Hillsboro’s government wants to build 850 housing units south of the Witch Hazel neighorhood, but can only do that if the Metro government agrees to expand the Urban Growth Boundary. So city officials are working on their pitch. Laura Weigel, Hillsboro’s Long Range Planning Manager, outlined the plan in a May 1 work session with city council members. “Even with the buildout of South Hillsboro, we’re short about 1,300 single housing units,” said Weigel. “We have to put a package together that explains why we’re ready to handle this growth.” The area in question, outlined above in diagonal green lines, is 150 acres previously designated urban reserve by Metro, and all 12 landowners want to come into the urban growth boundary,[…]
Category: City Council
City officials claim Hillsboro is running out of land for industrial development, and would like the Oregon legislature to review the 2014 Grand Bargain that classified 2,200 acres north of the Hillsboro Airport as permanent rural reserves. “There are zero acres of urban reserves currently feasible for future economic development,” said Dan Dias, Economic Development Officer for Hillsboro, in a City Council work session on May 1. “Having viable land for future economic opportunities is critically important for Hillsboro’s competitiveness,” said Dias, “and for the expansion of homegrown businesses from our community.” The 2014 compromise saw 545 acres (shaded above in solid pink) opened for industrial development, while leaving the 2,200 other acres designated as permanent rural reserves. The Metro[…]
Hillsboro City Council narrowly voted 3-2 to bury the power lines alongside Jackson School Road, adding $2.25 million to the $20 million redesign of the road, a major entry point into the city off Highway 26. The change will extend construction one extra year for the project into 2022. Numerous residents came to the April 3 City Council meeting to argue in favor of the change. In the end councillors Kyle Allen, Darell Lumaco, and Olivia Alcaire voted for the change in design, while councillors Anthony Martin and Fred Nachtigal voted against. Councillor Rick Van Beveren, who lives on the street, recused himself. Divided votes at the council level are rare in Hillsboro. In this case proponents cited safety and[…]
A work session before tomorrow’s City Council meeting will explore whether all utilities along Jackson School Road should be moved underground. There are already extensive plans for improvement along the road, but those designs moved only some utility lines underground. No public comment is permitted during the work session, which is normal. Residents will have a chance to speak during the City Council meeting, during which there will also be a vote on the issue. To quote a city release about the potential change: The Council is scheduled to vote during the 7 pm meeting on whether to underground all utilities in the public right-of-way on the Jackson School Road Project, rather than the project’s current design, which calls for[…]
I’ve been the only journalist at Hillsboro City Council meetings for a couple of months now, so far as I can tell. Which is odd, because this is a city of 100,000 people, the economic engine of the state, and I’m just a citizen journalist. I’m a volunteer. I have no budget, no advertisers, and no desire to build a business model. I started doing this a year ago as an experiment, and it’s one I plan to continue. But I haven’t had much success generating interest, probably because I’m a better blogger than I am a promoter. The City of Hillsboro, meanwhile, is very good at getting its own point of view across. During a recent city council meeting[…]
Look out, Comcast: The City of Hillsboro is seriously contemplating offering gigabit fiber internet access to all residents for $50 a month, with no bandwidth caps. For those who aren’t tech savvy, that’s an absurd amount of speed at that price. Families that qualify for free school lunches could be charged as little as $10. It gets better: the $88 million infrastructure project required to do this could be paid for in 10 years, assuming 37 percent of residents and businesses use the service. That’s according to a report by Greg Mont, Information Services Director, and Suzzane Linneen, Finance Director, both of whom stressed that these are estimates during a a work session last week on Tuesday, March 20. Every single[…]
TriMet plans on extending the Red Line all the way to Hillsboro’s Fairgrounds, which will make getting home from the airport at night a lot easier, among other things. But what impact will more trains have on traffic in places where rail lines block the road, particularly 185th Avenue? That’s what city officials hope to look into, and on Tuesday City Council will likely authorize $450,000 of spending for a study. That price will be offset by funds from Washington County and the City of Beaverton. The focus of this study will be where MAX lines cross 185th, just north of Baseline. It’s one of the worst intersections in our city, and the MAX crossing there is “at grade,” which[…]
Turn right onto Brookwood off main and you’ll see 47th Avenue veering off to the right. That’s currently the only way to get to a small neighborhood, which has emergency workers concerned. So the city is extending Hidden Creek Drive west of 53rd, creating a new way in and out of that neighboorhood. To quote a memo from Rob Dixon, Assistant City Manager: At the present time, if NE 47th Avenue is blocked due to an accident or natural disaster, residents are unable to get home, and emergency services must access this neighborhood through a locked emergency access gate located in the back of a nearby parking lot. This project will add a second public street connection to the neighborhood.[…]
The City of Hillsboro has four main tools to combat homeless, according to a report commissioned by the city and put together by ECONorthwest and presented to City Council this week. Those four choices are: Reduced parking requirements to incentivize new construction Participation in tax abatement programs to help preserve and develop new regulated affordable housing Opportunities for land donations to support new construction Use of general fund dollars as direct contributions to affordable projects – both for new construction and preservation of regulated and naturally occurring affordable housing. Each of these potential tools have pros and cons according to Senior Project Manager Chris Hartye, who outlined the tools during a work session before the March 6 city council meeting.[…]
Last night city employees briefed City Council on the Willamette Water Supply, a massive infrastructure project that will bring water from the Willamette in Wilsonville up to Hillsboro. Hillsboro’s water department is partnering with the Tualatin Valley Water District (TVWD) on the project, which will cost an estimated $1.2 billion dollars. TVWD will pay for most of the project, leaving Hillsboro will pay 39.6 percent: $450 million. (TVWD, if you didn’t know, provides water to Hillsboro residents east of Cornelius Pass. The district, which is independent from any city government, also provides water to large pieces of Beaverton and various unincorporated Washington County communities, including nearby Aloha and Rock Creek.) Rob Dixon, Assistant City Manager in Hillsboro, said the project[…]