City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome.

This meeting is being recorded.

Thank you. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the 02/17/2026 city council meeting. Thank you for joining us this evening. For translation services, please use the QR code on the poster on the left hand side of the room or on the front page of your agenda. To begin this meeting, I invite you all to join me in the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. May we please have a roll call?

Mayor pace here. Councilor harris here. Councilor ambery here. Councilor sinclair here. Councilor case here. Councilors alcair and salgado are absent.

Thank you. Item two presentations and appointments there are none this evening. We move to item three which is public comment. I want to let you all know item 8.1 on the agenda which is the exception to the citywide naming policy that would be moved to another meeting. So if you are here to discuss item 8.1, the exception to citywide naming policy, you are welcome to submit your public comment but I just want to let you know we will not be voting on that item this evening thank you.

Persons wishing to speak will be recognized at this time. If you are here in person and wish to speak please fill out a yellow card and hand it to the city recorder. When I call on you, please join us here at the front two tables, you can pick one, and speak into the microphone so those on zoom can also hear your comments. Because of the translation tool, community members can speak in their language of choice and the city recorder can display the translation on the screen. Is right over there.

We have zero persons registered to speak virtually, and the deadline to register has now passed. If you were able to sign up to speak prior to the deadline, if you weren't able to sign up to speak prior to the deadline, you are always welcome to email your comments to the city councilor to to any of the city councilors at any time of day. This is called public comment because it's time dedicated for you to inform the city council about your views. We will not be commenting back. It won't be a conversation. We'll just listen. Comments are limited to three minutes, and we do have people who are online. Is that right? They did register? Okay.

So we do have people online that registered in time. Great. Okay. So, we'll be getting hearing from those calling in virtually. The first one is Jen Klotz.

Good evening, everyone. My name is

Jen Klotz, and I lead local government affairs and community engagement for Genentech here in Oregon and wanting to speak basically on the Jobs Act bill. So as a pioneer of technology, Genentech is a significant economic partner in the state. And beyond creating high paying jobs, we support the local ecosystem by procuring Oregon vendors and construction land management by investing deeply in the community organizations that help Oregonians thrive. Things like building our future stem workforce here locally, partnering with Hill High and Rock Creek. But Genentech's parent company Roche recently announced a commitment to invest $50,000,000,000 in The United States over the next five years.

And Genentech really believes that the Jobs Act is essential to improving our business climate and positioning Oregon as a prime destination for that level of capital investment and job creation. Genentech really wants to help build that ecosystem here. A critical piece of this legislation involves land use because advanced manufacturing requires build ready industrial land. And twenty years ago, Genentech purchased 75 acres in Hillsboro. If Oregon had not had that land ready and the incentives to be competitive with other states, Genentech would not be in Oregon today.

And because of that foresight of the state, we were able to grow from zero employees back then to over a thousand right here, primarily in the Hillsborough community. But today, the global and national competition is really fierce. And there's other states and other nations that are really actively aligning their policies to attract and retain the very manufacturing that we excel at. And Oregon currently is not as competitive as we once were. So we believe Genentech really truly believes that the Jobs Act strengthens our ability to remain competitive for the next generation of capital investment. And for these reasons, just as a testimony, Genentech strongly supports this bill. Thank you for your time.

We will next hear from mohamed fessel a zim. Hang on one second Two alright. You you all set with the timer? Okay. Go ahead, Mohammed. Thank you.

Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is and I've been a Hillsborough resident for twenty five years. I want to start by thanking the city for their focus on redeveloping the Fairground Sports Complex and investing in the health and welfare of our community. I'm pleased to see that city's vision goes beyond the lost fields of GFRC. In that spirit, I would like to advocate for including pickleball courts in the playgrounds plan.

These can either be dedicated courts or multiuse with other sports like foot solar candidates. Piggleball courts are pretty space efficient. Typically, three of them can sit in the space allocated for a single foot sole or tennis court. As many of you know, pickleball is a fast growing sport in our city and metro area. At my local 53rd Avenue Park, the six dedicated courts stay at capacity with residents often facing longer wait times than playing time.

Adding 10 to 15 courts will help address the growing demand and allow organizing games at different skill levels simultaneously. It can also provide a place to hold fun community tournaments. What makes pickleball so special is not the game itself, but the spectrum of people it serves. On any given day, you will see kids and teens playing alongside their parents or grandparents. You will see people of all genders, ethnicities, and cultural and economic backgrounds connecting in a way that I've barely experienced in other sports.

It's an amazingly welcoming environment. I've been impressed at how effective pickleball is bringing the community together. It provides a safe and exciting outlet for our kids and teenagers to stay active and a vital space for seniors to stay connected. It is truly a multi generational sport. The Fairgrounds first complex initiative is a chance to build something that truly mirrors the spirit of Hillsborough, energetic, diverse, and welcoming. Let's make sure we build enough cores so that every president has a chance to play. Thank you for your time and for your commitment to our community.

Thank you. We'll next hear from Adalee or Atali Mitchell. And give us one second for the timer to be set up. Is she on? Are they on? Okay. Atali Mitchell, you can go ahead.

Hi. My name is Adele Mitchell, and I'm calling in in support of the Jobs Act. I wanna discuss a little bit about my experience with the PCC Quick Start Semiconductor Program. I was able to attend the very first one here in Oregon in October 2022. It was sponsored by Intel. So I was told about this program through community action. My kids were in the head start program and we were very low income and my husband is disabled. So I was the primary breadwinner at the time doing childcare and I wanted to find a career that I could advance in. And so

this

opportunity was provided to me. I got to get into the program. It was a two week full time program where it gave us a background in semiconductors and working in a fab. We after the program, we were given the opportunity to interview with Intel. And if we met the right criteria we got jobs.

I've now worked at Intel for three years and in that time I have been given many many opportunities to advance. We are now no longer low income. We are able to support ourselves and thrive, and I believe that the Jobs Act will do that for a lot of our community. I think having other companies come in that could partner with PCC for a quick start program of their own would be super beneficial for our community members and for our economy. Thanks.

Thank you. We're going to turn to folks in the room now and our first person registered to speak is Denise Van Damelen. Denise, did you want to speak tonight still? Going once. Denise Van Damelen. Okay. The next person is Pam Code. Is Pam here? Okay. And then Ricky Noke. Ricky, you can come up to the other desk. So Pam will pick one desk, and then Ricky, you can pick the the other side. So Ricky hold off on your testimony and then Pam when you're all set you have three minutes. Oh yes please push the button in the middle there. Thank you.

Thank you. It recently came to my attention that our state senator is attempting for the fifth time to sell 1,700 acres of land reserved for agriculture in Hillsborough for the development of data centers even though 500 acres of land still stands undeveloped. I'm referring to senate bill fifteen eighty six. The hearing in Salem was yesterday and I submitted a public comment. However, I still want to express my sentiment on the topic to the city of Hillsborough leadership.

These are my personal views and concerns that I have not necessarily heard expressed elsewhere. And I thank you all in advance for carrying my message forward. However, you may be able to do that. So when I heard about the context around the bill, which is rightfully being called a land grab, here is the impression of senator Solman's way of thinking that came to mind for me. In my mind, I saw her saying, okay, I'm gonna sell this land, profit.

Oh, you guys wanted something else for this land. I didn't even hear you speak. That is to say that the impression that I am getting, which infuriates me, is that our senator is not even trying to act like they're listening to people who abide in Hillsborough before acting, much less consider what is of value to us about the land and just being more aligned with those people who she appears to be colluding with. And this also raises to questions for me naturally if this is how our senator is thinking and acting, what about other leadership? So giving the benefit of the doubt, though, I get it.

Things really move fast these days with information information technology and electronic communications. It's probably really easy for senator Salman and whoever else to get carried away when they get excited about big numbers. But I really wish to see her slow down and get this to be more of an organic process, meaning thinking less corporate and getting face to face, hearing from Hillsborough's humans about what kind of environment they'd like to live in and that they would be proud of. I will note that I looked up our city flag just before this, and the four green squares represent agriculture. So there is that in terms of our values.

Let's see. So evidently, what we would like is the preservation of the land for agriculture use, but she is trying to move forward with changes to our little landscape that we have not consented to. Put another way, we have not consented to our land being altered permanently so that corporations can have their profit. And once that land is developed, it cannot be brought back for another purpose. Thank you for listening and carrying my message forward.

Okay. Thank you. Ricky Ricky Noak, you're next, but hold up. Mary Mullen, you can come up. Mary Mullen, you can come up to the other desk. And then the person on deck is Brown. And I didn't say this before, but if you wanna support someone while they're speaking or when they're done speaking, please don't clap because you we may not be able to hear their testimony. So if you wanna support them, please snap. If you have signs, you're welcome to have them, but please don't hold them up. Please don't block someone else's view, and please don't boo. Please be respectful. Okay. Ricky, you're up. You have three minutes.

Yeah.

I think so. Go for it.

I will

You just turned your mic off. Wait till it turns green. Hang on one second. We're gonna get you another console so we can hear you. Thank you for your patience, Ricky, Mark. Thanks for the tech support. Thank you. Yeah. Now we can hear you. That's terrific. Go for it.

I will also be speaking regarding the 1586 senate bill. I think we can all agree that Hillsborough is one of the best cities in the world. We have thousands of job opportunities thanks to our Silicon Forest and many, many other places that supply us with work. One of the reasons I love Hillsborough so much is how we are able to have industrial parts of the city while still maintaining our beautiful nature and parks. Allowing the urban growth boundary to be expanded would upset the wonderful balance of agrarian farmland and technological districts that the people of Hillsborough have worked so hard to cultivate.

I was initially under the notion that, well, it needs to get built somewhere when I first heard about the expansion of the urban growth boundary for AI data centers. But, as I really thought about it, I realized this is not the case. Not allowing this urban growth boundary to be expanded would not only conserve Hillsborough's rich farmland for generations to come, but would also be a symbol of solidarity against big AI corporations. We can all say no to the further advancement of AI that has taken and will further take away good jobs for honest, hardworking people all over the world. Even though we are already seeing the negative effects of AI jobs, it is not too late to help maintain human powered industries.

I urge everyone in this room to help me in keeping Hillsborough the amazing agricultural city it is and to testify and advocate against the expansion of the urban growth boundary. I believe it is our duty as citizens of Hillsborough to protect the breathtaking nature of our wonderful wonderful city. Please keep Hillsborough the wonderful place to live that it is, and not only protect our rich farmland, but also the jobs of millions of people across the world. People are the heart of Hillsborough, not bots. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ricky. Mary, you are next. And Brown, is Brown here? That was the only name I was given. Brown? Okay. Wonderful. And Leaf Echols is on deck. Leaf echoes you' be called up next. Mary.

I' m Mary Mullen thank you so much I appreciate your public service I know it takes a lot out of your own lives and I appreciate you. I' here to speak against senate bill fifteen eighty six which is poorly named as the job act I think that' not true. I' also here to speak because I' the mother of a daughter with an intellectual disability. Oddly enough this whole issue is directly going to affect people with special needs because What has always happened is the budgets are often balanced on the back of poor people and people who have disabilities. We have to stop that and this is a chance to stop it and to go higher to be more moral to be more loving in our approach to our community.

I' also here because I was raised on a farm in Alaska and I love soil and I' here to tell you that soil is disappearing just as much as some of our neighbors are disappearing. We need to take care of soil we have no choice but to take care of it. The connection with people who have disabilities might seem far fetched but it' not because my daughter has a job serving dinner to our elders she takes her job very responsibly but she needs public transportation to get there and she rides a bus and she' courageous to do it because people with down syndrome are physically vulnerable. You know how sometimes you hear a story that hits your heart? Last year I heard of a farm worker family in Hillsborough who had a child with special needs and they needed all kinds of special electrical equipment and also equipment that used a lot of water to keep this child going and they could not afford their electric bill.

To me that' so wrong and so sad and it' a story that has stuck with me for a whole year since I' heard it. We really need to get our priorities in better order. That' what I' here to employ you to do please elevate my daughter and that child whose parents couldn' afford the water bill and electric bill make them as important as big tech make them as important as so called artificial intelligence. Have to elevate real things and real people.

Thank you very much Mary.

You. Leaf

you can come up to the other desk and brown you have three minutes. Please press the green button or the button so the light turns green thank you you' on.

So last time I was here, I said I don't trust any of them. I still don't. They haven't done anything for us working class people. That has always been in the hands of us, the working class people, because I don't expect them to do anything, they haven't done anything. So, I'm just here to talk to you all, to remind you all that you are the ones with the power.

Without us supporting any of them, they don't have any power either. And, they they've been saying how, oh, well this is gonna bring jobs, this is gonna bring back money. That's such a weak excuse because you know what else could bring money and jobs to Hillsborough? Is if we started paying the school district so that they could hire more positions. There is a teacher shortage, but they don't they're not adding anything to the budget. You know what they did? They cut 20,000,000 from the district budget. You know how much they allocated to the Hillsborough Hops stadium? 150,000,000. So what does that tell you?

I believe in revolution and the first step is education. And why are they attacking that then? Because they don't want us to be educated enough to realize when we're being exploited or how. They don't want us to be educated enough to actually organize and remove them so that we can do things for ourselves. Like, why are we asking them to do these things when they don't even know? Like, they're not affected by this. We are. We know what needs to be done. Like, what would you rather have? So tell someone, hey, this is how I need you to fix my toilet or would you rather go and fix your toilet yourself if you already know how, you know?

And it's just so ridiculous because they want us to pretend that they're gonna do something about it, but they're not doing anything. They're they're pretending like this is a favor to us to hear us out. That's their responsibility. That's their job. Like, they're here to hear us out, but just because they're hearing doesn't mean that they're gonna listen. Because I saw so many community members at the town hall begging for the budget not to be cut. And what did they do? They still went through with it. So even if we're here begging, crying for them to not do these things, they can still decide not to listen. Like, I'm just pointing that out.

That's a reminder. And just reminding everyone that when you see people trying to push for these kinds of changes, look into it Because you can't unify if you don't educate yourself on these things, you know. It takes a lot of humility to admit when you're wrong about something, but I promise you, you will be so much better for it afterwards. And, like, I'm so open. If you wanna talk about literally anything, I am always so open. I am down to work with whoever has the people's interest, the working class people's interest. Whoever has these agricultural workers interest at heart. Right? Because we are the ones running these things. We are the ones providing all of the resources that they use and that they're deciding on.

Like, honestly, we could even decide not to go to work so that these land data centers don't get used. Thank you.

You. The next person up is Leaf Echols. And the next person that can come up to the desk is Regina and Sheila. Regina and Sheila. Regina, are you bringing two or two people up or just one? I think. Just the one. Okay. And then on deck is Blaine Ackley. So Blaine, you'll be up next. Leaf, you have three minutes. Okay. My name

is Leith Echols, and I'm a parent of a kid that attends Hillsborough Public School, and I work in the semiconductor industry. My views and opinions are my own. I deeply understand the semiconductor industry and the importance of our industry and to the economic growth of Washington County in the state of Oregon. Washington County is also home to the most pristine farmland in the world. Senate bill fifteen eighty six, the so called Oregon jobs act will absorb 1,700 acres of pristine farmland in parts of the Tualatin River watershed into Hillsborough's urban growth boundary.

And yet, there's plenty of space within the urban growth boundary that could be developed. Hillsborough has continued to expand the urban growth boundary year over year without meaningfully creating new high paid tech jobs and tax revenue for the state. But this has driven up the cost of land pushing out local farms that can't compete with big tech companies. Senator Janine Sullivan claims this bill will create high-tech paid high paid tech jobs. In the last two years I'92ve seen firsthand that semiconductor companies in Oregon have been laying off workers or moving their jobs out of state.

There'92s no appetite to expand semiconductor development in Oregon right now. Senator salman also claims that this bill will not create standalone data centers but there' a massive loophole in our bill that makes this not only possible but very likely given the market right now. As long as AI data centers have a small section of their building dedicated to research they get around the loophole. AI data centers do not create semiconductor jobs they create short term construction jobs and a handful of IT jobs to maintain a massive building of servers that require extreme uses of water and electricity to maintain. These data centers suck up our suck up our energy and water resources causing our utility rates to skyrocket.

On top of that these companies are not meaningfully contributing to organs revenue base because of sweetheart tax breaks school districts across the state including Washington County have had to lay teachers and staff because of tax revenue losses. This amounted to $275,000,000 in 02/2024 alone for the state. Every year, our public schools have to get by with less while out of state corporations get rich by not paying their fair of of taxes. When the AI bubble burst, we'll be left with empty warehouses contributing nothing to Oregon's economy. Senator Solman's primary stated reason for this bill was to bring high-tech high paying tech jobs back to Hillsborough, But companies like mine employ some of the top scientists and engineers from around the world often on visas.

I have employees that are afraid to travel to to work due to the illegal actions of federal immigration officers that are targeting people because of the color of their skin regardless of legal status. Do you know how difficult it is to run a semiconductor fab without people? Do you think we can maintain a semiconductor r and d hub when the tech companies here are starting to decrease the number of experts here due to the political climate? Hillsborough may be a moderately sized city, but we're home to some of the most profitable high-tech companies in the state and the world. The real way to drive up tech jobs in Hillsborough is to make this a place the top scientists and engineers want to live. All s b fifteen eighty six will do is make a few landowners rich while not delivering on the promise of high-tech jobs. Thank you.

Blaine Ackley, you can come up and take a seat on the other desk. And, Regina, you have three minutes.

My name is Sheila. Regina is sitting there. Good evening, mayor pays and council members. It gives us immense pleasure to extend this invitation to fest femina, a special celebration organized by the women, for the women on the occasion of International Women's Day. This event is dedicated to honoring the leadership achievements and invaluable contributions of women within our community.

It will serve as a platform to acknowledge and celebrate the strength, resilience and impact of women across all walks of life. This will be held on March 8 at from 3PM to 6PM. We would be deeply honored by your presence at this gathering. Your participation will add great value to the celebration and further inspire the spirit of unity and empowerment among the women. I've provided the invitations also. Thank you.

Thank you. Blaine Ackley, is that you?

That's me.

Hang on one second, Blaine. We have Nelly McAdams. Nelly? Alright. Come on up. And then we have Luz Virones. Luz, you are on deck. Okay. Blaine, you have three minutes.

Thank you. Mayor Pace and counselors, my name is Blaine Ackley. I reside in Ward 2 in Hillsborough where I've lived for the past thirty six years. You have my testimony before you, so I'm not gonna read through that. But I wanna hit a couple of points on SB fifteen eighty six.

Other speakers more eloquent than I have already said that it's not gonna create job except construction jobs. Another point, there have been no public hearings for this at all other than in Salem, not in Hillsborough. Okay? And Washington County commissioner Fye, echoes this concern when she says, why rush a bill of this magnitude honoring past agreements like the 2014 grand bargain that was supposed to last for fifty years in 2014. Honoring past agreements is not a barrier to progress.

It is a foundation for a responsible progress. Also, Also, the metro council did not vote to approve this measure. Metro councilor Juan Carlos Gonzales helped write the bill, and president Lynn Peterson sent a letter, but the metro council never voted on this. And I know this because Garrett Rosenthal is my friend, and he is a metro councilor. So I checked that out with him.

Passage of this bill would just cost us taxpayers here in Hillsborough money, and we will lose our valuable land. Now, to another thing that's more important, our children. And we want to build four softball stadium fields one quarter mile away from the Hillsborough Airport, the eighth most contaminated lead contaminated airport in The United States. That's right. And let's see.

How many of us here would like to have your kids play on a in a field that's surrounded by lab. Oh, nobody. Oh, okay. There is it's a tasteless, odorless element. It lasts forever, and that's a long time.

And you are one quarter mile away from the airport in the flight path, and now you have notice. And you could talk to your lawyers about this, but once you have notice and you move ahead with something, that is called negligence. And the city is gonna be responsible for that. Anybody who brings a lawsuit, you're gonna lose. Okay? And so,

Thank you

very do the kids.

Thank you. We have Nelly McAdams who is next. And, Luz Viadonis. Luz, are you here? Okay. Great. Luz, you can take the seat. And then Scott Ellis. Scott, you are on deck. Nelly, you have three minutes.

Mayor pays city councilors, I'm Nelly McAdams and I live in Portland, but my roots are in Washington County. I'm here to ask the city to honor its agreements and to be a better steward its industrial land and the public's tax dollars. In particular, I asked the city to withdraw its support from senate bill fifteen eighty six which would bring 1,700 acres of world class farmland into Hillsborough's urban growth boundary or urban reserves for no demonstrated purpose. While proponents of the bill claimed that it would not allow standalone data centers, this promise is meaningless. The bill allows data centers that are accessory to businesses and it does not limit their number, size, or total acreage.

SB fifteen eighty six claims to support advanced manufacturing, the definition of which was modified by a presidential executive order last July to include data centers. If this bill is passed, Hillsborough would likely squander the land exactly as it has 1,100 acres to the east with hundreds of acres of data centers and only about 30 acres of high-tech job producing businesses. Despite the bill's acronym, the jobs act, data centers provide very few jobs and those jobs come at a huge cost for local and state governments. In Virginia, one data center job is created for every 54,000,000 in taxpayer dollars invested or withheld in tax breaks. Hillsborough says that it has already spent a $120,000,000 on utilities to serve that land that was designated to remain farming for another forty years.

That's a 120,000,000 taxpayer dollars wasted that could have been invested on creating jobs on the land that Hillsborough already manages. For example, I would love to see more job producing businesses like Genentech in Hillsborough and the city should help Genentech expand onto the large vacant portions of their 75 acre campus or onto the 500 and built acres of industrial land inside the city's urban growth boundary. Senate bill fifteen eighty six would double down on this wasteful spending. The most detailed description of the expansion is a six page development prospectus that estimates it would take thirty five years for the expansion to break even. It's unclear if that projection accounts for the tax break that this bill would extend to industries including data centers.

Most concerning, there was no public hearing on a plan that would expand the city's size by 11% which city staff clearly worked on hard outside of the public eye. This is the sixth bill in nine years to bring the same land in Hillsborough each time for a different reason. The common theme is that some of the landowners want to sell their land at industrial value instead of agricultural value. It is not your duty as an elected official to facilitate a massive windfall to a few people especially when it comes at an extreme cost to your constituents. This is all in violation of a compromise that Hillsborough and other bodies of government agreed to only twelve years ago.

The grand bargain gave Hillsborough fifty years supply of industrial land and housing land and protects 1,700 acres as a rural reserve. It doesn't matter if you didn't personally sign the grand bargain. Elected officials do not sign agreements on their own behalf. They sign them on behalf of their residents who rely on the certainty of that agreement. To be clear, this proposed expansion is not economic development. It is a waste of public resources on an industry that produces few jobs, uses extreme amounts of water and energy and land, and pays almost nothing in taxes. Just because a few businesses and landowners would become massively wealthy does not make it a wise economic strategy for your residents. For those reasons, I ask you to withdraw your support from s p fifteen eighty six.

Thank you. Luce, hold hold tight one second, Luce. And next up is Scott Ellis. Thank you, Nelly. Scott Ellis, are you here? Oh, Scott, come on up. And then, Erin Nichols, you are on deck. Luce, you have three minutes.

Thank you very much for this opportunity. I' here to oppose senate bill fifteen eighty six. Very surprised a great senator a great friend of mine the senator is proposing this. Her and I have had lots of conversations about how our senators are not supporting the working class the farm workers the less affluent the more marginalized. So I' very disappointed in her and all the ones that are following her and I' holding each one of you responsible to vote responsibly.

I' going to go ahead and read you chief Seattle' letter which was written in 1855. Imagine when chief Seattle was young in Seattle, beautiful land, full of scent of berries, the birds singing, the water is running clear where you can reach and drink the water. Imagine when I got here to The United States in 1962, basically I encountered a beautiful land, which now my grandchildren can only hear my my story for me. But can they believe it? No.

They cannot believe it. I think we' heading for disasters in the name of more jobs, more money for the affluent, less money for the farm workers, and food that is more expensive for all of us. Have seen prices rise to the worst ever I have seen. We are seeing hate. We are seeing greed that I have never seen in my 75 years, over 50 living in this country.

It is disgusting. I have relatives in Mexico, Chile, Venezuela. It's disgusting how our greed is affecting other people in the world. I'm gonna go ahead and read a little bit of chief Seattle's letter. The great chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land.

The great chief also sends us words of friendship and goodwill. This is kind of him since how he has little need for our friendship in return, but we will consider your offer for we for we know if if we do not so, white men may come with guns and take our land. What chief Seattle says, you can count on as a truly our white brothers can count on the return of the season. My words are like the stars. They are not set.

How can you buy our land, the sky, the warmth of the land, the idea of strange to us? Yet, we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkles of the water. How can you buy them from us? We will not decide in our time. Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, very sandy shores, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, and every humming insects is wholly in the memory and experience of my people.

Thank you very much. We have Scott Ellis next. And Erin Erin Nichols. Hang on one second, Scott. Sorry about that. Erin, you can come up and sit in the other desk. And the person on on deck is Alexis Bastida Pinetti. Scott, you have three minutes. Go

ahead. Good evening. My name is Scott Ellis, and I live in that 1,700 acres. Listening to the testimony down at the State Capitol yesterday and I heard mayor pay speak I heard our senator speak I haven' heard one person that actually lives there so I bought this land five years ago and it was rye grass field. And I did my due diligence to find out anything that could happen. It's protected land. So I built a house. I have a farm. I just finished building a barn. And I farm this thing blueberries, watermelons, I farm this property.

And what we're seeing right now people want to take it. And what they're saying is kind of the promise of, if we do this this is gonna save Oregon. You know, we've we've heard about the jobs disappearing. Over 20,000 jobs have disappeared. 5,000 recently with Intel.

We have a problem in Oregon. This isn't gonna solve it. And so people are saying, hey, if we do this this is gonna be booming for for us. Well, not for the residents because we've seen with Intel and some of these others, they get the tax breaks. And senator Solman introduced dash four to her bill, which increases the amount of deductions and tax breaks for the big businesses.

Big businesses are not invested. They come in here, corporate companies, they set up shop, they make their money, and if the economy turns, they're out. They'll file bankruptcy or whatever, they're out. We get nothing out of it. So our residents end up with more, it costs us more for electrical, more for water, our schools. So we've heard all that stuff. So who benefits with this? The city of Hillsborough. You get 1,700 acres that you get to bring into the City Of Hillsborough and metro. And we've heard about the metro thing.

This is a this is a huge deception. We have a building that sits just east of Jackson School Road that was just built it's been empty for six or eight months. 300,000 square feet building that's up for lease. It's empty. It's not like we had somebody wanting to come in. This thing sitting empty. This is what's gonna happen on the other side. All the promises I would like to see since I got twenty seconds, I'd like to see if the City Of Hillsborough is so vested in this, somebody had to come to the City Of Hillsborough and say here's a map, here's all the buildings, this is our plan. I'd like to see the city of Hillsborough put that on their website and be honest. Thank you.

Thank you. Aaron Nichols, you're up. One second. And then Alexis Bethsida Pinade. Thank you. And then on deck is Myrna Munoz. Myrna, if you are here, are on deck. Aaron, welcome. You have three minutes.

Thank you, mayor Pace. Good evening, mayor, councilors. My name is air Nichols 11000 North West Jackson Quarry Road in Hillsborough Oregon. I'm from next door. As you probably guessed I'm here to testify in senate bill fifteen eighty six. First I would to say thank you to councilor Sinclair who has been publicly opposed and we appreciate that. It is definitely the right side of the bill to be on. I would I'm here to I'm a farmer. I farm 15 acres. I feed about 500 people. With my CSA I go to two busy farmers markets. I sell wholesale vegetables. I employ about 10 people. This is irrevocably damaging to the soils as we've heard. I think that's clear.

I don't think anyone questions whether bulldozing a bunch of farmland is gonna destroy the soils. It's also very damaging to the agricultural community. I farm to the North of Hillsborough. Much of the land is to the West. Many farmers rent land in both. That will not be an option when we put 1,700 acres of data centers in the only rural route between the two farming regions around Hillsborough. There's also a major question of whether farming infrastructure will survive if we reduce the some of our very best soils and and kick farmers off of those. You know, we Our farming infrastructure serves people from Tillamook to Washington. We are a center of farming as well, and it is our second biggest industry. It's very possible.

We will see a we'll see a steep decline and some A death spiral quite possibly should we should we choose to to take this acreage out of farming. It's a bad idea. But, I think that those reasons, you know, me driving a tractor from one field to another is not why over 600 people have testified on this bill and over 92% are opposed. No one, by the way, has testified against jobs. We've seen, as Nelly said, only about 30 acres of advanced manufacturing built on greenfields in the past fifteen years.

Years where Hillsborough has had 1,100 of acres from the Grand Bargain has been totally unconstrained by land. We've also seen hundreds of acres of data centers built on former farmland. It's fifteen years of failed economic development, fifteen years of growth at any cost. It's fifteen years of placing any corporation over our communities. And now we're told that there's two options for this new 1,700 acres and both of them will bring thousands of jobs and millions of tax revenue.

So why didn't that happen before? Why are we looking at data centers on the 1,100 acres that we brought in last time? I think the reason is and I I think the reason this bill will not bring jobs to Oregon is that we are not short on land in Oregon. We have 500 acres in Hillsborough, have thousand acres in Wilsonville, we have the Hynix plants in in Eugene, we have a lot of acreage, all of them quite ready for for advanced manufacturing or any other industry. What we're lacking, especially in Hillsborough, is accountability. And so that is what I'm looking to see, is accountability. Thank you.

Thank you. Alexis, you have three minutes, but hold up. And then Myrna, you can come up. Myrna Menoz. K. You can have a seat right there. And then Dirk Knudson, you are on deck. Alexis, welcome. You have three minutes.

Thank you for having me. My name is Alexis. I have a small business here in Aloha, but we do a lot of work here in Hillsborough and I try very hard to provide good well paying jobs for my employees. Over the span of the last year, I've decided to spend the entire year dedicating thirty plus hours talking to the community, working in the community to try to help people that are facing things like utility shutoffs. And honestly, it's been incredibly difficult.

I mean, I have those conversations with people on a weekly basis when you have families that come in that are having their water and their power shut off to them because they're not able to keep up with their utility rate increases year after year. And now you have the jobs act focusing on building 1,700 acres of land, the majority of which will likely end up going to data centers. My concern aside from the irreparable damage to that farmland is where are all the utilities gonna come from? That's gonna require massive investments in the infrastructure. And those companies that are coming in, unfortunately, we're not putting forward legislature that's gonna hold them accountable for those costs.

Those are gonna be put in to the people at the bottom, the people that are already suffering as much as it is. It's incredibly disheartening to see things like this happen to be put forward by our own senators. And then on top of that, you realize that just in the last month, you had a massive power company Puget Sound Energy have a bidding war with Amazon over in Morrow County where they closed on a final sale price for the single largest green power development in the entire Pacific Northwest that is now going to be privately owned at the final sale price of $86,000,000. It is very painful to recognize that while, yes, $86,000,000 is a lot of money, it is a far cry from the $220,000,000 in tax subsidy credits that Amazon received in the last year. And the only reason that they went forward with that purchase was because PGE is unable to keep up with the power demands of their existing data centers.

They themselves have acknowledged it and that is why they pushed so hard for the sale of this land. Projects like this are gonna exacerbate this problem. That single green power initiative would have provided enough power to hundreds of thousands of households had it been used for public good. We're now focusing on turning over this land hoping to bring back high paying jobs to try to revitalize the heyday of when Intel provided us with a stable form of high income taxes. Those days haven't come back and we've tried this in the past as many have mentioned before.

We've tried the data centers. We've tried the industrial sectors. The jobs aren't there. The only thing that has remained consistent is that pieces of legislature like this and initiatives like this harm the people at the bottom the most.

Thank you. Thank you. Dirk, you can come up to the other desk. And on deck, have Denise Care. Myrna, you have welcome. You have three minutes.

I think this is already on. Good evening Hillsborough City Council. My name is Myrna Munoz and I'm a bilingual educator of over twenty five years. A Mexican American mother of two with a lifetime of participatory citizenship. I'm so worried about us right now.

I came to Oregon in admiration of our nature. The land grab that s p fifteen eighty six represents is astounding. I want to submit testimony I went to submit testimony at the Capitol on monday and was shocked to hear the language that these corporate monsters are using to justify breaking their promises to the people of Hillsborough. I'm concerned about the democratic principles under which the ideas and protocols outlined in the bill were gathered and decided on. What was called collaboration included only corporate business interests and not the people that vote in this community.

It seems that we forgot to include loops for feedback from the community with such a big change to our promise. When I learned about this bill and its avenues for bringing data centers to our region I was alarmed. I couldn't believe I had missed engagement processes for this because I know my community feels like me. We don't want the danger of data centers around us. How could this happen?

It's become clear to me that community voice was not a priority for the folks collaborating to move this bill forward. It's inappropriate to follow the federal government's lead with regard to democracy in this difficult moment. Our senator and all of the people she collaborated with to bring this land grab forward yet again transparently shared the language of profit over people. I heard nothing from their collaboration about the impact to the farmers that invested in agriculture here and the business they bring. I heard nothing from their collaboration about the impact on minoritized communities from this abuse of land water and soil.

I heard no reference to any kind of prevention around what we know these data centers will do to our electricity supply. Does anyone here care about the nine gigawatt problem? Now is the time to put people over profit and make sure our communities' needs are centered into the future.

Thank you. Thank you. Dirk, you're up next. But hold off. And then, Denise, you can come up. And on deck, we have gene christen. Gene christen is on deck. Okay. Dirk you have three minutes welcome.

Thank you. Mayor pace members of the council today I'm here to expose the fraud contained in senate bill fifteen eighty six dash four. Proponents claim this bill excludes standalone data centers. We keep hearing that. But the text from yesterday tells a different story.

On 07/23/2025, the federal government issued executive order fourteen thousand three eighteen, officially reclassified large scale AI data centers as, quote, industrial infrastructure. Senator Salmon's dot four amendment mirrors the federal pivot perfectly in section two one a a one in her bill we now have a defined definition of advanced manufacturing as activities that depend on the coordination of information, computation software, and networking. Mayor, that is a statutory definition of a data center. By adopting this language, you're not protecting Hillsborough from more server farms. You're giving them a legal fast track to our rural reserves.

Despite overwhelming opposition, over 400 pieces of opposition so far, you, Janine Salmon and Metro Councilor Juan Carlos Gonzalez are bent on bringing the 1,700 acres into the urban reserve. That's an 11% increase in our city's land mass. Under the new definition of advanced manufacturing, it will be automatic for the same companies already using these these sources in July. As I stated from the July 2025 federal definition, they'll automatically be able to build data centers. So the whole no stand alone data centers is completely canceled, which was pointed out yesterday.

Now let me point out that three major Hillsborough players already here and opened, aligned data centers owned by BlackRock, Digital Realty owned by Vanguard, and Stack Infrastructure, these three have already filed federal permits around the country to build data centers in these similar zones. This filing under the new federal definition, which aligns with the dash four amendment yesterday. They're not building factories for people, they're building power hungry hubs for machines, and doing so by calling it manufacturing. This is what's gonna happen with that land if we don't change some of the facts around this bill and the way it's being worded. And mayor, I brought this up before, but you did take thousands in campaign donations from the biggest energy lobbies in the Pacific Northwest and then they're owned by national, the big three we call them.

And you did take some money from land, people that were hired by the landowners that are classified as lobbyists. You Those were campaign donations, I understand that, but you haven't disclosed that. And you should because it creates an ethical situation for you, which I don't think is fair for you or the people of Hillsborough. So because of all these reasons, I think we need to take a break. I know we all want jobs, but we can't have more of this. This isn't gonna work. And if there are big employers here, let's exempt data centers altogether, like Hillsborough did with its 350 acres. Let's do that. And then you got my vote.

Thank you. Denise Carey you're up next. Jean Kristen you can come up to the table and Alan Ripolla. Alan Ripolla you are on deck. Okay. Denise welcome you have three minutes. No but you have to press the button down the button is in the center of the console. Make sure the light is green. It is. Okay.

Mayor pace and council members good evening happy mardi gras. My name is Denise care I grew up in a low and have lived in Hillsborough for forty years. SB fifteen eighty six the jobs act looks like another unforeseen bill with not enough time to conduct research. It' been less than a week since the bill was introduced as if it was meant to catch the public off guard. This is incredibly similar to how tina kotak s p four meeting on 10/10/2024 was found on the public with the same 1,700 acres in loophole my word intended to circumvent our land use planning goals again with less than a week for the public to research and prepare.

At the senator' presentation at the Capitol on February 13 she referred to this bill as a unicorn. I found the unicorn people. There's one obstacle. I found that the unicorn, this bill, is Intel's pipe dream. The previous CEO of Intel, Pat Jeltinger, is quoted as saying before the 5,000 employee layoff last year, 2025, quote, I would be reticent to constrain my dreams for how big it being Intel might be in the future, end quote.

Intel wants these 1,700 acres. This bill is one of many bills that seek to circumvent our 19 land use goals. That seems like a very labor intensive for legislatures cumbersome way of resolving the root cause of these many bills. It appears to me that the root cause needs to be addressed and then all the wrestling and wrangling these bills around the rules won't be necessary. Fix the land use goals and stop trying to circumvent them if they are flawed.

This bill is just the tip of the iceberg. It's the camel getting its nose under the tent. It will fragment the farming system in Washington County for our second biggest industry, agriculture, to simply bleed out. HB forty seventy eight was sanctioned for fifty years through 2065. It's been 12 since 2014.

Farmers and agricultures have plans, made big investments in vendors, preparation, equipment structures, schedules, more. Think not just of today or tomorrow, but consider many generations into the future. Let the folks who will benefit play by the current land use goals. These goals have kept Oregon beautiful, unique, and awesome for over fifty years. They can do the same for the next fifty or a hundred years. If this bill passes, though there will for sure be future changes that will break the promises in the bill. Thank you.

Up is Gene

Davis Farms.

Have Your one more time is up. Thank you for I

have one more sentence.

Your time is up. Thank you. Next person up is Jean Kristen.

Good evening mayor and members of the council. I'm here. My name is Jean Kristen to speak respectfully to appeal the proposed street naming in the town home development in the Havenwood area in Hillsborough. Am I still invited to speak? I noticed the development team was. Yes. You can. Yes. This particular site is not just another parcel of land. It is a natural natural grove of mature pines, a space that until recently reflected the quiet beauty and ecological character that makes our city unique.

As development moves forward, we understand change is inevitable, but how we choose to name our streets is still within our control and it matters. The currently proposed street names are personal family names such as Wally. They have no documented relevance to our broader community history, history, no demonstrated public contribution, and no recognized connection to this land. Based on the city Of Hillsborough's own code and naming guidelines, new street names are expected to avoid confusion, duplication, and arbitrary personal references. Street names are not private dedications.

They become part of our public map, our emergency systems, our identity, our legacy. They should reflect either the natural features of the land, geographic continuity, or individuals of clear and recognized community importance. Additionally, land carries a much deeper history Long before incorporation, long before development, the home the area was home to the Kalapuya, the Tualate Indian group, and the Atulati people were the subgroup in Hillsborough, Washington County acknowledging that history respectfully through culturally appropriate naming developed in consultation with tribal representatives where appropriate would demonstrate that Hillsborough values truth, heritage, and inclusion. It would show that we recognize this land did not begin with us. There is a clear opportunity to honor this setting.

The Kalapuya tribal members are working with their language revitalization. They have words for bee for beaver, for water, walnut, fir trees, trillium, sage, hazelnut. This would create cohesion rather than replace it with something disconnected. This appeal is about ensuring that development is thoughtful, that names shape identity. They appear on maps, driver license, school registration, business addresses, emergency dispatch.

They are spoken every day. They become permanent. We have one opportunity to name these streets well. I respectfully ask the council to reconsider reconsider approval of personal family names. Do they not meet the spirit or the intent of Hillsborough's naming standards. Instead, I urge you to direct to involve our native american and neighbor community with the developer in selecting names that let this neighborhood feel like it belongs here, not that it was just built here.

Thank you

very much.

Thank you.

Alan is next. Are you Alan? Yes. Okay. So hold off one second. Mickey Barnes, you are next, Mickey. And then on deck is Jody Clark Lampa. Jodi you' on deck mcky you' be next and alan you have three minutes.

Mayor pace members of the council thank you for having me here my name is alan rapelier I' a retired land use attorney with thirty five years of experience I' lived here in Hillsborough for thirty years and I urge the city council to not support this bill. Is as I said before it is a short session it has been rushed we haven't had really a good comment from your citizens here. Think Washington County needs to get more involved and it can always come back next year if it needs to come back but this should be rejected this year. It's bad planning. I've been involved in planning most of my adult life and the hallmark of Oregon planning is local government doing the planning.

Here you have your state legislators and most of them don't live here making decisions for us and so that is the bad bad way to do things. And again this is a violation of the grand bargain thousand fourteen. I was a I participated in that grand bargain and it was very difficult. Compromises were made. And here, we're throwing that all away.

I mean, one of the hallmarks of the local government is that you would, you know, adhere to what your former people did unless there's some really good reasons not to. And so to throw that all away in this method is a really bad bad precedent. And again, it sets a bad precedent around not just here but around the state to have the legislature piecemeal what land gets brought in to the urban growth boundary. Who gets the benefit? And and that just benefit it'll benefit the people who have the poll and have the money and not the benefit of the local citizens who, you know, need the jobs and need need growth.

And so, mean, I'm not against growth. And I think we hear we have some land, some cushion land, know, there's 500 acres I've heard out there that can be used for industrial land. So it's it's not a rush to get this done. So, again, I urge you to oppose this. And and, you know, and as also as a language attorney, I see that term accessory use. And that can be used in very broad term. And so it's just too wide open door for people to bring more data farms. You know, I live in this community as you do too, and I've heard nothing but people being upset about data farms. And I am upset too. I just don't think they're good for our community.

And we don't want any more of those. So this legislation needs to change to make sure that's out. So Finally, taking productive farmland out of service that' been productive for over one hundred years and will be productive for hundreds more years I think is a bad idea. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Mickey you' up next and Jody Clark Lampa you can come up. Hang on one second Mickey I' sorry I didn' give you the right queue hold off one second. Jody you' up and then Fawn Hosey Fawn, you' on deck. Is Fawn here? Fawn is here? Okay. Great. Mickey, go ahead. You have three minutes.

Hello, mayor pace, members of the city council. Thank you for this opportunity to to speak I appreciate your time. I do want to express my gratitude to all the people who spoke so passionately and eloquently this evening against SB 5,086 I joined them in opposing this bill I' like to see us honor the earth and honor the farmland and the sheer generosity of this earth rather than paving it over and destroying that land forever. I do want to spend a better part of my testimony however on another issue and that is the softball fields at the Fairgrounds Complex located across from the Hillsborough Airport that airport is the most lead polluting airport in the state a review of fuel flow hp data for hio revealed during a seventeen year period extending from 2006 to 2023 users of this facility released 22 tons of lead into the lived environment. 22 tons it does not go away.

And to this day, about three quarters of a ton of lead is released onto this community by users of that airport every single year. There have been multiple studies involving over a million children in 500 airports showing that children who reside in proximity to these facilities have elevated blood lead level readings. One study done in 2021 at Reed Hillview Airport in Santa Clara County found that children living near that airport had blood lead levels equal to the children that underwent the flint water crisis equal or greater. And here in Hillsborough we can' get anybody to even do a study this is appalling this is appalling you can either have that airport you can have these data centers you can have industry, or you can have a community that is fit for human habitation, but you can't have both. You've got to start making some hard decisions.

Children, newborns, minority populations, and low wealth communities are disproportionately impacted. Lead damages to brain causing lower IQs, speech difficulties, ADHD, risk of failing to complete high school, behavior problems, pregnancy and aggression as a teen, and adults at least to miscarriages, kidney ailments, reproductive problems, two hundred and fifty six thousand premature deaths every year in adults due to lead poisoning this is shameful we not to take action. You.

Jody you' up next but hold off one second And don't forget to press the button so your mic is on. And then, Fawn Hosey, you can come up and take a seat on that desk at that desk. Jody, you have three minutes.

Okay. I'm gonna start out with this. This is why I can't snap, so I'm gonna clap. K?

Sure.

Sure. Okay. And I hate coming and always being upset. I'd rather be able to come here and say, hey, let's work on you know we didn't want this to happen with the 1,700 acres. Nothing opened up to us.

I'm in reading through what we're gonna be talking about, but you're gonna be talking about tonight at the work session because we don't get to talk about it. Where is it that we're supposed to tell you when we don't want something? Especially with the short notice, it was it's like you're trying to pull the wool over ours, and we're not that stupid. We're just not, and we don't want this. We have money.

Let's put that money in our schools. Let's put that money in our health care. How about we put that money in help for our neighbors who are still being abducted today at 02:30 at the M And M Market? Let's do something for the community that actually benefits the community. Let's start there.

Maybe we could also start with a courtesy of eye to eye contact when someone's made the effort to come in and speak. No. Okay. We have lack of community input. I think it's you guys role to figure out how you can get more community input.

You know I' hearing I listen and I spread the word but you guys need to do it. You have public information people Let's get the word out. Let's give us time to work on this and don't go supporting something until you've got the community behind you on that. I'm tired of not being invited to your parties and finding out this stuff on my own, having to do the research myself. You're not here for the community.

You might be here for the community in twenty years, but you're not here for the community now or the people who need food, or the people who need medical access, or the people who need help with their rent. 200,000 doesn't go that far. So let's take the time and try to do something that we can work together so we can feel good about looking each other in the eye. Hint. Hint. No. Okay. And

and see if

we can't do something together. Okay?

Thank you. You don't need

to me.

Say again?

You don't need to thank me.

On Hosie, you have welcome and you have three minutes.

Thank you. Mayor and counselors, Fawn Hosey, rural Hillsborough. I'm here with a little historical background on senate bill fifteen eighty six abbreviated from the power point that I sent earlier. As the urban and rural reserves process began, Washington County rigged their analysis. The county's committee was composed of 15 urban votes, one vote split between two farmers.

They avoided the required way of analyzing farmland for reserves. They were warned a lot. For four years 20 hearings a 100 testimonies panels heard about the illegalities the county ordered ignored it. Before and after their appeals plaintiffs offered to negotiate but they were rebuffed. 02/20/2014 Oregon court of appeals ruled that the county had used narrowly circumscribed pseudo factors.

Analysis of the rural reserve factors was illegally impermissible. It was misapplied, and they misapplied the rural reserve factors. Erroneous application of the real reserve factors is significant they said. L c d c must remand the entire submittal. Lucky for them Hillsborough got a workaround in the $20.14 grand bargain.

Mayor and staff were present during the negotiations so was I and consented it would be a one time only legislative land use. The bargain was agreed upon by all including Hillsborough. Immediate benefits to the city were residential South Hillsborough and the North Hillsborough industrial area right into their ugbs and the seventeen twenty nine acres were designated as rural reserves. Since then repeatedly and now in senate bill fifteen eighty six Hillsborough' bad faith is exposed as part of their strategic investment strategy. Wasn' this settled twelve years ago?

This year the opposition expressed as higher than ever as over 600 are registering their opposition so far. So a deal's a deal except with the city of Hillsborough. Embarrassing when the mayor and staff acknowledged re reneging on the grand bargain in 2018 and even displayed ignorance of the appeals court ruling in the Oregon land use process and procedures. It's clear the city of Hillsborough practices select selective ethics. Stop crossing your fingers behind your backs.

Community has lost its trust. Should reach and you shouldn't be surprised. So withdraw from the brill and display the pride you have shown in the farmland symbolism in your city flag. Thank you. That

is all the public comment for tonight thank you all for coming in to do that. Moving to item for the consent agenda. The items on the consent agenda are normally considered in a single motion. Any item may be removed for separate consideration upon request by any member of the council. Is there a request to remove any items for separate consideration?

Moving forward do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Do I have a second? Second case. Is there any discussion? May I please have a roll call.

Councilors case aye and very aye Sinclair aye Harris

aye thank you moving to item five the motion passes. Yes. Moving to item five, public hearings. 5.1, consider finance committee's recommendation to adopt a resolution adopting rules, regulations. I'll say that again.

Item 5.1 consider finance committee's recommendation to adopt a resolution adopting rules regulations and fees of the Hillsborough Pioneer Cemetery resolution number 2912 is available. Will open the public hearing on item 5.1. No one has registered to speak virtually on this item do we have any yellow cards related to this public hearing? The public hearing is now closed. Do I have a motion to adopt resolution two nine one two? Harris almost. Second case. Is there any discussion? May I please have a roll call.

Counselors harris Sinclair aye and bree aye case aye.

Resolution 2,912 is adopted. Moving to new business item 8.1 as a reminder approve which is consider approving the request for exception to the citywide naming policy that item will be moved to a different meeting. I don' know when that is do we know when that is yet no okay so it won' be discussed tonight. So moving to item 8.2. And actually moving before we move to item eight point two, eight point three, and 8.4, I'd like to invite staff up for a brief presentation.

Check, check.

Thank you for waiting staff go right ahead.

Good evening mayor and council my name is Raheem Hargie I'm the deputy city manager and I'm joined here by Jerome Coke and Shawn Morrison. Jerome is with the parks department and Shawn is with the parks and rec with the public works department. We also have a bunch of staff who have worked for many years in trying to get this project to where it is and including one of our parks commissioners to in the audience. So we will go over a quick presentation on the three items 8.2, 8.3, 8.4 and then just take any questions that you may have on any of these items. So just a real overview of the presentation we'll go through a quick background on kind of how we got here talk a little bit about a deal with Washington County for the Fairground Sports Complex, get into some discussion on the cost funding and timeline and then go over the parks and recreation commission's recommendations some next steps to move forward.

If you have any questions along the way just please chime in. Okay. So how do we get here? So I think many of you are familiar with the new Hops Ballpark. Back in 2023 and 2024 when we were working on where would be the best location for the Hops Ballpark and where we would work on mitigating some fields.

This is what GFRC looked like. So, just to maybe orient you a little bit, the Hillsborough Ballpark is where the hops used to play. Fields 12 And 3 are to the right and the south and Fields 45 And 6 are where the new Hops Ballpark was. Kind of see the area in red that's the Gfrc Complex and called out two specific areas called out as proposed West Fields as proposed East Fields. Those were the areas that we were looking at on-site to mitigate.

Fields 45, And 6. So back in. 2024. The City Council approved a lease with the Hillsborough hops for the new ballpark which just finished construction. They also approved the parks and recreation commission's recommendation for replacing the field use which is full from Fields 45, And six.

And, there were two other items that were approved by the council basically to start the design and construction work. The first was findings in support of an exemption from competitive seal bidding for the JFRC softball fields. That's basically to start the construction work. And then a design contract to replace the fields at JFRC which is the design work associated with the construction. Again, just some more background.

Because of those displaced fields, the mitigation plan to replace the use was what you see on the screen in front of you. This was the minimum that we needed to do, which is recover full use of the Hillsborough Ballpark, Field 3, which we couldn't use Field 3 while the hops were playing, and Hillsborough Stadium which we also couldn't use Hillsborough Stadium when the hops were playing just because of conflicts with fans and foul balls. The mitigation strategy at a minimum required us to construct one new grass field in the northwest corner and then one another grass field on the east corner or alternatively construct two grass fields in the north corner. We were also negotiating hours for community use at the new Hillsborough Ballpark which we would get to program. And then we would also improve the Hillsborough Ballpark to accommodate both baseball and softball.

Again, this was the minimum plan. So back in July the city council approved a plan that did more than the minimum. So it obviously recovered the full use of the ballpark, Field 3 and the stadium. The recommendation was to replace, to build two fields on the Northwest corner. But, instead of having them grass, turf them, add lighting, parking, and restrooms, and then design them so they would be built for multi use sports, not just softball or baseball.

And then at the time because we were going to be out there doing some construction work, there was an opportunity to include the design and construction of the Crescent Park Greenway Trail that goes to the JFRC complex. And then also negotiate hours with the ball with the hops for their new ballpark at about three hundred fifty hours and then improve the ball the existing Hillsborough Ballpark to accommodate both baseball and softball and maximize multi field options. So this is what it would have looked like. The new Hop Stadium which is just under finished construction would have been kind of where you see it. And then on the Northwest Side we would have built two fields.

But as we shared with counsel at the time, as we approved the loss of use plan, we did find out from the Bonneville Power Administration that they had some upgrades for some transmission lines there that would be a safety concern from their perspective of building ball fields right next to them. So, because we had done quite a little quite a bit of work, Jerome and his team did a lot of work in trying to find options on replacement strategies. We just went back to some of that work and we started negotiating with Washington County for a long term lease at the Washington County Fairgrounds. So what that meant at the time was we could only do the the the things that have the check marks next to them. Recover full use of the Hillsborough Ballpark, Field 3 in the stadium.

We were able to negotiate hours for community use at the new Hops Ballpark at three hundred and fifty hours that's already in the lease. And then, we were able to improve the Hillsborough Ballpark and I can understand the two terms, the Hops Ballpark and the Hillsborough Ballpark can get confusing. But, Hillsborough Ballpark was previously known as Ron Tonkin Field. We were able to replace the turf and make the improvements necessarily to accommodate not just baseball but softball and maximize multi use field options. So all of those other things were done except the two replacement fields on the Northwest corner of the campus.

So that's where the Fairgrounds Sports Complex came in. Before I get into what we're proposing to do, any questions on the history on how we got here?

Nope. Thank you. Cool. Alright.

So just to orient everybody where the Hillsborough Ballpark is not the Fairgrounds, Sports Complex, sorry, lots of complexes.

It gets confusing. It gets

It So it is where the Washington County Fairgrounds are. The point you see, the green point you see is where the fields are to the east of that is the Tri Med Park And Ride. To the Northwest, sorry, the Northeast is Wingspan or what's its name now? It's Wingspan. Okay.

My bad. And then to the North of that as some of the comments came up were the Hillsborough Airport. I think this is a good image to show that you can't really see the runway here. It's outside of the airport protection zone so typically the flight path does not go across these fields. However, it is within cross proximity to the airport again but not in the not in the runway protection zone.

Just orienting you a little bit closer, as you can kind of see the fairgrounds in their current state today, there are some old tennis courts on the Northwest Corner. There's the five fields. Technically, two of them are not really usable just because of the conditions of them and this image is a good one showing you the conditions of the field. They're not that great.

Can I just comment on that Raheem? Sure. My son and daughter played sports here and that they're terrible.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's really bad facility, so.

Well, we're hoping to change that. And then the other thing I'd like to call out to your attention at the north at the corner of Northeast 28th Avenue and Northeast Veterans Drive, you see that green area. That's also something that's come into the mix into our in our discussions with the county so just wanted to point that area out too.

Is that the area that right now it says North Parking Lot? Yes. I just want

to make sure.

Yeah. So, here's what we want to do. We want to build a new sports complex in Hillsborough. The sports complex will generally look like what you see here where we will build that the turf fields on the west side, keep the grass fields on the east side, and improve the grass fields. And by improve, I mean improve the drainage, improve the lighting, maybe add a few more amenities just to make the play and watch experience better.

The fields you see on the West side are four softball fields. We're trying to maximize the multi use options so you can kind of see some overlays of soccer fields on there. And then add a parking lot. On the North Side of Veterans Drive, you see the area called out as the North Parking Lot. We want to turn that into a parking lot but also look at maybe using some of that area for other things.

So, we're exploring the use of using that area for some courts or something like that. We'll we'll work through that during the design process. The other thing that in our discussions with the county, they still need to use some of that area during the fair. So we're working with them to look at building some type of area for large trailer storage and areas that we can wash livestock trailers out just to make sure there's also a benefit to the fair. Just zooming in on the West side of the future sports complex.

I do want to call out like this is a concept that will be refined as we go through the design process because we have the North parking lot now. We may be able to make some of these fields a little bigger and reduce the parking on the South Side since we'll have some area on the North Side. And again, we'll go through some engagement process during the design the design work to get some user feedback as well. Councilor Ambri.

Thank you. The the grayed out part on the on the east, that that's gonna remain as it is. Is is that that's what you said. Right?

Yeah. So thanks for calling that out. So the the fields to the east Mhmm. That look like there's no work going to happen on them, we're actually going to improve the grass conditions

Okay.

And the drainage and the lighting.

Okay.

Just if you if you go out there right now, the lighting is in really bad shape. I don't even think we use it right now and there's pretty bad drainage issues as well. So we would take care of all of that as part of this project.

And and the parking is gonna remain?

Yep. Yep. Okay.

The parking will still remain where you see it on this map. Mhmm. On the Northwest Corner and then on the North Parking Lot. Okay. Jerome, do you wanna add anything to that?

Do want me to talk about the RV park?

Yes. So

Sorry. Councilor Harris.

So so that area you're gonna improve the grass will be used like for soccer fields, rec soccer, and things like that. Then it will become useful in in the in the mix. Right?

Yes. Yeah. Those those fields as the mayor stated very eloquently, they're they're in really poor shape. Our plan is to improve the drainage and the soil conditions and then also reestablish a functioning lighting system so that those fields are will be on par with the fields that were removed at GFRC Part of the reason that we are not proposing to convert those to artificial turf is that the county's fairgrounds master plan calls for that area to eventually become an RV park. So, in Rahim's discussions with county, they've agreed to let us continue to use those fields for youth sports to improve those fields, but they reserve the right to convert that area to an RV park should they choose to to do that in the future.

Great. And are you are you gonna keep those two diamonds on there as well as improve the grass? You're removing the diamonds just what's all grass?

No those fields will stay roughly in that configuration. But we will be making some significant improvements there.

Councilor and very.

Is there a covered area as well?

Not currently as proposed because most of our main focus with these fields was mitigating the fields that were lost at GFRC. And then, I'll talk a little bit about this during the funding slide on what revenue we have to be able to pay for this. Now, over time if opportunities present themselves to have covered areas and add more courts or things like that we will definitely explore that. But our main focus for the project has been mitigating the replacement hours we needed to and finding opportunities to enhance that. Councilor Sinclair.

Hi. In hearing in counsel receiving testimony tonight, we I had not read this piece of input pertaining to lead emissions prior to this evening. I know a couple years back when we approved Hidden Creek, the topic of lead emissions had been brought up. Has there been any soil testing on lead emissions for this area?

No, not to our knowledge, but as we do the work, we could certainly do some environmental assessments and just if there are any issues, could remedy that through the project. But to our understanding as we sit today, there aren't any.

Because there hasn't been any testing done. Yeah. There there's no testing. I really like the design and I know this is a need in our community. I also can' ignore the aspects of testimony we heard tonight from people who have years of experience on the subject of lead emissions.

I like to ask the staff make a commitment to doing environmental testing on this prior to Council making an approval. I did not discuss this prior because I was not aware of this input. Wish I would have spoke up when we talked about Hidden Creek at the time but I was a new counselor at the time and I didn' bring concerns back then. This is something we all grow from and learn and have awareness about. And I would like to ask the counsel the staff further look into this prior to approval.

Sure. So, I can clarify a little bit more on the next steps, counselor, because this is not the last bite you get at this. There will be another opportunity for you all to approve the guaranteed maximum price. Between now and when you see that we could certainly do that testing work. Tonight isn't asking you to approve the final construction contract we're not doing that tonight. But what we're asking for is approval one for the replacement strategy which allows us to move forward. And then two, it allows us to approve a design contract which with the design contract it gives us experts who actually do this work for a living

Sure.

To be able to do the testing. So kind of in line with what you were looking to do, we could certainly do that as a next step.

Thank you, Raheem. I appreciate. Yeah. Thank you.

And I can touch on that later on when we get to the final next step slides.

Thank you.

So this is a good point to also touch back on what Jerome mentioned about the future RV park. So the county's master plan shows that area to be a future RV park. The county hasn't identified any funding to to move that forward which is why they also agreed to a year to year lease on the area in to the East. But to Jerome's point, there may be a point where they do find funding to be able to do that and we'll have to decide what to do at that point. But, right now, we're nothing has indicated that they have that funding. So, one fun fact, we've been maintaining this area since 1975. So, if history is an indicator of how things are going to move forward, I'm not sure it would change what you're seeing here.

Thanks for that historical perspective. Yeah. Yeah.

So going back to a little bit more of the design, we've already seen this. So what we're also asking you for approval tonight is for the city manager to execute a lease at Washington County. This is what the general terms are of the lease which is what the Board of County commissioners have also generally agreed to at a work session late last year. So what we would be leasing from the counties a twenty year lease on the North Parking Lot area and the West Turf Fields. That's where we'll be making most of the capital investment.

And then a year to year lease on the East Grass Fields which we would ask for some notice of about a year to give us a heads up if they ever do want to get us out of there. We would be responsible for all the maintenance on the North Parking Lot, the West Turf Fields, the East Grass Fields. We would be responsible for mitigating any wetlands on the property, which there are a few. And the county will have access to the parking areas during the fair and other designated events. And like I mentioned earlier the North Parking Lot will be built to accommodate a livestock washout area so they can use that during the fair.

And then the infrastructure improvements to some of the points earlier would be done in a way to consider a future RV park. We wouldn't be building the RV park for them, but as we like bring in water lines if we need to or sewer lines, we would make sure they are sized adequately for an rv park in the future. That being said the county would still be responsible for paying for their system development charges associated with that infrastructure so while we may upsize the infrastructure now for a future condition they will be paying for that future condition when they come in.

Councilor embery?

Thank you. You mentioned the North Parking Lot would have some courts. I' not very athletic. What kind of courts?

So, right now we're we haven't really designed anything yet on that area just because we're still at the very early stages. But, as part of what we typically look at for all our courts is making sure they're multiuse. So, futsal, pickleball, basketball, other sports that would allow for court use.

Thank you.

Then one thing that we didn't agree to with the county was there would be no rent payment for the land because the value of the improvements that we are making far exceed the value of the land and considering that they said we don't want a rent payment which worked great for us. Yeah. So these would be memorialized in a lease and as part of item 8.2 we are asking that you authorize the city manager to execute that lease.

Are we paying rent right now?

No. One of the challenges, I'm glad you brought that up because one of the challenges that we had was we have a year to year lease on that southern area that has the future turf fields and the future grass fields. But it's a year to year lease and we didn't want to make major capital improvements without a long term commitment that they would be there in the future. So that's why it's taken a long time for us to get to this point.

Mr. Harris? For the purpose of the

record here as we get into the discussion on this issue, wanted to declare for the record I have an actual conflict on 8.3 when that comes to vote. I have potential contact conflict on eight point two and eight point four that conflict is my daughter works for HHPR. She doesn't work on this project. She's not a principal. Nonetheless, I believe it arises to level of a actual and then a potential conflict on those matters. Thank you. I will be abstaining.

Thank you. Any other questions? Alright keep rolling.

Just a quick overview on costs, funding, and timeline. So, the general cost estimate for all the work is about $25,000,000 And, I say $25,000,000 is because some of the preliminary work that Jerome and his team did showed that we could get all what you see there generally done for about $25,000,000 That's also the budget for the project. If we need to spend more than that, we need to figure out an alternative funding strategy which we believe we can do this project within $25,000,000 The funding for this is coming from $20,000,000 from the hops ticket surcharges which we negotiated in the lease with them. This would be paid back to us over time. We're borrowing the initial funding which you had already approved as part of the borrowing package for a number of projects.

The $5,000,000 would come from our park system development charges and that funding can only be used in areas we provide enhanced capacity. So, for example, if we were just replacing it with grass fields and not doing them as turf which increases the amount of hours we can use the fields, we wouldn't be able to use SDCs. However, since we are doing them as turf and also adding multi use options like the soccer fields you saw, that allows us to use SDCs. It was a similar strategy we were using when we were planning to do the fuels at Gordon Faber Recreation Complex. And right now we've estimated about $5,000,000.

Like any other project, we look for external funding sources like grants and other things which we're also going to be doing with this project. The timeline for this is as soon as you give us the approval, we would start moving forward with design work and permitting. Counselor Sinclair, to your point, that's when we would also do some of the environmental work. And then we would come back to you for a construction contract for the guaranteed to approve the guaranteed maximum price. That's when you get the final yes, move forward or don't move forward.

And we'll have all those results on testing by that point. And we plan to get into construction in 2027 and be done by 2027. Again, some of this may be fluid depending on the design process. So, we formally asked the PRC for their recommendation the last time and they had recommended the on-site replacement options at JFRC. We've made sure to keep them in the loop on some of the challenges that we've had with those mitigating there.

And we asked them for a recommendation on a revised plan and this is what they recommended at one of their most recent meetings, which was recover the full use of the Hillsborough Ballpark Field 3 in the stadium, which we've already done. Negotiate hours for community use at the new Hops Ballpark for three hundred fifty hours, we've already done. Improve Hillsborough Ballpark to accommodate both softball and baseball and maximize multi field options which we've already done which I have to highlight is one of the reasons why the AUSL team chose to come to Hillsborough because of this work. And then build a sports complex at the Washington County Fairgrounds to include four softball fields. All fields are artificial turf with lighting, parking, and restrooms.

All fields are designed to maximize opportunities for multipurpose use, which both two things enhance the minimum that we needed to mitigate and improve the East Grass fields and upgrade the existing lighting and then build a north parking lot to accommodate more parking. And as we do that we'll look at other options to maybe act in courts or things like that. So what we're asking you today to do is up approve PRC's recommendation as you saw on the previous slide and then authorize the city manager to execute a lease with Washington County in line with the general terms of we shared with you in the staff report and in the presentation. And then execute a contract with the consultants and contractor. I'll let Sean explain these in a little more detail but these allow us to move into the next steps.

You'll still get an opportunity to approve the GMP. So I'll turn it over to you Sean.

Right. Like Raheem said, following the presentation we have two council items for approval. Item 8.3 is a design task order for HarperHoff Peterson for $1,097,000 This contract includes consultant design project management environmental permitting like we mentioned before. We've already gone out to the site to investigate some of the environmental issues that are on-site there' some lingering wetlands that we don' think the fed is going to take jurisdiction over but it' still add time to our permitting timeline. It also includes geotechnical services multiple concept designs, 60100% design with construction documents, MEP design and permitting and then any additional services that we need including things like construction administration.

And like we mentioned before, we have not solidified the plan for public engagement, but we do plan to talk to the public including interviews with the user groups and whoever is necessary to weigh in on the the design that we're that we're considering. So I'll stop there and see if there's any questions about item 8.3. Any questions? Okay. Keep going.

Alright. Item 8.4 is the approval of the findings to support the use of CMGC delivery as required by the ORS public contracting rules. Utilizing a CMGC delivery method allows us to competitively select the general contractor to support the design and preconstruction process, offering enhanced cost estimating, constructability review, project schedule development and construction phasing options. Following a competitive proposal process back in 2024, the city selected Turner construction as the general contractor for this project. We were able to use that competitive process to move over to this site because after we look through the contracting rules and talk to our purchasing and legal departments, we determined that the two projects are substantially similar enough to allow us to use that process that was very successful last year or the year before.

Approving the findings will allow us to move forward with the city manager's approval of the base contract with Turner since the base contract is within the city manager's signature authority he can sign that and then we would come back right before construction to present the guaranteed maximum price which is essentially the contractors guarantee of the cost of construction and then once we assign that amendment to the base contract it transfers the risk from the owner which is a city in this case to the general contractor and then we can move forward with construction at that point. I' going to stop here and see if there' any questions about item 8.4.

Any questions?

That' all I have thank you.

That' our last slide. Before we go into questions I just want to mention there' a lot of staff who helped get this project here. We' been trying to get this deal with the county for years prior to the hops project. Many of them are back there so just want to thank them. If you don' t call out one person I' going to call out Jerome.

Jerome has had a lot of patience on the loss of use strategy and him and his he' led the team that' calculated the hour for hour math on this. And Jerome is also retiring. So this is Jerome's last city council meeting unless he chooses to come spend his Tuesday nights with us, which I don't think he will. But, Jerome, just wanted to say thanks for all the great work.

Thank thank you very much for embarrassing me in public. You're welcome. It's it's it's been a team effort and I wanna recognize Raheem for his efforts on this. He's been talking to the county for how many years to try to get this to the finish line, and we're just so happy that he's helped us to get to where we are today. We're we're excited to move into the next phase.

Excellent. Jerome, thank you to the city for your sir thank you to you for this for your service to the city. Thank you very much.

It's it's been my privilege. Thank you. Alright.

Well, and to end on this type of project is also very exciting. So, alright. Any other questions for staff or feedback? Okay. Thank you very much.

Appreciate it. I' going to move to item 8.2, consider parks and recreation commission' recommendation to approve a revised plan to mitigate loss of use resulting from the displacements of fields number four, five, and six at the Gordon favor favor recreation complex and authorize the city manager to execute a lease with Washington County for portions of the Washington County Fairground Complex. Do I have a motion to approve item 8.2? So moved case. Do I have a second? Second Sinclair. Is there any discussion?

I want to say quickly I appreciate staff' willingness to hear what council has concerns and find solutions. It' greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I' like to add the work that went into replacing these fields. I know there was a lot of community feedback around those fields being lost so thank you again for your work on this. Any other discussion? Councilor Ambere? May I please have a roll call?

Councilor sinclair? Aye. Case? Aye. Harris?

Abstain.

You already stated the reason for abstention. Okay. The motion passes. Moving to item 8.3, consider approving a contract with HHPR incorporated in the amount of $1,097,316 for the engineering and design to redevelop the Washington County Fairgrounds Sports Complex. Do I have a motion to approve item 8.3? Move the case. Do I have a second? Second Sinclair. Is there any discussion? Roll call.

Councilor Zanberry? Aye. Case? Aye. Sinclair? Aye. Harris? Abstain.

Motion passes. Moving to item 8.4 consider approving the draft findings in support of an exemption from the competitive sealed bidding for the Fairgrounds Sports Complex public improvement project. Do I have a motion to approve item 8.4? So moved case. Do I have a second?

Second Sinclair.

Is there any discussion? May I please have a roll call?

Councilor Sinclair? Case? Anne bury? Harris?

Abstain.

Thank you. The motion passes. We have no other business to consider this evening so I'll turn the time over to Robbie Hammond for the city manager report.

Thank you mayor. I just want to add my own thanks as well to the three people that just presented and to a lot of staff that are here tonight. This project has been going on for so long and this is very exciting. This is going to be a wonderful asset for our community and I'm really excited about it. Four items that I wanted to share with you all tonight.

First, we are less than forty eight hours away from the twenty twenty six state of the city here in the Shirley Huffman Civic Center Auditorium. All community members are invited to be part part of the evening on Thursday, February 19. Mayor Pace's speech will begin at 6PM. If you can't make it in person, you can watch the livestream in English and Spanish on the city's Facebook channels. Second, a reminder to small businesses in Hillsborough seeing a reduction in customers or other economic instability because of ICE immigration enforcement, you can still apply for up to $10,000 in support as part of our small business stabilization program.

The deadline to apply is Friday, February 27. Full details are on the city website. These grants are focused on helping to stabilize and retain small businesses in Hillsborough. We are very grateful for our partners at Centro Cotral, Adelante Mujeres and Washington County Chamber of Commerce that are helping us get the word out in both English and Spanish. Third, it was a great experience to see several of the members of the city council and many other people at the recent living library program at Brookwood Library.

I enjoyed connecting with some of the longtime Hillsborough residents who were on hand to share their stories and memories about how our community has grown and changed over time. Former city manager Tim Erward, Judy Gates Goldman, Hector Hinhosa, Ron Iwosaki, and several former city council members were among the human books at the Hillsborough Library Foundation described them. Thanks to the foundation for organizing the event on February 7 that connected so many different generations. And finally, we lost an outstanding team member last month when officer Scott Hanley passed away following a medical event. Scott served as a police officer in Oregon for twenty six years.

Here in Hillsborough, Scott served in the patrol division and the traffic unit. Hundreds gathered this past week to celebrate Scott's life, and there's a video on the police department's Facebook page. Our appreciation and our thoughts are with Scott's family and his friends and his colleagues at the police department and throughout the city of Hillsborough. Thank you.

Thank you, Robbie. I do want to make some comments. I too appreciated the living library. Learned a lot from folks that were there and sharing their histories. And also, you for mentioning officer Hanley and the loss to the Hillsborough Police Department. I was able to attend the funeral. And it was great to see so many people out who knew him and whose lives he touched. So thank you very much for mentioning that. And with that, the City Council meeting is adjourned. We will begin work session at 09:05. Thank you.

That Ariel's gonna share with us. We've committed to the council We'll come back mid session. Just wanted to give a big thanks to Ariel. She needs to be at the Capitol tomorrow morning at 8AM. And so she's got a long night. She's had a long couple of weeks ahead. And, also, just call out Dan Diaz. He's been doing a a bunch of work during this legislative session as well, so I wanted to appreciate him and and and our staff for what they're doing. So turn it over to Ariel.

Thanks, Robbie, and good evening, counselors. Thanks for having me for this update on the twenty twenty six legislative session. This is a short legislative session. As you'll remember, the legislature meets every year, but in even number of years, it is a quick thirty five day session often characterized as a sprint. So, I'll start with a quick overview of the calendar.

We looked at this slide when I was last before you on January 6, kind of outlining the process, and we're now at, February 17. That means that the first chamber deadline was yesterday. So that is the deadline for bills, to move out of their policy committee. So if a bill started in, say, the House Economic Development Committee, it has to have a work session and get voted on and moved on to the next step, before, it had that had to have had to have happened yesterday. So there was committee there's at least one committee that met until 10:00 last night to make that happen for some bills.

There's an exception to that rule for any joint committees as well as the, finance and revenue committees on the senate and the house side, and I'll get into where that's relevant. So we're officially, halfway through the legislative session. The second chamber deadline is February 26, and March 8 is the constitutional signee die, or the legislature has to adjourn by then. Any questions on the process? We also reviewed this slide, at our last work session.

These are the major issues that we were expecting going into session, and I'd say they've largely held through. There are some additional, key issues this session that have been controversial or notable, but in terms of ones that impact the city or just the general legislature, these have been, very front and center. On the budget cuts, the Ways and Means Committees or the budget committees for the legislature, they've held they held informational hearings leading up to session from state agencies presenting cuts. Each agency was required to present a a cuts budget, to the ways and means committee. So they had informational hearings on those this fall.

And then at the beginning of session, there was a long public hearing for, impacted members of the public, individuals, organizations, nonprofits, community organizations that like, to come give provide public testimony on potential for those cuts. The the final cuts won't be decided until towards the end of session. As the policy committees start to wind down their work, that's when we really see action pick up in the Ways and Means Committees. But what we have seen, some movement on is the third topic, federal disconnect, which, as a reminder, is, refers to Oregon's connection to the federal tax code. Oregon has had a continuing connection or a rolling reconnect to the federal definition of taxable income since 2011.

Other ties to federal tax law get updated periodically. But due to the passage of the bill at the congressional level, h r one, also known as Trump's big bill, had some major impacts to Oregon's, if due to our connection, it had some potential major impacts. So a bill is moving forward. It's in a bill 15 o seven that disconnects from certain pieces of h r one, and that is, has passed the senate, on a totally partisan vote. So passed with, just d votes and is now, awaiting its first hearing in the house.

So that's been kind of the first con one of the first controversial pieces to move forward. The second being transportation funding. So there have been a number of hearings in multiple transportation related committees related to ODOT oversight, related to how how to fund, how to close the gap, the funding gap that ODA is experiencing. There's also been a considerable amount of work, on the parts of local governments, particularly our membership organizations, our partners at the League of Oregon Cities and the Association of Oregon Counties, ensuring that any adjustments to or attempts to efforts to find funding to cover ODOT's budget holes don't cut into the local share of the gas tax. So the existing gas tax at the current level is split fifty, thirty, 20.

So 50% of revenues go to the state, 30 to counties, 20 to cities, and we all rely on that for operations and maintenance of our transportation systems, road repair, bike and ped accessibility and the like. As you all know, there was a successful initiative process this fall to refer onto the ballot of repeal of the gas tax increase that passed in the special session. So that received, more than enough votes to be on the ballot. That is currently set on November ballot. And there is a bill that was recently introduced, that would move that ballot date to the May election.

So that is also a very, very partisanly controversial topic. So that bill is actually scheduled. It's been potentially going to receive a vote on the senate floor. It's senate bill fifteen ninety nine, but it's now been moved up till tomorrow. So it's kind of been delayed, delayed.

It's tomorrow. And there is, speculation that potentially, it could trigger some some walkouts from legislators to deny quorum so that the bill can't be voted on. One interesting procedural piece about this bill as well, again, it's just moving the ballot dates, not changing the rep the potential of the repeal to be considered by voters, but it, has to get signed into law by February 25. So well ahead of constitutional signed act of the legislature. That's to get signed in the law by then because there are filing deadlines, established in the secretary of state's office to get things on the ballot, on a statewide ballot.

So in order to meet the secretary of state's, process deadlines, it would have to pass the legislature in time for the governor to sign it, by the twenty fifth. So that is, I think, putting a lot of pressure on the general dynamics. It's something that everyone is watching very closely as it impacts the process. Typically, when we have a majority party and a minority party, you see the minority party using procedural efforts to kind of slow down the process. We saw a very, very slow, senate floor session today.

They were considering a number of, executive appointments to various commissions, which is something the senate does on a regular basis. But there was a lot more speech making and comments and things that I think we would normally see part of that kind of procedural tactics that we typically see in these kinds of controversial situations. So those are those are some of the big things I'll get into. The

two

other topics are really directly relate to our legislative priorities as well. So we'll get into that in other slides. But that's been the general, kind of environment. I will say there is there are some, transportation con that feel a little bit more productive. There's a bill that kind of provides some more clarity and implementation details for how the state can stand up a road user charge, which is how we will begin to move away from dependence on the gas tax.

And so that's that's a helpful bill that seems to be, you know, having some movement. We've also signed on to a bill, that would stand up a tran a statewide transit funding task force because of the controversy and concerns that some have raised around reliance on payroll tax to pay for transit, what are other funding option sources that could be identified. So it's a way to continue, more maybe more stable or consistent funding for transit going forward in future funding conversations. So any questions on those topics? Right.

So now I'll move on to our state priorities, which is the main lens that we view bills. There are a number of other bills we engage on, but in terms of our priorities, we had three. As you remember, federal immigration enforcement response, economic development, and housing production and homelessness response. Okay. So, the first priority, the federal immigration enforcement response, this is the same slides we saw at the previous work session.

The council's direction was to support, legislation that primarily, strengthened the Sanctuary Promise Act with that main lens and specifically looking for opportunities to support funding for impacted families and small businesses, how to, protect sensitive information and data, and to require law enforcement to be clearly identified and to limit masking. So, the main effort this session around this topic is you're probably familiar with, a package of bills known as the, immigrant justice package. And so that's really about 10 bills that cover a range of topics. Most of them are, I think, I consider very similar to the conversations and work this council has done to look at local policies and how to strengthen the Sanctuary Promise Act through local policies and discussions about how best to do that, you know, which process, all of that. So most of these are impacting state policies statewide.

There's a few that would impact cities directly, and so I'll touch on that. But I'll just run through the list really briefly so that I can provide more detail on on the fly. So that I can follow I'll have to follow-up with you. So, just starting from the top, this is not in any particular order. There is a specific funding request, in house bill four one one seven that would fund, provide funding for immigration legal services and a children's stability fund that would fund these at $5,000,000 each, so a total of 10.

And the children's stability fund is meant to, provide food stability, when there's a working parent who has, has been detained. So there's that funding ask. There are also potentially some additional funding conversations through the budget process that don't have an official bill number associated, but, you know, related to, school meals and other supports, that would that would support this package. Senate bill fifteen eighty seven relates to data brokers. And so these are companies that, make money off of aggregating and collecting lots of data on individuals, and they sell that data.

And it's been identified that, ICE and federal agencies are using these, federal or excuse me, these, private data brokers to, get, immigrant, sensitive information. And so the bill has been through several iterations. There's been quite a few amendments looking at how to prevent, the use of these, data brokers in the state of Oregon and potentially setting up a private private right of action for breaking a state law that would prohibit, the use of, Oregonian sensitive data. H b forty one forty three, would allow the state to withhold payments to the federal government if they sorry. Let me go back to my notes.

So if federal funds are being withheld unfairly as we have potentially seen in in previous executive actions. It would allow for an ethical money owed if they're having similar federal funds withheld for potentially punitive reasons related to the sanctuary promise act, and it would protect state officials from civil claims for complying with that choice. Next, there's a bill forty seventy nine that provides some framework, and and a requirement for school districts and colleges to, have a framework and policy around how they respond when federal immigration authorities enter on school property, how they notify parents, those kinds of things. And then there's, senate bill fifteen ninety four directs Oregon's Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement to create and share model policies that other public bodies can use when enforcing federal immigration laws. So it's really meant for state agencies, public bodies.

The bill's not super specific, but it's meant to be a resource and directs them specifically to do that. Health bill forty one eleven prevents a person's immigration status from being used as evidence in civil court cases and provides some extra workplace protections when someone updates their immigration work authorization. House bill 41, 14, relates to, how federal or out of state law enforcement can operate in Oregon, including, like, acting with, nonjudicial warrants, and creates a civil cause of action if those rules are not followed. House bill forty one thirty eight was just amended last night, and this, relates to one of our, specific priorities around law enforcement visibility and masking. So it prohibits masking with some carve outs for respirators and safety and and things like that.

It's and I should say this bill, all of the amendments, I think, were, the process of conversations with law enforcement, with legal burden cities, and the counties to ensure that these were implementable for local law enforcement. So it prohibits masking, requires some basic, visibility in terms of clearly labeled uniforms and badge numbers. And then it previously had some, kind of confusing language about how and when local and state law enforcement engages in kind of, like, federal investigation coordination. You know, you can imagine that could be trafficking or drug enforcement or the like. And so that has been just kind of adjusted to kind of restate and reaffirm the Oregon Sanctuary Promise Act that immigration information is not gonna be shared unless there's that criminal nexus.

House bill 4,150 bans state contracts or state funding for any companies that are engaged in deportation activity. And this is more specifically aimed at, some specific airlines operating not out of I don't believe, out of Hillsborough, but potentially Eugene and other airports that were being we were being contracted to take people, out of state to, immigration, facilities. So this would be in state contracts with any of those companies.

Hang on one second. Yeah. Councilor Sinclair?

Go ahead. I can reach the end if I if you want.

Okay. And then house bill, the last one in the package, house bill forty one twenty three, provides some protections around when landlords share tenant information. So those bills are all in various stages of the process. And like I said, there's been amendments. The one that, specifically impacted local government was House Bill forty one thirty eight.

And so that bill has I think we've seen some improvements. Like I said, the amendment just passed last night, so we're still analyzing it. But it's, you know, very in line with the council's priorities. So, I should be able to share a written update on that probably this week on where that's ended up. And then there's two other bills that are not formally part of the package that I'm aware of, but one we've also been paying very close attention to for local impact is senate bill fifteen sixteen relates to automatic license plate readers, which I know have been a focus of Hillsborough and other cities, there it closes a a loophole.

Previously, that the data that those, ALPR collect could be requested in a public records request and potentially shared with federal immigration authorities, or they could request it directly. This would exempt that data from public records requests. So if if HPD or the city received that request, it's exempted. We don't have to share it. As part of that conversation, the ACLU wanted to see a minimum or a maximum on how long those records could be held.

So there's a thirty day retention period. This was, again, negotiated with law enforcement, global governments, organizations. And then there had previously been a requirement that that data be encrypted if it was gonna be transferred. And it was a very specific requirement that, the, like, the LEDs, like, law enforcement data system that most agency of the line couldn't physically comply with. So the dash 14 amendments, sometime before 10PM last night were, adopted, and it's it just has the, the close to that public records loophole and, has the data retention, requirements.

And then finally, SJR two zero three is a a version of the law enforcement, visibility and and masking prohibition bill, but it instead would amend the constitution. And it's a little that one has received, I will just say, less work, I think, and scrutiny. It has some provisions that are a little unclear, so I think it probably needs some additional conversation. But that's that is the, I think, 12 bills in total. Just wanted you to have an awareness of, like, the universe of topics that the legislature is considering, and that we'll be weighing in on and, hopefully, helping get across the finish line for for those that are ready to go. Counselor Sinclair, did you have a question?

You answered my question, pertaining to 4138,

HB 4,001

38. Did you say it was, SB1516 for the fog plates?

The AOPR? Yes. 1516.

Thank you. Councilor Amberey?

Is there

Can you move the mic closer to your mouth, please?

Thank you.

Is there a bill regarding not allowing allowing eyes on, you know, sensitive places at the Oregon level, like schools and and hospitals and and churches?

I believe there was one introduced related to that I think the nurses association might have been bringing related to health care work. I haven't seen that. Okay. But I can look for I I remember hearing about that one. I can look and see if that one has made it through, and I could use some more information. +1 570.

Any other questions before we move on? Alright. How are you doing, Ariel?

Good. Thanks.

Yeah? Okay.

Alright. Next is economic development. And our main focus and priority, under this under this has been the Oregon Jobs Act and Bill fifteen eighty six, which I think you're all pretty familiar with at this point. I'll note some changes from to the bill, from when we started session, and I think you're probably familiar with, but I'll I'll cover. So the bill is introduced.

You can see the bullets there. It would have, brought in lands through UGB expansion in North Hillsboro, expanded the state's research and development tax credit, established a new capital equipment tax incentive. That's a local local program, locally optional for a jurisdiction to stand up, and would have, allowed extensions of enterprise zones. That piece has been removed, so it's no longer moving forward in the Oregon Jobs Act. There's also a small update to the regionally significant industrial sites program and some state permitting reform.

So most significant for Hillsborough, the other major change in the bill moving forward is Hillsborough is now partnering with Metro on a compromise amendment. Those are the dash four amendments, that were heard in a public hearing yesterday. The bill had its first public hearing in the senate finance and revenue committee. That's one of those committees that's not subject to the the deadlines that the other committees are. So it doesn't it didn't have to move anywhere or be voted on.

So it just had a public hearing yesterday. The Hillsborough Metro Compromise Amendment and the dash four, instead of bringing in 1,700 acres, brings in 373, and the remaining acreage would go into, urban reserves, to be considered for potential future urbanization through Metro's established process. The land that would come in immediately, the 373, is subject to some specific, sideboards in the bill, which include switching screens here. So for the 373 acres, that land must be planned and zoned for industrial use, including high technology and advanced manufacturing production, including research and development, uses that support high technology and advanced manufacturing, research and development, and commercial uses that are accessory to and support high technology and advanced manufacturing. The land may not be zoned for or developed as data centers, so a status storage processing information center, except as an accessory to you or part of a use described in that initial use.

So for high-tech manufacture advanced manufacturing. Cannot be zoned or developed for commercial uses, including recreation, retail products and services, a number of things, and may not be zoned or developed for retail warehousing facilities or, for consumer goods. So one thing I'll say about the

I'm sorry. Counselor Case.

No. Go ahead. About the bill in general, I think there have been we heard on the public record yesterday and in public comment today, a variety of, I think, misconceptions and some in misinformation about the bill. One of those being, at a high level, senate bill fifteen eighty six is a package of tools. They are not all meant to be used in one place or on hill on the land in Hillsboro.

The, for example, the RSIS program update, that is something that the city of Hamilton is specifically requesting for the part of the program they use on their industrial site. It's not something that was needed or is is considered, for Hillsborough or potentially other parts of the state, although there are other small, rural, significant sites that would potentially use that change. The expanded state research development credit is statewide, and there's a number of supporters on this bill, at the coast, the University of Oregon, across the state that are looking at different parts of this bill, similarly for the capital equipment, tax incentives. So wanna be clear about that.

That's the R and D credit?

What's that? The R and D.

Yeah. What about the R and D credit? I'm sorry,

So that's all that's statewide? Yeah.

It's all statewide incentive.

So it's all statewide except for the North Hillsboro UGV and spend expansion.

That's right. But we are also have been, making the case and explaining why this expansion is, yes, it's in Hillsboro, but that is also where, majority of the semiconductor, industry and some of our growing biotech is located, and that has regional and statewide impacts in terms of the jobs that it brings, the impact to the state income tax revenue, and the ability for, companies, to grow and locate in other parts of the state as part of that ecosystem. I'll also going back to the lands, just we'll call it a couple of things that we've heard in public comment, the definition of advanced manufacturing. Other sections of the bill, like the research and development tax credit and the capital equipment tax incentive, have a specific definition of advanced manufacturing that is modeled after a federal definition. And there were some concerns shared that that includes data centers.

That is not the definition that is applied to the piece the the section of the bill, that have includes overgrowth boundary expansion. What I read to you earlier is what would be an allowed use. So there's no language that allows the data center unless it is supporting an advanced manufacturer or a supply chain company. We also heard testimony yesterday, for example, about, you know, there there are, you know, real concerns out there about the impacts that data centers have on the environment. I think you've had previous briefings and conversations with staff about the data centers that are in Hillsborough, what limitations we have in our existing, industrial areas, and what the limitations mean in this bill.

But one thing that was, said in public comment yesterday is that the Willamette, water supply system, that's coming on board that we're, pursuing with partners and building out is because data centers have taken out of water, and that is simply not the case. That project has been, a long time in the making and is the primary objective of that project is to have a backup water supply in the event that our main water supply, system, if there was a major earthquake event, seismic event, it is not sound. And so having the water the, water supply system is a really important redundancy, which is a good thing in this case, is back up so that our residential, you know, residential, service is maintained in the event of an earthquake and fire hoses. So that's that's the primary reason for that. So we're just hearing a lot of concern and and misinformation that this is about data centers.

When data centers are an important part of the industry, a lot of these companies rely on that technology to do their manufacturing, to inform, you know, cancer medicine, to inform research and development. But, so that would be allowed, you know, if it's part of that company in this bill, but not not that data centers for large.

Counselor Case and counselor Sinclair.

Thanks, Ariel. I'm sorry. I don't know this yet. The is with the with the no stand alone data centers, are there any, like, percentage requirements for for a company coming in so they can't just do, like, you know, a 100 whatever of this and then 400 of a data center? Like, are there any it can't be more than half, a third?

Yes. Is there

any conversation about that?

Dan's in the audience, but what I will say to that I know I'm having trouble hearing and interrupt me if I'm wrong. What I will say is so they're allowed as an accessory use. So Right. If if a data center was trying to come in and and kind of find a loophole to do that, the the planning department, the FMI phone current the whoever's reviewing that would say, this is not allowed. This is not an allowed use.

And and, you know, they will would point to the statutory language. They would point to how because what Hillsborough will do is if this when this still passes, there's still a local process to update the code and do the comp the comprehensive plan. And, part of the conversation we had with Metro was being really explicit about what our code looks like now for our existing industrial sanctuary site industrial site has some additional refinements that are specific to the 373 acres. Like, we allow, you know, supporting commercial uses, but on this smaller acreage, it may not be necessary. Right?

You know, I think we specifically said, yes. We won't allow breweries here. So but in that case, the the the city's in a refinance code, and there's a very clear process to say, this is accessory. This is not accessory. And so that's that's how that would be addressed. They just they're not gonna allow this is not gonna allow that because the goal here is jobs, and that's that's what we're that's what we're looking for and and supporting and expanding the existing ecosystem.

Councilor Sinclair and then councilor Harris.

Ariel, I have a a couple questions. So one being we're talking about Metro coming in as a collaborative partner and that they that this would fall under Metro. Metro we're we're talking about this bill being statewide, but Metro is regional. And so what is their affiliate like, why did Metro choose to step into this bill if they're not statewide and they're regional, but yet they're dominating the narrative on this now? I don't understand the the connection.

So there is statewide impact to the land in terms of its impact on the economy, on jobs, and and revenues, but the land use is local and regional. So local for the city, regional for metro. Metro manages the urban boundary. Yeah. So they they I you know, I don't wanna speak for Metro, but in our conversations and what we've heard in testimony is they recognize the need for to spur economic development, the need to show that Oregon is open for business, and the and the recognition that there is a lack of large industrial sites in the metro region.

The semiconductor process established that, studied that, found that, and there's a recognition. Their recent UGR decision in the Sherwood expansion recognized the need for that land, and that was a significant portion of that, decision at the metro process. And so, I think that they see this as a a continuation of their commitment to supporting the region's economic development and the region's role in contributing to the state's economic, security. Mhmm.

And thank you for for guiding me for that. The second question I have is when we talk about people misunderstanding manufacturing being a definition for qualifying for the tax credit, people are really concerned about the r and d credit because that's not advanced. It may be advanced manufacturing, but it has limited amounts of jobs. It's r and d. And so it has a new qualification under manufacturing, which the public assumes is a higher level of employment jobs.

That's where that confusion comes in. And for the environmental, you spoke about the environmental impact on this. What are some of the analysis associated with this? Because we're talking about energy increases. I'm sorry. I'm getting off topic a little bit. Please excuse me. I'm going back to data forms. Please excuse me. With the data centers, I went back to one of the questions you said was that the data centers councilor case conveyed what is the percentage that has to be associated for manufacturing to qualify for that tax abatement.

Are we allowed are the entities at the data center allowed to lease that space once it's established and built out by by the entity in that data center space?

So, councilor Southerner, my understanding is that whether the owner or they're leasing, they use is the use. And so that's the lens. It wouldn't, if it's an allowed use, they wouldn't be able to do that. They can't. Unless it's accessory to their part of their accessory to their primary uses of manufacturing. That's that's So it

has to still no matter what, when they lease it or not, it has to be affiliated with the accessory

to qualify for the requirement that it that data center only allows accessory too. Yeah. I don't I don't I think it's agnostic unless Dan wants to

Good evening. Mayor and council. I'll try my best because I think this is a common theme that's come up. First of all, the if there is a data center accessory component that's been discussed, it would still any use of that data processing facility would have to still be in the support of one of those traded sector industries we've talked about. I think it's really important to note, and we have very real examples of this already in the community.

So this is an intent to, like, support one side of this argument and the other. It's just to state fact of the types of industries we're working with. It's particularly challenging to set a specific percentage threshold, I think, to counselor Case's question a minute ago. Because, for example, if there was an entity that was wanting to come in and design advanced generation of semiconductor chips, And they were gonna bring 300 engineering jobs to the community, and a part of that was doing research and development. And they were going into, say, a 15 acre site or a 25 acre site, and half of their facility needed to be data center because that design is massively requiring data to store the information going into those future chip designs and performance and testing.

And they came to us and said, 30% of our facility needs to be a data center, even though it's what's enabling and supporting us doing this chip design and research here. Would we say no because that eclipse some arbitrary 10% threshold that we wrote into a statute or something else? Or conversely, Intel Jones Farm, as an example, OHSU's Westside Research Campus, many examples have these data centers on-site. They really change the ratio depending on what is the support need there. But what we do know is those data centers, to come back to your question, counselor Sinclair, would not be leased to, say, LinkedIn for organizations to It post their LinkedIn accounts would have to be there.

So that's the answer is that the data center use as accessory still has to be accessory to one of those traded sector uses. I would also just make aware from an economic development standpoint, we are already seeing, and this is a question of would the state want to see, where we are seeing certain industry partners coming together collaborating jointly. So I might have Acme Advanced Manufacturing, not a real company, and I've got my design and manufacturing facility with the data center attached that's supporting that. And all of a sudden, I want to partner with your business and your idea and say, we're gonna bring that data in and actually test some of that together, there could be a scenario where it's sublet or a part of that is sublet to you, but it still has to go back to the advanced manufacturing. It wouldn't be for you to then host your own social media accounts or, like, you know, post videos of your cat or something that you can use cat

question because it is very confusing. Correct. It is extremely confusing. Yep. So that that I think that's a normal question for the public to have.

And and that's a piece of the industry that we definitely hear loud and clear the concerns. And we, I believe, as a staff, at least, Tampointe, with a focus on these industries and for the economic drivers back to the purpose of the Jobs Act that Ariel noted. We strongly urge the constraint to the data center piece to support that, but that we encourage also a recognition that increasingly so, especially in the sectors we're talking about, access to data and storaging of data and using of data is becoming increasingly important to integrate in some of these facilities. And so if you are too prescriptive or also just throwing numbers out there that you're not really sure of, you can absolutely constrain the very purpose of which we're talking about in aspiring for in the first place. So I'll leave it there in case there's other questions.

And you're good. May just ask one last question associated with that? Doctor. Diaz, for if the like you said, you don't wanna be too prescriptive. So there's a lot of questions that remain.

With the tax abatement and the extension of that, is that correct? What happens if it does not produce because there's now amendment to be a fifteen fifteen jobs per acre. Is that correct?

So I'm not sure which incentive you're referring to.

Have it

in front of me.

I'm so sorry. So the the the three incentives that are in here.

But it's not

Yeah. I think you you I'm you might be asking about the enterprise zone program if that's

not no longer in there.

That's no longer So that's what

that was included in that aspect to where if there was a tax abatement, there was no claw callback clause to where people didn't meet that employment number, then they pay back the tax abatement.

I apologize if I looked at Ariel too because I'm not familiar with specifically the bill of the language you're talking to, so I don't want to respond to the wrong thing unless I understand it. What I will note is that in some of our existing programs like the enterprise zone, there are a job increase requirements, and then we do have certain wage parameters that we put into there. And if companies do not comply with that over the course of that contract, they can face either penalties or forfeiture and have to reimburse that. Those are the type of things that we consider can continue to monitor, where we would caution similarly, like, with the constraints too much on the data centers. Like, yes, make sure that we don't get the things that are being discussed as not wanted in there.

Sometimes it will be raised of make sure you mandate that that company has to hit this employment density and sustain that for fifteen years, which is over three business cycles, and that can become it's important to aspire for job creation and economic impact. But if you prescribe too much, if companies, as they go through economic cycles, you can actually have a compounding effect in a down cycle. So great recession hits or COVID hits, people start to lay off jobs because they're trying to stay financially viable. And now if you're doubling down on them with penalties, like, that's a piece that we in Hillsborough, and we've talked about this in council retreats, try to approach incentives not as corporate giveaways as ways to provide a business friendly incentive that is also aligning with local priorities and programs, whether that's supporting workforce development or the target industries we want or access of different types of career positions. And so that's where our focus will continue to be broadly in incentives.

Errol, maybe we can follow-up in terms of your specific request if we can get what bill that is and provide a more detailed response

to I'll email you with the specifics.

Great.

Councilor Harris?

You know my concerns about the part of our accessory language. I'm not going to go with that. I'm assuming you've seen

my Can you move the mic closer to your mouth, please? I'm sorry.

Thank I assume you guys know about my concerns about the language that are contained in the current bill based on the testimony I submitted. I'd also point out that Alan Raplier, if you don't know Alan Raplier, he came up and he said he was a land use lawyer. He was actually the county counsel in this county for twenty years in charge of land use in this county for twenty years. So says something I tend to take note of it. And he had a concern about the word accessory, and a lot of things can be claimed as accessory.

I had a couple examples in the letter of testimony. I just thought of a couple more as you're testifying here today. Cam, a question for you and you may or may not know this, Dan, but can three advanced manufacturers get together and decide to build one big data center and share it and be a part of that? Would that qualify under this bill?

Given my most recent reading of, I think, the most current language is where I always defer to Earl because things are moving quickly in this legislative session as has been noted. The language as it's been drafted and proposed, that data center could have those three players participating, but it would still need to be accessory to in a part of at least one, if not maybe two or three of theirs, manufacturing facilities in campus. But they say, well,

it is part of it. It's in your on adjacent property or it's we got wires to it or whatever.

It cannot be so so the definition of the accessory, when you look at it from the state law standpoint and some of this now I interject our local codes, the way it works, recognizing those two are are separate regulatory documents. Accessory cannot be on the other side of town that is still an asset in this case. That would be considered standalone. If it was like three parcels down still in this north area that we're talking about, it would have to be on the same site, the considered development site, and it'd have to be integrated into or made part of that campus design. Again, I come to some known examples, not to say this will be perfect of all the examples. When we look at some of the existing campuses that are relying on that, those are integrated into their sites. Okay.

Could be on an adjacent property with a breezeway connecting there or something, I suppose. But That's true. I mean, there's ideas you can come up with.

Right? Like that. Yeah.

I mean, there's I wasn't laughing at

it. No.

It's a cool idea.

You know? It would look nice too.

Also, say say you had

an advanced manufacturing that had built a data processing center, I guess. It's not really a data center. It's also, you know, part of the building, I guess. But so they build excess capacity, and then they onboard somebody that's not here, say they're in New Jersey or someplace that you you described a little bit. They would partner with someone. Right? And they'd come in here, and maybe they took a little space in the factory as well. But really, the reason they're there is to be able to use the excess capacity in that data center. Would that be qualified as part of because they would have a business relationship. Maybe they would have a joint partnership agreement or something with them, but they understand that it's a lot cheaper to have a data center in Hillsborough than it is in New Jersey, for instance. I don't know if that's true

or not.

But would that qualify? Could you come up with some sort of a scenario like that under accessory or part of the advanced manufacturing?

Sounds good. So counter if I may, given that this is a great conversation, also a bit litigious feeling, which is good. This is the things that we constantly are testing the language against and trying to prepare for its application. But if it's okay, we'll ask a question, not to answer your question per se, but to get a sense of where you're at.

If we This is being very Socratic.

We give yeah. And we we can spend time here as the council would like this evening. But if that linkage of, say, that accessory data center that's supporting research and or manufacturing or both here at Hillsboro, but let's say it was also connecting into data and research that was happening in another regional or global hub and there was information being exchanged and leveraged off of each other, which is bringing a benefit here and possibly linking us to an operation somewhere else, we would say that so long as the accessory use is still accessory to some manufacturing and or research development or those other approved uses, those allowed desired uses, that, that would be there. The excess capacity could still be used, but it would still have to be in support of that industry. Again, people couldn't be using it for a separate social media hosting or cloud compute or things like that.

They would be, but it's a joint venture where the primary jobs would be in New Jersey for this Exactly. With the partner of the trade of the JV. I mean, you could come up with a scenario where you say it's part of the JV. It's part of the joint. It's part of manufacturing. I I just don't know why we don't just change the language to be a little tighter, I guess, is the only question.

It it gets back to how much do you as a council wanna restrict the economic opportunities upon which we're endeavoring in this in the first place because that's the interconnectedness of this infrastructure that we're talking about and the nature of these facilities of both what we're already seeing and a little bit of the transitions going. It is it is not to put exclusively data centers only in this area. It's definitely not to put standalone data centers. It's to acknowledge the linkages of just that one use type really in and amongst the the variety of target industries we're pursuing.

And to be devil's advocate, obviously, here, but I'm not trying to stop what we are trying to do. I'm trying to stop what we are trying to stop. Right? The data centers. And I'm trying to come up with scenarios for, well, is this really what we want is to be doing data processing and storage for somebody else.

Because I'll tell you, there's a member there's a lot past the last session making sure that much of the electrical infrastructure that's being built for data centers is paid by data centers. PGE was accused in December of trying to circumvent that rule with some new ways, whatever their rules were. Cub claims that at least. I I don't know. I'm not an expert in that, but it's Cub.

I know that. But also it's PGE. I know that as well. So, I mean, for what it's worth, then I think that the who's who's the state energy folks are gonna have a hearing audit enabled. And so we can pass laws and industries can do things to interpret them in certain ways.

And I wanna make sure that our intent, which I am a 100% in support of, is fulfilled and not able to be circumvented like PGE is doing with this law that we passed in the state of Oregon and Salem to do that. Now what I'd like to also do is have the city maybe take a look at what PG is doing. PG is a major provider here. They are doing this. And this offloading some of the costs that's under the bill should be borne by industry, and they're offloading it to residential is what Cub is saying, again, unverified. But I think the city should be involved in that and take a look what they're doing and maybe have an opinion on that, frankly.

So if I can just maybe offer up one final response to that because those points are all noted. And I do appreciate a little bit of the Socratic testing of this. Again, we've tested this extensively even as we review and monitor the language because at the end of day too, we take very seriously the role that our staff and the department play of having to evaluate applications as they come in and either approving them or denying them or conditioning them. We can get into the mechanics of that tonight if you wanna just talk about that especially for time. But where I'd come back to is some of this language has proven itself out, we believe, already.

The meek sub area that our Hillsborough Economic Development Council has bought that we also are persistently accused of, you know, having 500 acres of developed land, and therefore, we don't need any more, which we have stayed true to the data center ban that is on it. And to trying to get that site served with infrastructure to compete for the larger major anchor users is the reason why that roughly 500 acres is sitting there, and we are continuing to put it in front of active projects. And we have made at your leadership and discretion as a council, the investments necessary to try to bring that up to a fully serviced and competitive site over the last few years. That area has a prohibition on standalone data centers that defines and lays out everything we have, probably not even as far as the current statutory language has been recently amended. And we can go on a tour.

There is not yet a data center or somebody trying to skirt those rules up in that area. Now have we been approached to staff? Yes. Have we had to engage project proposals and advise them? If you submit what you're submitting, that is a stand alone data center for the definition and application and the policy intent that's there, and it will be denied. Yes. That has happened. And so while I appreciate a bunch of the hypotheticals, it does start to almost feel like we can set a speed limit. But if somebody is going to break the speed limit, then are we going to prohibit cars? And so we have to set the rules. We have to be ready to enforce those rules appropriately. And we do have a test case of very similar language that we have been applying in honor of the Oregon land use system and the land use codes that are up there for the better part of about ten years. So I'll just And say

it's working.

There's no stand alone data centers that have yet gone in there, and we are in a severely site constrained environment as you've been hearing, and data center demand is continuing to grow all over the world in the country, including here in Hillsborough, and we've still not seen one there now. I'm not begging for more inquiries on that of data centers, but we have held that line from a zoning administration standpoint since about 02/1516.

Last question on that then. Have there been any applications in that area for manufacturing with an accessory data center?

We have one that has a small data center integrated in it, not in the Meek sub area, but nearby. We have had none that are in that Meek sub area that I

just referenced. So, really, we haven't tested that yet. This is new language. Advanced manufacturing with part of our accessory data center is new language. We really haven't tested. Yeah.

Yet. I guess that's where we may still be missing our social councilor. That language is on the books. We can send you the extra bed of our code that says that stand alone data centers are not allowed. The data center would have to be accessory to one of our target industries, including, like, advanced manufacturing. This is where the current legislative language actually gets more specific and frankly constraining than even our current zoning language. But that current zoning language does talk about data center being allowed accessory uses, and it has not been abused nor been allowed to be submitted to be potentially abused to this point.

So from what I hear and just to clarify, have you had somebody come to approach you with an advanced manufacturing plus a data center that you've rejected that you said, no. This is a data center then?

We have had entities approach us that are a data center with offices and other things that were not well defined or understood or established, and we have turned them away and said no. But not advanced manufacturing pieces yet. We have engaged entities that have any interest in doing advanced manufacturing with the data center component, but they have not gotten to the point of submitting a formal application for us to say yes or no, but they would have likely been an approvable category for that. NSTC was a case in point example of that.

So they

so they so you have not gone through the entire process with this particular definition of advanced manufacturing with a part of our accessory data set. That's all I'm asking. This

is where it feels a bit like cross examining because I think I'm trying to answer your question. Really, we have been approached. We have not approved something that would be in violation. And I think along the lines of what there's a lot of input of would not be desired or accepted to meet that definition, we have not proven the affirmative to I think what you're seeking, which is somebody that has said this meets that threshold and have we approved it, and then was that right or wrong? That has not occurred yet. That has been answered, Gary.

My question. Thank you.

Okay. So I just wanna do a quick time check. It's almost 10:00. I'm supposed to check-in at 09:30. Ariel has to be in Salem again at 08:00.

She doesn't

And the purpose of this evening is to brief on the legislative update. So just wanted to say that as we move forward. So we have councilor Every and then councilor Sinclair.

Thank you. I I just have a quick comment. So I, you know, I I did read the bill, and I was a little amused because because that language of saying advanced manufacturing with with a data center because any company has data centers. It has servers. It might have two servers in a cupboard or it might need a full room.

Like, you know, where I work, there are rooms and rooms full of servers and has always been that way. And I think just because we are very sensitive to standalone data center that the bill has had to write it down. But it's just kind of saying we want advanced manufacturing and walls, right? It is like they just come together. So I think people are very sensitized to it.

And so it was it's just kinda so it is I think I think it's been it's been written to kinda allay the fears, but it is just like, yes. Advanced manufacturing and a wall and a roof is what we will approve. But it's just kinda it's kinda silly. I know I know why it's being done, but it just kinda makes it very difficult with this sort of, yeah, this environment.

I equate it to approving a restaurant but no bathrooms. Counselor Sinclair.

I'm not gonna take a lot of your time. As a layman, like, the reason people get upset is because when we're talking about accessory dwelling units and then we say globally, we don't wanna limit ourself. People think of them

our grid. Counselor Sinclair. Accessory dwelling units?

I'm not I'm sorry. Not I'm sorry. Accessory. I I'm sorry. My verb is shot messed up.

Okay. I just wanna check-in.

Yes. It is. Okay. Accessories. I'm sorry.

Accessory

How we were talking about

Data centers. Data centers.

Okay. I just wanna check-in.

Basically. So we're talking about accessories and then global aspects and that be be open and creative and not limiting because no one could predict the future and what's gonna happen economically. That's when people start to think of energy strain on the grid and the grid being PGE. So having socialized, you know, costs end up being the rate payers that pick up the difference for the the infrastructure stability. And that's where it comes in, and that's why people are so specific on this. So it's just something I wanted to bring up and that's why people care if it's global or not. Yeah. Thank you for that.

This was something else.

Thank you

for that, counselor. I will also note in public testimony yesterday in the hearing, PGE did testify and speak to their partnership with the region and how they plan for, you know, future demand on the grid. So I and I appreciate you sharing. You know, that's where some of these concerns are coming from.

Yeah. So

Thank you so much. And the last thing, I don't I don't have a question. I just have a statement, and we'll we can talk about this at another time. I think there's a lot of uncertainty of how many data centers we actually have currently built out and what's in approval process and then what we're planning for. So we're not communicating enough with our community so that it's clear understanding.

Thank you.

Okay. And then before we move on, do I think I'd be remiss. I've been if I don't mention this, I've been on the phone with okay. Backing up to what we were talking about before is immigration response, and this bill, they are very related. I've been talking to mayors around the state who cannot afford to respond to ICE.

We are providing $750,000 out into the community to support nonprofits and other organizations in ICE mitigation. We are able to do that because when these tax abatements end, SIP, you know, comes in, and we are able to have that money. We are able to go and and use that for ICE mitigation, for example, ICE impact mitigation. We walk into the Hidden Creek Community Center because of this. We have Fire Station Number 9 because of this.

It we're gonna have a new, headquarters for HPD because of this. Tigard is putting a, what do bond out to pay for a new, police headquarters. They cannot afford. They can't build it. Their police right now are in, trailers.

We haven't had a bond since then.

And we haven't had a yeah. We haven't had a bond in a while. So I just wanted to say that that, this and and the previous topic are very related on the on the ICE piece. And then it's also just I just wanted to keep it in mind that we were able to walk into buildings that would not exist without this. So thank you. Alright. And not having to

raise And what? And not having to raise

And not having to put up their bonds. Having to raise stocks.

Talking with Bieberton the other day, and they both had

multiple bonds and had multiple failed bonds.

Multiple bonds. Multiple failed bonds. They're $9,000,000 in the hole. Right. And they're screwed. Right. Right? And I feel really badly for them. Yeah. You know?

Right. So So I agree. I I know Sorry. Double. Yeah. I know this isn't a debate between all of us right now, and it will be in the future if it passes, but this is called the JOBS Act. Yeah. And people don't have a roof over their heads, food on the table, electricity to turn on. When we are promising jobs, we get potentially because nobody knows the future of energy increase in cost or water, that affects the whole system. But yet Hillsborough receives the benefit of utility franchise fees, more energy put out, more revenues gained.

And we do get that money because of that to provide our wraparound services. But individually, people wanna know what works for them as employment for their own households. And they're so far away from that that they don't care if there's a park with or a library. I'm talking about people that are the most vulnerable, like you said,

that we're talking about that are impacted by ICE. They wanna know they can get that job and how many

of them are there. And then the other people want to know how is this gonna impact us long run.

Down the road. I agree with what you're saying, and I think a great example of that was testimony tonight from somebody who went through the quick start program, who was financially strapped. And she went through the quick start program two weeks and was able to get a tech job. Yes. So yeah, that was funded by this. Right? So Yes. Just wanted to say that.

Many jobs of those are is

gonna be per acre? Because 1,700 acres is a lot. It's a lot.

Yeah. Okay. Ariel, you wanna go to the next topic? Sure. The third one?

I did just wanna share the next steps in the process for transparency. There is a public hearing, tomorrow in the same committee, and the next opportunity for a a vote, a work session to be scheduled to be the following Monday. There, we are expecting one additional dash five amendment. Very technical. This is very common in the legislative process, particularly in a short session when things are moving very quickly. I mentioned other bills tonight that have a dash 17 and dash four. This dash five will do two things. It will, it the land use attorneys at both Metro and Hillsborough that were worked on the compromise amendment and the dash four, but how the land is described in mapping cartology needed some adjustment, to be clear. So that's one change. And then the r and d tax credit, which Hillsborough was not the champion on.

There are partners. There's a big coalition working on this bill. Needed some technical adjustments in terms of the overall revenue impact to the state. There is a cap on how much the state would spend per biennium because they extended out the sunset eligibility date of the program. They need to make sure that cap matched that. So there's another technical adjustment that you'll see coming, but the overall substance of the bill is not expected to change.

Thank you.

So for our final slide, our third priority this session, housing production and homelessness response. This is very similar to efforts in previous sessions. Defend funding for housing production, infrastructure, rent assistance, and shelter. I talked about the ways and means process and testimony, and we're members of the Housing Alliance, which is advocating fiercely to maintain existing investments for housing stability and homelessness eviction protection. There's also a bill that we're supporting and watching closely, which would establish a a new dedicated fund for affordable housing preservation.

So to keep at risk properties that are, you know, subsidized affordable, you know, publicly supported housing, it would authorize a $100,000,000 in bonds for a fund that the state housing agency would manage and and get out into the state, based on, like, you know, most multiple properties. Under poll support policy and program improvements, we've we've supported a bill, house bill forty thirty seven. It's a large kind of technical policy package that makes additional refinements and clarifications to recent, middle housing and land use policy related to local housing code and decisions. The bill, as originally introduced, had a lot of technical kind of issues. We were able to work with our advocacy through the League of Oregon cities and others.

They've fixed those issues, and so we're able to submit a letter supporting that effort. And then finally, the other party was supporting improvements to an existing policy tool, onetime UGB expansion for housing. That was senate bill fifteen thirty seven that passed in 2024. The criteria to be eligible to use that tool was very, very strict, and only a a couple cities actually qualified. So they are, specifically changing some of those criteria specifically in terms of how, how you qualify to demonstrate housing need. And so the amendments that are, coming to House Bill 4,035, would, incorporate that and update that tool to be more useful statewide.

Just brief comment sort of wrap up what the mayor said about how economic development supports the things we would like to do. It also helps us with housing because we have a lower tax rate because even if you don't use Hidden Creek or you don't use a library, we don't have bonds either. We we're not having bonding to build fire departments, which everyone needs, police departments, what most people need. And what happens then is because we can keep low rates low, we don't have bonds and levies attached to your real estate. Even if you're not a homeowner, if you're a renter, those bills go to your landlord.

And their rents are set based upon those bills that are coming in. So if you can keep those lower bills, it does have a downstream effect to affordability for your house. Yeah. So it does help in many different ways. That's why I support this bill. Obviously, I lost the argument on the language, but, you know, I do support the bill.

Keep rolling. Any other questions? No? Alright.

Yeah. That was the last slide questions.

We we peppering you with questions the whole way, Ariel. Any other last minute question or not last minute, but any other questions that we have?

No. I think we're only gonna few hours to sleep.

Yeah. Ariel, thanks for the work that you're doing on behalf of the city in Salem every day, very long days. Thank you for doing that. Appreciate you. So yeah.

Thanks, Jim.