WINTER 2018 Building Department Report

This Winter’s building activity has been productive, and kept the Sandy Building Department busy.

The Oregon Trail School District has completed the interior conversion of the Old Sandy High School (Pioneer Building) and moved the Cedar Ridge Middle School into the building. The school was given a temporary occupancy at Thanksgiving, but did not receive the Formal Approval for Occupancy of the 1^st floor level until January.  (The uppers floor level halls, and rooms were not included in the scope of work other than to provide automatic fire-sprinkler protection of the entire building complex.)

Other notable projects this winter include the new WENDY’s Restaurant was completed in January.  And NEXT ADVENTURE opened in time for Christmas skiing.   Ron Hughes’ 9-unit apartment building on Tupper Hill is completely shelled in, dry and sheet-rocked.  The SANDY FIRE STATION has turned out to be more complex and progressed slower than everyone anticipated.  But the site has shaped up wonderfully.

Residential construction has slowed during the winter, but remains steady with February’s report showing 65 current residential dwelling permits — of which 36 are Townhomes. Palladian Group tops the list with 27 single family townhomes being constructed in Champion Village, and National Development has almost completed 9 townhouses near Tickle Creek.   The Zion Meadows subdivision are nearly all filled.  Raze Custom Homes, D. A. Gray Ltd., Richard Haggerty, and Matt Stott Construction have19 homes currently under construction.  And Colby Custom Construction, Tom Orr Construction, SKS Construction, Ron Haggerty and Vanport Builders are creating 10 other quality homes in Sandy.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Building Department,
Terrence Gift, Building Official

Planning issues: 

Sandyplace Apartments – house demolitions:  Two homes were demolished in January at this site as part of the run up to construction of this new 138 unit complex.  The department is very close to issuing both the grading & erosion control permit and the site utilities permit.

U.S. Metals Works/Student Transportation of America:  Planning is mid-process on a parking lot design review for the USMW site so that Student Transportation of America can properly park their buses there.  This application also includes the construction of four more buildings on site.  The application has been submitted and fees have been paid – the department is performing a completeness check on the application, and will process the review after that is complete.  Then it will go to the Planning Commission for approval.

Internal projects:

Department rebranding and expansion:  The Planning & Building Department has changed its name to Development Services.  This name is a little more all-encompassing of the department’s function, and avoids the confusion between Community Services and “Community Development”, which is a commonly-used name for planning departments in other cities and counties.

Also, the Economic Development department is now a part of Development Services.  Dave and Angie (our webmaster/photography intern) will now report directly to the Development Services Director.  This will give Development Services three internal divisions: Planning, Building and Economic Development.

Website updates:  The department continues to work on an overhaul to the Development Services website and making information more accessible and easier to find.  In the last month, we have completed the following tasks:

• The municipal code section of the website has been reformatted so that each chapter is an individual .pdf document complete with active internal links, instead of the entire code being stored as one master .pdf. This will make editing the SMC much, much easier in the future.
• Individual pages continue to be added to the Planning section as planning functions begin to develop – this includes adding parks planning information, an updated development review page with more maps, the urban renewal master plan & annual report and more.
• We are also eliminating multiple link/info posting, reorganizing information and trying to make the section more intuitive.

Pleasant St. Master Plan/Downtown Walkability Plan:

• Pleasant St. Master Plan: Public input surveys are live until the beginning of March (136 received so far).  Stakeholder interviews are complete with a couple of exceptions.  PSMP Open House is on March 14^th at the Sandy Public Library’s Community Room between 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM—Council presence would be greatly appreciated.
• Downtown Walkability Plan: Public input surveys are live until the beginning of March (116 received so far). In process of finalizing the analysis criteria; this will be complete by the end of February.  Pop up mapping (pre-determined location where interactive maps will be set up and user input encouraged.

Façade Program & Public Infrastructure (current projects): 

• Sandy City Hall – Admin: Bids requested (two positive responses so far)
• Sandy City Hall – Stairs: Top landing and concrete rails installed – project delayed due to sub-zero temperatures.  Will resume in March.
• Double Dragon: Waiting for city architect input. (drawings, cost estimates)
• Joe’s Donuts: Waiting for clear weather to paint roof – otherwise complete.

Enforcement Letters – We sent numerous enforcement letters in the last few weeks including letters to Walgreens & Verizon concerning exterior wood that needs to be refinished, the Hobby Shop building owner recognizing the need to paint the building, the Betty T building owner stating mildew issues on the exterior surfaces needs to be resolved, and numerous other property issues. Some of the downtown buildings that received facade money in the past are not properly maintaining the buildings. We are making sure that money spent by the Urban Renewal Agency on private property is not wasted through inadequate maintenance. We are now working with an architect to find an alternative solution to the fabric awnings on the Double Dragon that were partially paid with urban renewal funds. The awnings are covered with mildew and are starting to rip apart.

New Subdivision – On January 10 we received another land use application (Sandy Bluff Annex 6) for a subdivision that exceeds 40 lots in the Sandy Bluff neighborhood. This is located on property that was recently included in the UGB expansion and then annexed into the city by ordinance. Planning will soon be reviewing the application for completeness and then determining hearing dates at Planning Commission to review the subdivision which contains numerous variances.

Pre-application Meetings – In the month of January we are meeting with three separate land owners for subdivision proposals. The first subdivision is a 32 lot subdivision on Jacoby Road to the south of Timberline Estates that would accommodate single family homes. This property was recently included in the UGB expansion and then annexed into the city by ordinance. The second subdivision is a 16 lot subdivision on Hood Street to the north of the Sandy Police Station that would accommodate attached single family homes. The third subdivision is a 52 lot subdivision that would include apartments at the terminus of Dubarko Road on the lot formally approved for the Vista Loop South subdivision.

Sandyplace Apartments – Formally known as the Sandy Heights Apartments and recently approved by Planning Commission this apartment complex seems to be moving forward. The Building Department issued demolition permits for the two houses on the property and we are working with the land owner to finalize grading and erosion control permits. The 138-unit apartment complex should assist in fulfilling the lack of available rental units in the Sandy area.

Vacant Platted, Tentative Platted, & Expired Lots – Every quarter we calculate the remaining vacant platted lots, the tentative platted lots, and the subdivisions that have expired. We issued permits for 10 new residential structures over the past three months. City Townhomes and Mairin’s Viewpoint were tentatively approved to increase the potential lots in Sandy by 12. We are currently reviewing 6 house permits in Champion Village and just issued 6 other house permits. Part of the reason we issued less permits the last few months is there are not many lots available to develop. I anticipate the 27 lots in Pioneer Meadows being platted in the first half of 2018. Here is the list: Platted and Tentative Lots List 12_31_17 updated on January 3, 2018

Sandy Heights Apartment (now known as Sandyplace)

On November 13, 2017 the Planning Commission unanimously approved the Sandyplace Apartments with conditions as recommended by staff. The apartment complex will have 138 dwelling units and two visitor short-term rentals. The apartments will feature a pool facility, a sports court, and several other amenities. The developer is now moving forward with grading permits and house demolition permits for two single family homes that need to be removed.

Cedar Ridge Middle School

On November 17, 2017 we issued a temporary certificate of occupancy to the OTSD for the new Cedar Ridge Middle School campus. We are still working with the OTSD on completing all of the items to receive final certificate of occupancy, but so far the school district has been great to work with on achieving our desired deadlines. The new campus looks wonderful and I am sure will be a key asset in Sandy for years to come.

Bus Parking Facility

As some of you have probably noticed the new OTSD bus service provider, Student Transportation of America (STA), is using a parking area on the U.S. Metal Works site. Planning staff has been working with both STA and U.S. Metal Works on allowing the bus parking on gravel surface while a permanent paved solution is completed. U.S. Metal Works has submitted a land use application for the permanent paved parking surface with stormwater detention and treatment facilities.

Tree Removal in Sandy for 2017

So far in 2017 we have processed 91 tree removal requests for trees 11 DBH or greater. This does not include tree removals at the Sandyplace apartments, Cashatt apartments, several subdivisions, trees removed from the right-of-way or trees illegally removed. While retention trees per the code was a great first step in tree preservation staff is finding that our current retention program has flaws. Staff will be researching new ways to preserve trees, including creating additional preservation easements in new subdivisions and acquiring more tracts with higher volumes of trees.

New Employee in City Hall

The new associate planner, James Cramer, is starting work on December 18, 2017. He will be helping with planning objectives, sign permitting, managing parks planning and the Parks Board, managing capital improvement projects in our parks, and other duties as needed. This addition to the Planning and Building Department is much needed and we are excited for him to join the team.

Sandy Heights Apartment Complex: The 138-unit apartment complex was recently noticed to surrounding property owners and we have been receiving some inquiries. This apartment complex is approximately double the size of the next largest apartment complex in the City of Sandy. While quite large, the developer has produced similar complexes in the Portland region including the StonePlace Apartments in Molalla that are a crown jewel to that community. While our department understands the hesitancy to the apartment complex we are fairly confident the developer will construct a quality multi-family complex.

Warnock Industrial Building: Staff is currently reviewing a 5,000 square foot industrial building for the expansion of Advanced Plastics (located in the industrial hole to the south of Safeway). This new industrial building will cleanup the existing site and provide more employment to the growing industrial sector in Sandy.

Tickle Creek Terrace: The first seven townhouses in the Tickle Creek Terrace subdivision have been completed and are occupied. Upon full completion of the project this subdivision will house 15 new townhouses. One of the main features about that developments is the amazing proximity to the east Tickle Creek trailhead and other park opportunities.

Pleasant Street Masterplan and Walkability Plan: On September 11th we welcomed our newest team member, Emma Porricolo, to our staff. Emma will be assisting the Planning and Building staff over the next 11 months with downtown master planning and other planning objectives as we define are necessary throughout Sandy. We are excited for her to join our staff through the RARE (Resource Assistance for Rural Environments) program.

The National Walking Summit: I just attended the National Walking Summit on September 13^th-15^th in St. Paul, MN. The conference was spectacular and staff has been forwarded a number of idea and initiatives to implement in Downtown Sandy. While Sandy has improved in areas of walkability and providing ‘third place design’ this conference reiterated that we still have a long ways to go to design complete streets and a vibrant downtown corridor.

New Tupper Hill Apartments (9/7/17)

RARE Americorps – On June 12, 2017 we were informed that we will receive a RARE Americorps employee for the upcoming school year (September 2017 – July 2018). RARE Americorps pays for half of the position, while the City of Sandy matches ($22k) to fund the position. We will be conducting interviews next week for the position. The RARE will work on the Pleasant Street Master Plan, the downtown walkability plan, and a few smaller planning projects. We are excited to welcome another person to our Planning/Building team.