Quarterly Building Department Report – Summer 2018: 

Summer 2018 finally arrived in Sandy after back-and-forth spring weather between wet and cold to sunshine and heat.  So far, this year’s building season has been very good for excavation and building.  At the end of July, Sandy’s Building Department has 73 Active Residential Dwelling Permits.  And 13 permits were issued for commercial work in July that valued at total $2.7M.  At the end of July, the total construction value of permitted work for the first half of 2018 is nearly $16M.

Multi-family projects include the following:

• Sandy Heights Apartments has poured foundations for the first 4 apartment buildings. Framing has begun on Apartment Buildings 1 and 2.
• Ron Hughes completed framing and siding of the garages for his new 9 unit complex on Tupper Hill.
• Vista Loop Apartments has been laying underground utilities and excavating in preparation for foundation work.

Other projects include:

• Palladian’s CHAMPION VILLAGE Townhomes are moving forward again with newly revised building plans and engineering to match. Palladian currently has 33 active townhouse permits.
• The SANDY HEIGHTS APARTMENTS project started off at a quick pace with site work and underground utilities. The plans submitted by the contractor for the first 5 of 13 building plans were in need of revisions to which has slowed the permitting and building a bit.  But IE Construction is working to provide plans must match the actual buildings they are constructing.
• NEXT ADVENTURE has submitted plans to building a 2-story storage building behind their store.
• And finally, the handsome, newly remodeled, SANDY FIRE STATION has been approved for occupancy! Occupancy is conditional that final reports and other non-safety items be completed by the end of August.

Now for a topic that is rarely mentioned, but is a common problem that all Building Departments deal with every year – HOME OWNERS DOING CONSTRUCTION WORK WITHOUT PERMITS.   As our City continues to grow, we are seeing a proportional number of these problems.   Planning and Building department staff have been looking at solutions.   We welcome input from our community and stakeholders.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Building Department,

Terrence Gift, Building Official

Planning items: 

Jacoby Heights Subdivision:  Review for this 31 lot subdivision at 19124 Jacoby is finished and was deemed incomplete.

Bloom Annexation:  A Type A Annexation for a parcel totaling approximately 12.84 acres has been applied for. The proposal is set to go to the August 27 Planning Commission and the September 17 City Council hearings for consideration.  The applicant proposes to zone the property to Single Family Residential (SFR) and Low Density Residential (LDR) within the Sandy Comprehensive Plan Map.

Sandlandia Food Cart Pod:  We are processing the application for a new cart called Teresa’s Home Cooking – currently waiting for information from Clackamas County Health Department.

Pioneer Meadows:  The first six townhouses are almost complete. This subdivision will include a total of 27 townhouses when complete. No more houses can be constructed until the second lift of asphalt is installed on the streets inside the subdivision (University Avenue and College Street).

Thomsen property (Hwy 211 btwn Bornstedt Village and Snowberry):  The owners of this property met with Planning in a pre-application meeting to change the zoning of the C-3 Village Commercial section of their property to R-2.  Pre-application meeting is complete.

Sandy Community Campus Street Vacation: The city of sandy has petitioned to vacate portions of Alt Avenue, Smith Avenue, Hood Street and Park Street.  The total area proposed to be vacated is 72,085 square feet.  Should the proposal be approved, OTSD and Sandy will both be re-plated to make clear the different parcels.  The case is scheduled for the August 27 Planning Commission and the September 17 City Council hearings for consideration.

Sandyplace Apartments:  The second retaining wall for this project was deemed incomplete.  Waiting on mailing labels to do required notification.

Mountain View Ridge (formerly Birdsong Subdivision):  Grading in process.  See below.

Sandy Bluff Annex 6 (a.k.a. Sandy Woods):  The approved subdivision renamed Sandy Woods from Sandy Bluff 6 has broken ground by clearing the approved right-of-ways and easement land. Staff completed a site visit with developers to discuss additional tree retention and expect to hear back from them soon to determine additional trees to be retained.

O’Reilly Auto Parts:  Working on final order for design review.  Should be complete sometime within the next couple of weeks.

Jiffy Lube:  Final order was issued with regard to their new trash/recycling enclosure was issued on August 9th.

Other large reviews being conducted:

• Jewelberry Ridge: Planning Commission approved this 9 unit subdivision at their June 25^th  Final order was issued on July 12.
• US Metal Works: This project is approved.  Staff is working with owners on getting SDCs paid and completing paperwork.
• TSC, Inc.: This project on the Benson property was brought before Planning Commission at meeting on July 30.  Final order is in progress.

Other large reviews being submitted soon:

• Regional coffee retailer: We had another pre-application meeting with a potential franchisee that seemed to go well, but we have not heard back from them since the pre-app on May 31.  This property has a challenging footprint for development, especially considering that their business model calls for locating a drive-thru on this irregular shaped lot.

Internal projects:

• Pleasant Street Master Plan: Staff has reentered into our contract with AECOM to work on a new design for Alt Avenue that does not include the concept to realign the road.  Staff will engage important stakeholders during the design process. We will be working within the existing Alt Avenue right-of-way to accomplish the original goals of the realignment – to recap:
  • Improve the safety of Alt Ave./Proctor Blvd. intersection
  • Improve pedestrian accessibility along Alt Ave
  • Create a visually appealing entryway to Pleasant Street.

Emily will be the new point of contact for the Pleasant Street Master Plan.  Since Planning Staff is already very busy, the completion date for the master plan is unknown at this time.

• Downtown Walkability Assessment: The Downtown Walkability Assessment is in its final stages – staff is currently drafting the final report.  Kelly will be the new project lead for the Downtown Walkability Assessment.   Since Development Services staff are extremely busy right now, the completion date for this assessment is unknown at this time.
• PetSafe Dog Park Grant: Announcements of grant recipients are scheduled for August 2018 so we should hear soon whether we received the $5,000 grant Planning applied for.
• Sadly, Ms. Porricolo is leaving the City of Sandy to pursue a job as an Assistant Planner at Angelo Planning Group, a small planning firm in downtown Portland. She will be working on current planning, entitlements, housing needs assessments, and more.  She tells us she has loved working at the City of Sandy, and that it has been a great community to work for and be member of.  We will miss her dearly, and hope she considers pursuing a career on the public side of the planning world in the future.

Economic Development items:

Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):

• Promotional City images, Round 2: A couple of years ago, I hired a professional photographer out of Sandy (UT) to do some photography around downtown Sandy and some of our more photogenic sites (SHS, Tickle Creek Trail, Meinig Park) for use with the City’s website and other promotional forums (social media, brochures, public reports, etc.)  This photographer is coming back in August for another round of promo shots.  This time we will focus more on public facilities and tourist attractions like Sandy Ridge, but we can take shots of anything we need images of.  Send me an email if you have suggestions.  [PS: this photo shoot provided all of the background images currently showing on cityofsandy.com]
• Joe’s Donuts: We have a reimbursement check ready to go and the Vargos have been contacted.  By the time you read this, we will have completed a small ceremony here at City Hall to allow Mayor King present them with the check and to have some photos taken (and hopefully a story written) for the Post.  Stage two of this project will begin shortly…
• Next Adventure: Construction has begun on the two-story Sandy Style storage building behind the current retailer.  When complete, this will be their rental equipment facility and will expand store capabilities by orders of magnitude.
• Regional coffee chain: We have a regional coffee chain that has been interested in Sandy for years that has taken concrete steps toward developing one of our downtown infill lots.  The plan is still evolving, but the prospects for development look pretty good right now.  Watch this space.

Econ Devl – Internal Projects:

• Downtown maintenance:
  • Defunct paper boxes: Found another one at the Sandy Post Office. Casey from the Parks Department is going to remove it in the next few weeks and send it to recycling with all of the others.  If you know of any others within city limits, please send an email to me with the location and I will make it disappear.

• The new AntFarm downtown maintenance contract is in effect. You should begin to see a noticeable difference in the condition of the public rights-of-way in the couplet.  If there are particular areas of downtown that you would like to see them focus on, shoot me an email and let me know.
• By the time most of you read this, the small pool annex building and that horrid play structure behind Bignall Pool will be torn down and removed by our friends at Konell Construction and Demolition. We are also planning to take the back building of Cedar Ridge (where SandyNet is currently located) off of the boiler system altogether and look at other options for heating and cooling that building.  The sidewalks around the pool parking lot will be touched up by our new maintenance crew shortly as well.

• Clackamas County Tourism’s Community Partnership Program grant:
  • Jonsrud Viewpoint: Auto-turn report is currently being worked on.  “Curb-shaving” will be the final step in the project, but N8 Excavation cannot start on that phase until the auto-turn report is complete and shows the pinch points.  We will also be adding some signage from ClackCo Tourism and our own signage (right out only for busses – we used to have some “R out only for buses) signs up at the exit that got removed at some point that we will need to recreate)
  • Meinig Park Entry Arch: This project has stalled out a little bit due to that fact that we are really busy right now.  Will probably schedule this for autumn when Meinig Park is being used a little bit less than it is now.

Econ Devl – Conferences/training:

• Nothing this month.

Planning items: 

Jacoby Heights Subdivision:  We received an application for a 31 lot subdivision at 19124 Jacoby and are in the process of reviewing it for completeness.

Sandlandia Food Cart Pod:  We received a request for a second tent to provide covered seating area, and the request was approved.  Final order issued July 10^th.

Pioneer Meadows:  The first six townhouses are being constructed to the east of the Fir Hill Cemetery and south of the Sandy High School athletic fields. This subdivision will include a total of 27 townhouses when complete. No more houses can be constructed until the second lift of asphalt is installed on the streets inside the subdivision (University Avenue and College Street).

Mountain View Ridge (formerly Birdsong Subdivision):  This subdivision to the west of Bornstedt Park and towards the end of Arletha Court is currently being graded.  There was a delay in development due to some unforeseen medical issues with one of the developer’s family members, but it looks like the development is back on track.  This will add to the population in the Bornstedt neighborhood and intensify the need to connect Village Blvd. to HWY 211

Sandy Bluff Annex 6 (a.k.a. Sandy Woods):  This project was approved to subdivide an 11.2 acre property into 43 single family dwelling lots. The development will include public alleyways, 3 pedestrian tracts for additional connection/circulation and was granted three block length variance in order to create a logical right-of-way for vehicular traffic.

Next Adventure:  If you look behind the Next Adventure building you will notice some new concrete. This concrete is the foundation for the next Adventure rental storage facility that has been approved for construction. It will be one of the nicest two-story Sandy Style storage buildings around.

Other large reviews being conducted:

• Jewelberry Ridge: Planning Commission approved this 9 unit subdivision at their June 25^th  Final order is pending.
• US Metal Works: Approved to construct three new buildings east of 362^nd  These buildings are to be used for school bus maintenance and administrative purposes as well as facilities storage.
• Tractor Supply Company:
  • Partition final order completed on June 25.
  • Scheduled to go before Planning Commission on July 30^th – for design review, a conditional use permit and requested variances.

Other large reviews being submitted soon:

• McDonald’s: Pre-application meeting is complete.  We expect this $250K exterior remodel to go forward soon.  Nothing from them this month, however.
• Regional coffee retailer: We have yet another pre-application meeting with another franchisee for the same retailer that is interested in developing the lot next to 7-Eleven.  We are hopeful that the prospective developers can meet City code and ODOT standards.  However, the property has a challenging footprint for development, especially considering that their business model calls for locating a drive-thru on this irregular shaped lot.  Developer does seem to be working through the issues, and we anticipate that there will be more to report on this project soon.

Internal projects:

• Pleasant Street Master Plan: Based on direction staff received from Council at the June 12^th workshop, staff is postponing the completion of the Pleasant Street Master Plan. Staff is currently working on re-contracting with AECOM (the engineering firm for the project) to develop a new design for the Alt Avenue area, with design work beginning in August. The new design will not include a realignment of Alt Avenue.  Instead, staff is creating a design that addresses the original realignment objectives:
  • to improve safety at the Alt Avenue/Shelley Avenue/Proctor Boulevard intersection.
  • to improve the pedestrian connection between Pleasant Street and Proctor Boulevard via Alt Avenue within the existing Alt Avenue right-of-way.
• Downtown Walkability Assessment: A full report will be presented to City Council at the August 6^th regular City Council meeting by our RARE.
• Fantasy Forest Murals: A local artist named Karin Hoffman (Bliss Brush Studios) recently contacted us about putting a series of murals on the inverse side of the Fantasy Forest structure of where we installed murals several years ago.  We paid for the materials and Ms. Hoffman donated the artistry and her time.  The murals were installed on June 29^th, and depict a nature scene inspired by Mount Hood and native plantings.  They are an absolutely beautiful permanent addition to our park and play structure, and we are looking forward to working with Ms. Hoffman and other area artists to do similar art installations around the City in the future.

• Longest Day Parkway: at the Longest Day Parkway event, planning staff held children’s and adult’s activities to gather information and desires of Sandy community members.  Surveys were taken to determine if the results from the 2013 Parks Survey are still applicable to the community’s vision for the City’s parks, and staff focused specifically on getting input directly from our school-aged community members to see what they wanted to see in our parks system.
• PetSafe Dog Park grant: Planning staff has applied for a $5K PetSafe “Bark For Your Park” grant to make improvements to the Sandy Bluff Dog Park.

Economic Development items:
 

Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):

• Sandlandia: A second covered tent for outdoor dining has been submitted for and approved by Planning.  Also, one of the carts is departing at the end of July.
• Joe’s Donuts: The roof of the building is now painted, and this completes the work for this project with one minor electrical issue still outstanding.  We are currently calculating the reimbursement amount due to the Vargos and will pay them shortly.  They are very happy with the results, and they recently thanked the City for “all of your support, because without it, we would not have done it.”  Our investment in this project will be in the neighborhood of $__K, and this allowed us to leverage almost $40K worth of repair work to this building that badly needed it and make a local institution very, very happy.
• Sandy restaurants: I have spoken with several of Sandy’s restaurant owners in the last month, and the overall consensus seems to be that business is pretty good right now.  Probably a combination of Sandy’s rapid growth, a booming economy….and considering the time of year it is, commercial air conditioning!  Bonus points to the ownership group of the Tollgate Inn for adding the covered wagon and upgrades to the lounge – a very nice touch!
• Regional coffee chain: We have a regional coffee chain that has been interested in Sandy for years that has taken concrete steps toward developing one of our downtown infill lots.  The plan is still evolving, but the prospects for development look pretty good right now.  Watch this space.

Econ Devl – Internal Projects:

• Downtown maintenance:
  • We went ahead and removed ALL (8) defunct paper boxes from around the commercial areas of the entire City. These are all going to recycling shortly.

• Motivated by the Mountain Festival’s arrival, we moved forward with the AntFarm contract for general downtown maintenance. There is a crew of 2-3 kids out working daily for now to do the following:
  • Remove weeds/grass from sidewalks, curbs, pedestrian rights-of-way
  • Remove new growth shoots from street tree wells and street trees
  • General cleanup

• Moving forward with prep for small building demolitions over at Sandy Community Campus. The small annex building in front of the pool and the old patchwork brown play structure in the back of the pool are going away.  Asbestos reports complete, utilities currently being disconnected from the buildings.  We anticipate demolition sometime in late July or early August.

• Clackamas County Tourism’s Community Partnership Program grant: Moving forward on all fronts…
  • Jonsrud Viewpoint: surveying work is complete and being processed now.  An auto-turn report will be the next step, and “curb-shaving” will be engaged as recommended by that report.
  • Meinig Park Entry Arch: We received final design work and engineering on the arch from Tahran Architects this week.  Will move forward with a scope of work and requests for bid soon.

Econ Devl – Conferences/training:

• Nothing this month.

Planning issues: 

Marshall Ridge Subdivision:  We have issued a final order for this 37 lot single family dwelling subdivision located at 19525 and 19545 Bornstedt Road.

Sandy Bluff Annex 6:  This was heard and approved by Planning Commission on May 29^th, but the final order is not complete at this time.

Sandy Bluff Community Campus Parkland Annexation: Presented to City Council on May 21st.  Council approved to go forward to November ballot.

Ten Eyck Rim: minor revised plat was approved, and approved a variance to not require a bike/ped access on the property between Hood and Pleasant.

Other large reviews being conducted:

• Jewelberry Ridge: Will go to Planning Commission on June 25^th.
• US Metal Works: Went to Planning Commission June 14^th; both deviations and variances were approved.  We anticipate them moving forward with building permits soon.
• Tractor Supply Company:
  • Partition almost finished
  • Design review submittal was deemed complete and currently under review
  • Tentatively scheduled to go before Planning Commission on July 30^th.

Other large reviews being submitted soon:

• McDonald’s: pre-application meeting is complete; we expect this $250K exterior remodel to go forward soon.
• Knapp property annexation; 130 lot subdivision: came in for a pre-application for this development; have not heard back from them since.
• Regional coffee retailer: Pre-application meeting complete – we have yet to receive a formal application.

Internal projects:

• Pleasant Street Master Plan: A progress report on this master plan to date was delivered to the City Council at the June 12 work session.  While some contention over the plans for the plaza space section of the master plan was expressed, we are confident that this point of contention can be worked through to most people’s satisfaction.  Public hearing delayed until Fall 2018.
• Downtown Walkability Assessment: An assessment report will be presented to City Council at the July 2^nd regular Council meeting by our RARE.  Porricolo’s term of service will end next month, at which point the project will be handed off to staff to continue project work.

Economic Development issues:

Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):

• Mount Hood Cigar Co.: So far so good.  This business seems to be hitting their stride quite nicely according to the Sandy Area Chamber.
• Sandy Fire #72: The Fire Department will be holding the official ribbon cutting for their brand new firehouse on Saturday, June 23 from 1 to 3 PM.  If Chief Schneider (no relation) hasn’t given you a tour of the facilities yet, you should really plan to attend.  It is….impressive.
• Joe’s Donuts: The final touches of Phase 1 of the Joe’s rehab will be complete this week as the weather is finally allowing the general contractor to schedule the painting of the roof.  Phase 2 (West Streetscape public infrastructure project) will involve concrete infill, a concrete pad with railings and a weatherproof table installed on the west side of their building, and a standard street bench, in Joe’s Donuts red, centered in front of their new front window.
• Regional coffee chain: We have a regional coffee chain that has been interested in Sandy for years that has taken concrete steps toward developing one of our downtown infill lots.  The plan is still evolving, but the prospects for development look pretty good right now.  Watch this space.
• Joy Teriyaki: Justin Hwang, owner of the franchise, is a very tired man.  He tells me he’s never had a store opening quite like what they’ve experienced here in Sandy.  During their “soft open” week prior to the official ribbon cutting, they ran out of things like chicken breast, gyoza, beef, etc. every evening due to the overwhelming traffic.  It has slowed down to what should be normal for them recently, but still one of their busier stores.

Econ Devl – Internal Projects:

• Downtown maintenance:
  • The remaining East County Gazette paper boxes lingering in our downtown (the paper is no longer being published)….are now gone.
  • We are discussing the possibilities of expanding AntFarm’s maintenance contract for the flower baskets to include basic maintenance of planter strips, sidewalks (remove weeds and grasses) and other public right-of-way maintenance issues. Shouldn’t be a very costly endeavor overall, and should also be more effective and “business friendly” than nagging downtown commercial property owners to do it.
  • We are beginning a number of façade projects in the next month or so, including some demolitions over at the Sandy Community Campus within the next few weeks.
  • We are also preparing to address the derelict building issue that Development Services brought to Council earlier in May. We’re not exactly sure what to expect regarding the responses to our initial letters requiring action on the part of the property owners, but we intend to update Council with regard to our progress as we proceed.
• Community Partnership Program grant: We got some fantastic news this week.  Due to a lack of requests for CPP funding, ClackCo Tourism had funding left over in this program.  Their policy is to look at the projects they feel would best benefit the County that didn’t get funded by their local constituencies, and the Tourism Development Council awards funding for those projects.  They also let us know that they had talked to a lot of tour operators, and found that tour buses don’t really go to Jonsrud Viewpoint anymore because it’s just too difficult to get a bus through the park.

  Jim Austin at CC Tourism said that this placed Jonsrud at the top of their list of projects they’d like to see, but we could never provide matching funds because a) the park is outside of the urban renewal district, and b) we can’t use Parks SDC funding because we have to use that to build local capacity, and adding tour buses would build non-local (i.e. tourists that don’t pay into our tax base) capacity.

  Yesterday, Jim called me and told me they feel it’s so important to them to get this done that they are going to provide us with full funding for the project.  So if you run across our County Tourism folks while you’re out and about, please thank them on behalf of our taxpayers for this.  We are preparing a nice “thank you” card and attaching it to a box of Joe’s Donuts to send over to them to recognize their generosity.  That’s $16,500 in funding that we definitely weren’t expecting to have…In other CPP news, AntFarm is moving forward with their fully funded study for the farmer’s market, and revised plans for the Meinig Gateway Arch should be here literally any day.

Econ Devl – Conferences/training:

• LOC Public Contracting Basics course (June 5 – Sherwood): Kelly and I went to a course in basic government contracting as a way to start diving into developing a better set of contracting documents to improve protections for the City.  Time well spent.  Very good course.
• OEDA Summer Conference (June 7, 8 – Corvallis): This is the smaller of the two OEDA conferences held every year, but a very informative conference.  The highlight for me was listening to a presentation by one of the mucky-mucks from Hewlett Packard give a presentation on the future of 3-D printing and how this is the next great technological advance for humankind.  They can now print things using different mediums including metal rather than just plastic, showed us what kinds of things that they can make with 3-D printers (metal: gears and sprockets, small metal parts; plastic: car parts with no assembly!) and talked about how 3-D printing will be way cheaper, faster and will produce better quality parts than injection molding or manufacturing metal parts.  3-D printing will ultimately bring a lot of offshore manufacturing not only back to the United States, but into local communities where some of these companies are headquartered.  It is truly an amazing technology.

Planning issues:

Current projects:

Sandyplace Apartments:  Foundation permits have been issued for the buildings, but this project has otherwise not seen any changes since last month.  Vertical construction of some of the structures could begin as early as June.

Pioneer Meadows Subdivision:  Directly to the east of Firhill Memorial Cemetery on Hwy 26 next to Safeway.  Has received approval to build six attached houses prior to second lift of asphalt on the roads.  Foundations are currently in the process of being poured, with two units already at the framing stage.

Marshall Ridge Subdivision:  The Planning Commission approved a 37 lot single family dwelling subdivision located at 19525 and 19545 Bornstedt Road. The proposed lots range in size from 7,500 square feet to 9,172 square feet with a Single Family Residential (SFR) zoning designation. In addition to the 37 lots, the subdivision includes two public storm water detention ponds, two tree preservation tracts, and one pedestrian access tract as well as extensions of Aspen Avenue and Oak Avenue to the south and Maple Street as a future street that intersects with Bornstedt Road.

Sandy Bluff Annex 6:  This will be heard by Planning Commission on May 29th. The applicant proposes a 43 lot subdivision of the property between the BPA easement and Olson Street (N-S) and between Jefferson Avenue and the existing Sandy Bluff development (W-E).

Property east of 362nd and south of Industrial Way:  Requests to build three new industrial buildings (10,000; 12,000; 19,250 SF) on the US Metal Works site. Additionally, they seek to obtain the following four variances: 1) eliminate a varied façade, 2) eliminate an entrance connecting directly between the right-of-way and the building interior, 3) eliminate the required 10% relief of the facade facing, 4) to have a roof pitch of 1:12 (3:12 required).

Sandy Bluff Community Campus Parkland Annexation: Presented to City Council on May 21st.  Should they approve the petition, it will go forth to a vote of the people on the November ballot and be passed via resolution should it be passed.

Other large reviews being conducted:

• Sandy Bluff Annex 6: Going to Planning Commission on Tuesday, May 29^th.
• Jewelberry Ridge: in process
• US Metal Works: in process – will end up going to Planning Commission.
• Tractor Supply Company: in process (about to issue a completeness report for the partition piece)

Other large reviews being submitted soon:

• Brittsview Heights: 23 lot single family home subdivision west of Village Blvd. and south of the Snowberry subdivision
• McDonald’s: Recently submitted for an exterior remodel
• Knapp property annexation and subdivision: 130 lot SFR homes immediately south of Dubarko Road at Antler Avenue between Langensand Road and HWY 26.
• Regional coffee retailer: Pre-application scheduled for May 31 for the commercial lot next to 7-Eleven.

Internal projects:

• Mount Hood Cigar Co.: This business has applied to do a monthly auto show in the parking lot outside of their store and the local O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store.  This application is in process, but should be complete by the time of the next show in June – they plan to do the show between
• Pleasant Street Master Plan: All public engagement activities for the PSMP are complete, there were over 280 participants across the three public engagement activities. There is a revised design for the proposed Alt Ave. realignment based on concerns of the original design from the community. The new design will be publicly released this week. Emma has been drafting the final report. Council can expect a work session, following a work session before Planning Commission and the PSMP Advisory Committee at the end of May.
• Downtown Walkability Assessment: All public engagement for the Downtown Walkability Assessment are complete. The May 16^th Community Walking Audit was a success! The audit had over 20 participants, including city staff, elected officials, and community members.  Emma is currently drafting the assessment report which will be presented at City Council on July 2^nd.

Economic Development issues:

Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):

• Mount Hood Cigar Co.: The Mount Hood Cigar Company had their Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting ceremony over the weekend and is officially open to the public. Chris Bailey, store owner and patriarch, brought his family here all the way from South Carolina with a brief stop in Lake Oswego.They did a fantastic job of building out the store (they did the work themselves – Mr. Bailey is also a licensed contractor) and are very happy with the end result. They had a wide variety of quality cigars from around the world on display, and really seem to know their stuff. Curious to see if this store brings in enough weekend mountain traffic to really take off…
• Sandlandia: Both new carts (Swine Dining, Mountain View Café) are now operational. It also appears that the Captain’s Galley is no longer at the site. It also appears that the Captain’s Galley is no longer located at the site, so we are net +2 for carts at Sandlandia in 2018.
• Trout Pub space: I am currently working with Chris Corbin (building owner) to put together the first City of Sandy Tenant Improvement grant to help create a new restaurant here. At the time of this writing, Mr. Corbin intends to open his own restaurant at the site featuring quality burgers and sausages made on site.
• Joy Teriyaki: After a very long wait, Joy Teriyaki will be opening their new restaurant with a soft open on May 21. Their grand opening/ribbon cutting will take place on Saturday, May 26 and will feature several prominent local politicians including our current state senator, Chuck Thomsen. (Justin Hwang, owner of the franchise, is running for office in a neighboring district.)

Internal Projects:

• Downtown maintenance: We are beginning to focus our efforts on the downtown a bit more as spring kicks into gear. Flower baskets are up, and AntFarm’s watering contract is in effect. We are going to be collecting the remaining East County Gazette paper boxes lingering in our downtown (the paper is no longer being published) shortly, and beginning a number of façade projects that are currently in the works. We are also in the beginning stages of a push to clean up some of the derelict buildings downtown. Stay tuned…
• Community Partnership Program grant: Since we didn’t use all of the money allocated for our community due to the fact that we only had two valid applications, we requested that the AntFarm request for funding a farmer’s market study be fully funded (they had other funding from other grants listed in their original request) so the other sources of funding could be used elsewhere. Clackamas County Tourism was happy to grant that request, so AntFarm will be receiving $6,000 for this study instead of the $2,500 they originally requested.Also, I should receive plans this week for the new Meinig Park Gateway Arch. We hope to get this constructed as quickly as possible to have ready for the summer concert series and Mountain Festival if possible.
• CGI: I am currently beginning the process of updating our Welcome videos on the main page of our website with CGI Communications, the company that created them for us. More to come soon (Mr. Mayor – We will also be updating the short video introduction that you did for us. I will get in touch with you sometime in the coming month to schedule this.)

Conferences/training:

• Travel Oregon Listening Session (April 4): This is an ongoing discussion started by Travel Oregon last year as they witnessed record numbers of tourists in the Columbia River Gorge. The takeaway from this event was that, with gawkers out to look at the fire damage from last year, plus rapidly increasing tourism from places like China, the Gorge is now at capacity. This should result in a lot more local tourism on our side of the mountain as locals look to get away from the congestion and hike and mountain bike in peace.
• SACC Candidates Forum (April 9): This event represents the first efforts from the Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce to provide infrastructure for local elections. We invited all of the primary candidates for local public office to state their case and take questions from Chamber members and the public. It went exceptionally well, and we were inundated with thanks from the locals that came for putting on this event. The SACC Public Affairs Committee is looking forward to doing this again for the general election.

Planning issues: 

Sandyplace Apartments:  The apartments are moving along at a crisp pace. The demolition of the old structures and some tree removal has occurred.  If you have driven on Sandy Heights Street lately, you will have noticed the installation of orange sediment fencing and a great deal of grading/excavation on the site. Staff anticipates issuing foundation permits for at least four of the buildings in the next few weeks and vertical construction of some of the structures occurring soon thereafter.

Pioneer Meadows Subdivision:  Edison Homes is moving forward with development of the 27 lot townhouse subdivision at the intersection of Meeker Street and University Avenue.  The subdivision has utilities, improved streets, and the parking court already constructed.  Staff anticipates that the subdivision plat will be recorded in the next few weeks and home construction will begin sometime towards the end of April or in early May. This subdivision will enable another 70+ people to move into Sandy.

Marshall Ridge Subdivision:  Planning Commission held a public hearing for the 39 lot single family home subdivision on March 26. After a lengthy meeting and some additional concepts presented by the applicant, the Planning Commission decided to continue the hearing to April 23. Planning staff is working hard to update the 70+ page staff report to give updated recommendations based on a revised layout of the subdivision which now contains 37 lots with more tree retention and street connectivity as recommended by staff.

Other large reviews being conducted:

• Sandy Bluff Annex 6: 43 lot single family home subdivision north of Olson Street
• Jewelberry Ridge: 10 lot single family home subdivision west of Jewelberry & north of Olson St.
• US Metal Works: Design review of three industrial buildings south of Industrial Way

Other large reviews being submitted soon:

• Tractor Supply Store – Design review for large building west of Champion Way
• Brittsview Heights – 23 lot single family home subdivision west of Village Blvd. and south of the Snowberry subdivision

Here is a comprehensive picture of residential development in Sandy in the midst of this period of intense growth.  Activity through March 31 of this year.

Internal projects:

Staffing:  Our webmaster in-training, Angie Robinson, is no longer with the City of Sandy.  The placement company that placed her with us felt that her training needs would be better served in an academic-only program and decided not to focus on direct job training for her at this time.

Pleasant St. Master Plan/Downtown Walkability Plan:

• Pleasant St. Master Plan: All public engagement activities for the PSMP are complete.  Over 100 surveys were completed, and we had approximately 90 people attend the open house on March 14^th.  Emma will begin drafting the final report shortly; Council can expect a first reading of this report in June.
• Downtown Walkability Plan: Surveys are complete – there were over 100 responses.  Pop up mapping will begin shortly with opportunities for the community to show where they walk will be placed at convenient local hot spots like AntFarm Café, Sandy Public Library and City Hall.  The community walking audit is in the planning process, tentatively scheduled for the beginning of May.  Council participation would be greatly appreciated – please contact Emma at eporricolo@cityofsandy.com or at 503-783-2586.
• 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: Work is 95% complete – contractor will be putting on the finishing touches this weekend.
• Sandy City Hall – Stairs:
• AntFarm Café back door: Scope of work and bid requests going out next week.
• Joe’s Donuts: Still waiting for clear weather to paint roof – otherwise complete.

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.