Proposed Budget for 2011-2012 Fiscal Year Release date: 05/10/2011 Sponsored by: Board of Commissioners Budget Hearing Thursday, May 26 The Board of Commissioners will meet as part of the County Budget Committee for a Budget Hearing at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 26, in the Shirley Huffman Auditorium of the Charles D. Cameron Public Services Building, 155 N. First Avenue, Hillsboro. The Budget Committee for three Service Districts will also meet at this time, including the Enhanced Sheriff's Patrol District, Urban Road Maintenance District and Service District for Lighting Number 1. The purpose of the hearing is to consider approving proposed budgets for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. Opportunity for public testimony will be provided at this hearing. The Budget Committee and Board of Commissioners will also meet jointly for discussion on the proposed budget on Tuesday, May 17, following the regular Board meeting from approximately 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Law Enforcement Center, Training Room 215, SW Adams Street, Hillsboro. No public testimony will be received at this meeting. More information about the proposed budget can be found: FY 2011-12 Proposed Budget http://www.co.washington.or.us/Support_Services/Finance/CountyBudget/2011-12-county-budget-report.cfmContact: Philip Bransford, Communications Officer (503) 846-8685 philip_bransford@co.washington.or.us
Dear stakeholders, Please share your perspective on how the state can best prepare to meet the challenges of climate change by taking a new survey at: http://conversation.fuseinsight.com/topic/start/OGWC_Roadmap_3_3_2011/intro?SID=Agency Please respond by May 31! The survey is being led by the Oregon Global Warming Commission, a state commission which is developing a strategy to reduce emissions state-wide by 2020. By taking a few minutes to share your point of view, you will influence discussions at upcoming public workshops and help shape decisions about Oregon's environment for years to come. The OGWC wants the public conversation around climate change to involve as many different Oregonians with as wide a variety of perspectives as possible, given that we share an interest in protecting our state's livability and economic vitality. More information about the OGWC is available at www.keeporegoncool.org , as well as dates and information about upcoming workshops on strategies for reducing emissions. Thank you!
Selective and strategic choices In Metro District 4, the strain caused by time and use of public facilities and infrastructure is evident. In the places where we live, work and travel, we can see missing sidewalks, cracked or potholed streets, areas where water or sewer pipes need replacing, and public buildings like schools, libraries and courthouses that need maintenance or improvement. Each level of government and service district continues to stretch public dollars to maintain or repair these facilities as wisely and effectively as possible, using the tax dollars that you and I provide. Most of us don't want to pay more taxes unless it is for clear and specific purposes that can't be achieved otherwise, such as a major capital investment for a new school, park, library or fire station, or for vital regular maintenance to prevent serious damage. "Maintain what we have before extending ourselves further” is a clear message that you have delivered to every elected level of government. One way to help achieve this efficiency is to be selective and strategic about expanding the urban growth boundary (UGB) for future development. Being cautious about expansion helps public entities be efficient with funds for infrastructure. We can use your public money to take care of the investments you have already made in our communities, while making sure that new development in outlying areas bears a larger share of its investment needs. Since its establishment in 1979, the UGB has only expanded by 12 percent, while the region's population has grown by more than 50 percent in the same time period. Our efficient use of land helps increase concentrations of valued local amenities throughout neighborhoods and communities – from parks to coffee shops to more job opportunities near home, plus art and cultural centers. In managing growth, our metropolitan area has been strategic in its thinking and implementation, and we're widely envied for it. One thing we can be sure of – the population of our region will increase as children who live here today stay and raise families, and as others like you and me venture to this wonderful region to make a living or to retire. Being selective and strategic with our land and public infrastructure investment decisions allows us to provide you with choices for your lifestyle and how you make a living. The Portland metropolitan area boasts a variety of locations for different types of businesses to exist and prosper, and a selection of housing to meet the preferences and needs of people over the course of their lives. Plus, the values brought by our various downtowns, neighborhoods, shops and cultural centers make this a wonderful place to live. In the coming months, I will be presented with decisions to be made on our 20-year land use needs, about how selective and strategic we should continue to be. Proposals will be developed, published and analyzed. I'd like to hear from you. Learn more online at www.oregonmetro.gov or at a public meeting. I hope you will join the conversation and let me know what you think. Kathryn Harrington Metro Councilor, District 4 kathryn.harrington@oregonmetro.gov
The Metro Council requests your comments on three different options for redrawing Council district boundaries. Every ten years, following the completion of the U.S. Census, the Metro Council is required to evaluate whether each of its six districts are of relatively equal population and adjust the district boundaries as necessary to provide for equal representation. The results of the 2010 U.S. Census indicate that the populations of a few of the Metro Council districts vary significantly from the average district population, which is now 248,362. Federal law requires that no district will vary in population more than five percent above or below the average population. The Council will also give consideration to existing precincts and, to the greatest extent possible, will maintain communities of interest. Such communities of interest are represented in cities under 15,000 in population, regional centers, town centers, school districts, established neighborhood associations, neighborhood planning organizations, community planning and participation organizations and other similar groups as specifically defined by the Metro Council. The three options for redrawing district boundaries are available to review online at www.oregonmetro.gov/redistricting. Please take a look at these options and provide your feedback. Comments can be directed to Tony Andersen in the Council office through email at tony.andersen@oregonmetro.gov or by regular mail to 600 NE Grand Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97232. Please submit your comments before May 12, if possible. The Metro Council will hold two public hearings on the redistricting proposal, each at 2 p.m. on May 12 and May 19 (both are Thursdays) in the council chamber at Metro Regional Center. The Council is scheduled to adopt a final reapportionment map at the May 19 hearing.
As you may already know, Metro, your regional government, is conducting a search for their new Chief Operating Officer (COO). We would like to hear your opinions about the requirements for this position. The information gathered will be used to assist in the process of screening applicants. Please take some time to share your open-ended feedback before Friday, April 8th. For completing the survey, you will be entered into a raffle drawing for one of five $50 Visa cash cards. http://survey.optinpanel.org/survey/dhm/dhm11007?list=2&source=_eUYA80mv6w,1274099 Thanks, The Opt In Team
Washington County Redistricting Hearing - THIS Friday, April 8 9:00 AM, PCC Rock Creek, Building 3 Auditorium Did you know that Washington County added 85,000 new residents over the last ten years? The high rate of growth in our county has a huge impact on our representation in Salem over the next ten years, and you have a chance to tell lawmakers how to incorporate your community into a legislative district that reflects the people who live there. The Senate and House Committees on Redistricting will be in Washington County this Friday to gather input about communities of common interest. Input from all the diverse areas across the state of Oregon is crucial to ensuring that legislators have accurate and sufficient information to create new accurate, representative districts. Washington County has grown faster than any other part of the state, and this fact makes it even more important that legislators hear from local citizens about our communities of interest and links to areas around us. Please come to the hearing this Friday to sign up and speak before the committee. You may bring written testimony to submit to the committee, and each person who signs up will have about 2 - 3 minutes to speak. Talking to the committee is simple, easy, and very helpful to enlighten legislators about all of the distinct parts of Washington County. If you cannot make the meeting this Friday, you may submit written testimony to oregon.redistricting@state.or.us. Washington County Redistricting Hearing - THIS Friday, April 8 9:00 AM, PCC Rock Creek, Building 3 Auditorium Contact Tom Powers at (503) 936-7456 if you are interested in coming to the hearing on Friday or need more information. He can also provide you with facts and population figures for the current set of house districts as well as sample testimony. oregon.redistricting@state.or.us
Bringing in the reserves Published: Friday, March 18, 2011, 8:35 AM By Kurt Eckert, The Hillsboro Argus A little more than two years ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers were still fresh off their record-setting sixth Super Bowl title. President Obama was still in his first 100 days in office. Michael Jackson and Ted Kennedy were still alive.
And the process of designating urban and rural reserves was just getting under way.
Though it comes far from making everyone completely happy, a palpable relief cut the air Tuesday night when a joint meeting of the Washington County Board of Commissioners and the Metro Council finally ended in a compromise on the issue.
The commissioners voted 3 to 2, and the council 6 to 1, to approve an intergovernmental agreement on 13,817 acres of urban reserves and 151,574 acres of rural reserves in Washington County — including splitting two contentious parcels along lines both entities think will be acceptable to the state’s Land Conservation and Development Commission, which must approve the agreement.
The reserves process was supposed to be a consensus plan developed by Metro and Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties to designate the best areas for urban expansion and agricultural protection for the next 50 years, but when that process dissolved early on, each county was left to make individual deals with Metro.
After months of infighting and aggravation, hard work and haggling, frustration and consideration — and more than a few surprises, the county submitted its original plan to the development commission in early 2010.
But in October 2010, LCDC sent the entire package back for reconsideration, saying 624 acres of “foundation farmland” north of Cornelius and a small parcel north of Forest Grove were unacceptable as urban reserves.
Greg Macpherson, an LCDC member, said March 12 that studies show land north of Council Creek is some of the best temperate zone soil in the country, he said.
“North of Cornelius was so beyond the pale, we were able to reject it,” Macpherson said.
Controversy stirred again in February, when Hughes and Commission Chair Andy Duyck answered LCDC’s remand with a plan splitting the Cornelius acreage into rural reserves and undesignated land and adding a 585-acre urban reserve on formerly undesignated land in the Helvetia area — north of Highway 26 and south of West Union Road. The plan angered Helvetia conservationists, and confounded Cornelius expansionists.
After hearing from several upset citizens in early March, the county’s Planning Commission recommended giving at least some industrial expansion land to Cornelius, and removing the urban designation from Helvetia. The planning commission serves as a volunteer advisory body appointed by the county commissioners, and its decisions are not binding.
Dozens of the same people testified again Tuesday, but within the parameters of the LCDC instructions, what they wanted was not possible, Duyck said. But an attempt to pass the Hughes/Ducyk plan as-is failed 3 to 2.
The compromise reached after several more unsuccessful votes essentially turns the Hughes/Ducyk proposal on its ear. Instead of being divided to the west and east by Susbauer Road, there will now be 363 acres of undesignated land on the south and 260 acres of rural reserves to the north, divided by Hobbs Road.
Urban reserves in Helvetia were nearly halved, with Groveland Road now dividing 233 undesignated acres from 352 acres of urban reserves.
The small Forest Grove parcel went from urban to undesignated, and a new undesignated parcel was designated southwest of Aloha.
In the end, Cornelius doesn’t get the urban reserves designation it wanted, and part of Helvetia still ends up as urban reserves, but for a couple of months, at least, it’s over. The county has scheduled two public hearings in April on a binding ordinance before the LCDC presumably gets another chance to consider the entire package in August.
Cornelius officials say they desperately needed the urban designation, and now all seems lost, said Cornelius City Manager Dave Waffle.
“It’s better than a rural designation, that clearly would lock it up for 50 years,” Waffle said. “(But) I characterize this as now the glass is half-empty. It’s got something in it we might be able to drink sometime in the future.”
Hughes said Metro staff will continue to work to convince the state there is land north of Cornelius that is suited for industrial development, and isn’t particularly valuable as farmland.
“You want to get the big picture right, so you can lock that into place, then you can work to make changes around those over time,” Hughes said. “But I don’t think Cornelius got anything close to what they wanted.”
Duyck said the marathon hearing and extended debate proves the government tried to get every viewpoint.
“In the final analysis, we were all just glad to come to an agreement,” Duyck said. “We can now move forward with the reserves.”
Walmart expected to open NW Cornell Road store Beaverton development officials say retail giant plans a small ‘neighborhood market’ By Christina Lent
The Beaverton Valley Times, Mar 2, 2011
Walmart could be setting up shop in Beaverton.
Seattle developer PacLand plans to take over the Ashley Furniture HomeStore on Northwest Cornell Road near the northeast corner of 173rd Avenue and turn it into a Walmart neighborhood market, according to city officials.
The city issued a design review decision Feb. 7 to the developer, saying the proposal to set up a grocery store at the Cornell Sunset Center met existing commercial services zoning at the 3.8-acre site at 17275 N.W. Cornell Road.
According to the project’s development application, PacLand will convert the existing 42,874-square-foot furniture store, which is in the process of closing, into a grocery store. Improvements include interior store remodeling, adding a trash compactor with a screen wall, adding a recycling storage area with a screen wall, upgrading utilities and store lighting, replacing signage, upgrading rooftop equipment and minor grading in the loading area.
A BedMart Mattress Superstore that shares the property will remain in place.
“They did not appeal the decision and accepted our conditions for approval,” said Don Mazziotti, Beaverton’s community development director, of the city’s design review approval of the application. “They are taking out seven spaces in the parking lot to put in a recycling center and adding more lighting.
“From their standpoint, this site is a perfect fit.”
Big fight five years ago Walmart fought five years ago to build a 152,308-square-foot superstore at Southwest Cedar Hills Boulevard and Barnes Road. The conditional-use proposal came under assault during hearings from Cedar Mill neighbors and a local anti-Walmart group. The City Council eventually shot the proposal down in May 2006, saying improvements to the busy intersection would be too expensive and would have added to the area’s traffic headaches.
After the rejection, Walmart did not appeal the decision or submit new plans for a store in the area.
Opening a Walmart grocery store at the new location is an allowed use under the city’s code as Cornell Road has been widened to five traffic lanes plus bike lanes between Northwest Evergreen Parkway and Bethany Boulevard, Mazziotti said.
The proposed store will also operate between the approved 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. zone restrictions for the area.
“It will be the size of a large New Seasons or small Safeway,” Mazziotti added. “They are not modifying the building into a large structure. It’s a third of the size of a Walmart superstore.”
The store could be up and running in the next several months, city officials say. A representative from PacLand has not returned calls to discuss the firm’s development plans.
Information about the number of people the store will employ has also not been released.
“Whether it’s Walmart or another retail operation, this store will provide jobs, products and services to the community, and that’s a good thing,” Mazziotti said.
In the meantime, Ashley Furniture is in the midst of a total liquidation sale. Store closing signs posted at the entrance say the business is open Sundays from noon to 6 p.m. Copyright 2011 Pamplin Media Group, 6605 S.E. Lake Road, Portland, OR 97222 • 503-226-6397
Feb. 22, 2011
On behalf of the staff and elected officials of Washington County and Metro we are pleased to report there is a new urban and rural reserves proposal that responds to the direction provided by the Land Conservation and Development Commission in October.
As you may know, the Commission voted unanimously last fall to approve urban and rural reserve designations in Clackamas and Multnomah counties, and most of the urban reserve designations in Washington County.
Two urban reserve areas were sent back to Metro and Washington County by the Commission. One was just north of Cornelius and the other was just north of Forest Grove. The Commission provided oral direction to Washington County and Metro to remove the urban reserve designation near Cornelius, and to strengthen the findings of the area near Forest Grove.
Our entire region benefits when elected and community leaders reach for and support compromise even when their strongest supporters urge a different path. When we put the region's needs ahead of any individual interest, we build on Oregon's great legacy of land use innovation and leadership created by our parents and grandparents.
To this end we are proposing targeted changes to address the Commission's direction. Our first commitment is always to the people of our region and their desire to provide long-term protection for valuable farm and forestlands, while also providing land for good jobs and homes now and in the future. Equally important, we believe this proposal thoroughly addresses all of the concerns raised by the Commission while providing certainty to farmers, businesses and working families.
If approved the proposal will result in 50 years of protection for 266,992 acres of valuable farmland, forest land and natural areas for current and future generations. The proposal also provides 28,548 acres of developable land across the region to ensure we can provide good jobs and homes for everyone now and in the future, in a way the makes the most of our existing cities and neighborhoods.
This proposal is the result of unprecedented partnerships and participation from local governments, advocacy organizations and thousands of citizens. It's a one-of-a-kind, collaborative roadmap for the effective utilization of land that no other region in the United States has achieved. But let's be clear: our work will not be done until the public has a chance to thoroughly review and comment on this important decision.
So take a look at the proposal, map and other information on Metro's web site. The Metro Council and Washington County Board of Commissioners will hold a joint hearing in Hillsboro on Tuesday, March 15, to consider your comments on this proposal and to vote on a revised reserves agreement.
If a final agreement is approved by both bodies on March 15, each would proceed to formal adoption of ordinances, findings of fact, and maps in April. At each step Metro and Washington County will provide opportunities for public testimony.
Finally, Clackamas County and Multnomah County will also need to take formal action on the overall findings for the reserves program because of the revisions required by LCDC. After formal adoption, the revised urban and rural reserves will be presented to LCDC for review.
We are proud of our work and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Andy Duyck
Chair,
Washington County Board of CommissionersTom Hughes
Metro Council President
Sen. Suzanne Bonamici, Rep. Mitch Greenlick, and Rep. Chris Harker to hold
Town Hall Meeting
UPDATE ON WORK OF THE 2011 LEGISLATIVE SESSION WILL BE PRESENTED
State Sen. Suzanne Bonamici, Rep. Mitch Greenlick, and Rep. Chris Harker will
hold a town hall meeting at the Cedar Mill Library on Saturday, March 5th, at
10:30 a.m. Everyone is encouraged to attend and discuss issues of concern
with the legislators.
What: Town Hall Meeting with Sen. Suzanne Bonamici, Rep. Mitch Greenlick, and
Rep. Chris Harker
Where: Cedar Mill Library, 12505 NW Cornell Rd
When: Saturday, March 5th, at 10:30 a.m.
Why: To join in a conversation about issues of concern and get the latest
information about the work of the 2011 Legislature.
CONTACT: Kimberly Goddard, 503-986-1434
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