The South Hillsboro community planning project began in February 2007. The project area for the South Hillsboro Community Plan, containing approximately 2,330 acres, is generally located south of TV Highway, west of 209th Avenue, east of 229th Avenue, and north of Farmington Road (see map). Portions of the project area, known as Area 69 & Area 71, containing a combined acreage of approximately 335 acres, were added into the regional Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) by Metro in 2002. The remainder of the project area lies within unincorporated Washington County.
The year-long stakeholder planning process has been a joint effort between City staff, stakeholders, citizen-advisors, and project consultants. Public participation outreach has included seven citizen-led Task Force meetings, seven Technical Advisory Committee meetings, three project open houses, two community forums, over 12,000 mailings / five project newsletters, a scenario planning workshop, housing market focus group, Citizen Participation Organization (CPO) meetings, Hillsboro Vision 2020 Town Hall booth, and an informative project website: www.southhillsboro.net.
HCP 3-08: Area 69, South Hillsboro Community Plan and HCP 5-08: Area 71, South Hillsboro Community Plan, as well as ZOA 2-08: Areas 69 & 71, South Hillsboro Community Plan, were discussed at a Planning Commission Public Hearing on April 29, 2008 (see staff report). The Planning Commission initiated these Resolutions on February 27, 2008 (see staff report). The public hearing was opened on April 29, 2008 and continued to May 28, 2008. See attached staff report and draft joint Resolution (draft) .
The entire South Hillsboro Community Plan makes sense as a Great Community but Area 69 and Area 71 alone do not. Areas 69 and 71 are “pieces in a larger puzzle” as you can see from the attached South Hillsboro Community Plan Map (Areas 69 and 71, shown in orange and brown lines respectively). The configurations of Areas 69 and 71 are the result of previous UGB expansion criteria (based on land resource value) which allowed only lower value agricultural land to be added to the UGB resulting in additions that did not, in some cases, have the locational qualities or physical relationships necessary to create successful future neighborhoods and communities. To be able to achieve the goals of compact urban form, efficient use of land, mixed-use development, and rational and economic provision of urban service, the City determined, and the County and Metro concurred, that Areas 69 and 71 should be planned as part of the larger South Hillsboro planning process.
The Planning Commission generally support the South Hillsboro Community Plan for the entire South Hillsboro area, however most Commissioners are not comfortable or satisfied about the piece-meal approach to City approval of the proposed Hillsboro Comprehensive Plan (HCP) amendments for Area 69 and Area 71. Based on their comments, the Commission seems very concerned that this incremental Plan adoption approach does not provide an adequate foundation to proceed in large part because it falls short of satisfactorily and effectively mitigating the transportation impacts and governance issues. It seems clear that Commissioners want a more wholistic approach to mitigating these community impacts and addressing governance issues. Such an approach can happen when the entire South Hillsboro Area qualifies for urbanization under State and Regional land use rules thereby enabling subsequent adoption and implementation of the entire South Hillsboro Community Plan.
At the Planning Commission Public Hearings of April 29th and May 28th on the proposed comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance amendments no one testified in opposition.
The Planning Commission tabled the proposed Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance amendments for Area 69 and Area 71 on May 28, 2008 due to this piece-meal approach. The Planning Commission then adopted the Joint Planning Commission/City Council Resolution and asked staff to bring the Joint Resolution to City Council for consideration and adoption.
On June 17, 2008 the City Council adopted the Joint Resolution (adopted) that formally expresses support of the inclusion of the entire South Hillsboro Planning Area (2,330 acres) as an Urban Reserve; endorses the South Hillsboro Community Plan, and prioritizes efforts to resolve governance and transportation issues in this area with Washington County and the State of Oregon recognizing the need for additional technical studies.
The Joint Resolution will facilitate designation of the entire South Hillsboro Area as Regional Urban Reserves in 2008-09 followed by City adoption and implementation of the entire South Hillsboro Community Plan once the area is added to the UGB.
For additional information contact Jeannine Rustad at (503) 681-5321 or by email.