadows was platted on March 6, 2017 providing another 43 lots for single family homes. We are already receiving building permits for houses within the subdivision and are anticipating a flood of activity within the subdivision this spring. Fleischman Estates 3 (4 lots) and View Point (6 lots) are also close to plat recording. I expect all 53 lots in these three subdivisions to most likely be built by year end. Birdsong subdivision (39 lots) and Pioneer Meadows (28 lots) are also expected to move forward in the near future.

Pre-Application Meetings – We have been processing a number of pre-application meetings in the last few weeks ranging from a 156 unit apartment complex at Sandy Heights Street and Bluff Road to new industrial development on Ruben Lane (i.e. Freightway Lane). I anticipate a hot planning year filled with many exciting projects.

Tickle Creek Terrace

Timberline Meats