Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey, hey, Heat. Hey, Heat.

Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat.

There. Good evening everybody. I call the April 8th, 2026 Planning Commission meeting to order at 6 pm. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Thank you. Can we take a roll call, please? Chair Samova,

here. Vice Chair Matt Constantine, here. Rob Candrian here. Toby Trober here. Nicole Hendris here. Jeff Zendelle here. Andrew Carr here. Thank you. Thank you. And next on our agenda is to take um consideration of our last meetings minutes. It's this is the um was the March 30th. Those aren't on the agenda for today because they just happened. All right. Yeah. Moving on to the next item which will be our work session. I think we need to do a citizen input talk real quick but I don't have any attendees online. Okay. Um

in the audience sounds good. I was going to have the citizen input during the work session. Um is that okay?

Okay. Okay. So next in our agenda for the work session is the Wilsonville industrial land readiness for west railroad basalt creek master plan. Uh in the this work session is a chance for the planning commission to gain additional understanding of and provide guidance on ongoing legislative projects prior to a public hearing. Um, as a courtesy, the planning commission will, as time permits, allow for a limited public comment on the topic after staff have presented their report for the commission's purpose of continuing to understand the project. However, it should be noted that this is not a public hearing and any participants are encouraged to participate in a future public hearing for legal standing purposes. So, at this time, I call for the city staff uh to present information they've prepared for the work session. Well, please, city staff, present. All right. Good evening, chair, vice chair, commissioners. Appreciate your time. Uh, for the record, my name is Chris Myers. I'm a senior planner here at the city of Wilsonville and the project manager for the Basalt Creek Master Plan project. Uh, with me tonight, I have Lauren Scott from MIG Consulting. She'll be doing most of the presentation. Um, also joining us from MIG is Alex Dupy. He is online due to some illness that he is appropriate appropriately not spreading to the rest of us. Thank you, Alex. And of course, next to me uh is uh Matt Lorenzan, the city of Wilsonville's economic development manager. So hopefully we'll be able to inform and answer any of the questions that might come up. Um so before we get started um you know tonight's work session really does focus on the West Railroad um area that's within the Basalt Creek planning area itself. Um you know this has long been

identified as a strategic employment uh area. It's intended to support long-term job growth in Wilsonville and the greater metropolitan region. Um, in October of 2025, the planning commission and city council held a joint work session um where we reviewed existing conditions of the west railroad area um let's see and discussed three potential development concepts for the west railroad area. Those concepts explored different approaches uh to development intensity uh the transportation access and environmental integration. you know, Lauren's going to go into some detail detail during the presentation, so I'm not going to dive into that too much. Um, but based on that feedback that we received during that uh work session, um along with additional technical analysis staff and the consultant team, um we've developed a preliminary preferred concept for the West Railroad area. And you're going to see some of that tonight. Um you know that concept aims to balance uh economic development potential uh with environmental stewardship you know by maximizing developable employment uh land while preserving key natural resources uh and integrating recreational amenities like the ice age tonken trail. Um, it also identifies uh transportation improvements necessary to support long-term employment development and freight access. Uh, let's see. So, tonight, as a reminder, we are seeking feedback. Please pause or or have us pause, ask your questions. We want to have robust discussion and gather as much feedback um that the commission has for us. Um, and then lastly, just a reminder, we're going to be taking this same concept to council in about 12 days time on April 20th. So, they'll get basically the same thing. We will also integrate any

feedback the commission has into that presentation to council and inform them of where you what you're thinking. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Lauren and she's going to walk you through the presentation. Do I need to share my screen? Oh, yeah. Let's see if I can remember how to do this. You might know I'm better than Yeah. should just be able to share screen from there. Or do I need to do it via Zoom? I think. Okay, thank you.

Okay, thank you for bearing with me for that short moment. Um, like Chris said, I'm Lauren Scott. With me is my colleague, Alex Dupy. We work with or for MIG, a planning and design firm. We're really appreciative of your time tonight. Uh we're hoping to share a little bit about where the project stands, review some of the feedback that you all and council shared in October 2025 since it's been a few months since that date. So, we just want to refresh everybody for that before diving into going over the preliminary preferred concept and getting your feedback on that. As part of that, we also plan to share some of the uh technical analysis that's been happening. The city has contracted with DKS who's done some analysis about further vetting the preferred concept. So, we do have some of that information to share and help inform uh your feedback there. And then at the end, we'll just end with some some next steps and a brief uh schedule overview. So, where we are in the process, like Chris said, uh this is one of two work sessions focused on the West Railroad area. The second one will be with council a little bit later this month. Um we were working on a more compressed timeline in a in October 2025. Uh since then, there have been some staff retirements. The city decided to go out for that additional technical work. So, we're regrouping now and and moving forward with uh integrating the West Railroad concept planning back into the Basalt Creek master plan. Those work sessions, including some focus specifically on the land use code and zoning approach, will happen uh in the summer and then tentatively adoption hearings into the fall. And since it's it's been a while since then, uh hopefully bear with me while we recap. I know we have some new members. Um and so we're just going to spend a little bit of time going over what was

presented, the feedback we heard. Um, at that meeting, like Chris said, we reviewed the existing conditions and touched on some of the earlier planning work that's been done for the area, including the habitat assessment work out there, the Echo Northwest uh industrial land readiness work, as well as the uh freight evaluation for that railroad undercrossing on Gramps Ferry Road, which is um kind of a key challenge in this area. And we also revisited the the Salt Creek guiding principles and talked about how they could be specifically applied to that area and then walked you through the the three draft urban design concepts and begin identifying those preferred elements. And just before we get into those draft concepts, I'll briefly highlight a few key points about the site. Um, compared to the 1990s, there's a lot less sensitive habitat and natural resources today due to the development that's occurred out there. Most environmental constraints and those remaining natural resources do remain along the western edge of the site along Coffee Creek, Coffee Lake Creek. Um, the area typically has large parcels and good access to I5 and today it's mostly contractor yards with a mining operation at the north end. So redevelopment in this area is is a very long-term transition, long-term vision. It won't happen, you know, within the next year. Uh but we're looking ahead to what could occur out there. There are also some constraints to keep in mind. There's currently no sewer, no water, no storm water infrastructure. Road access is limited. The site is separated from the rest of the Basalt Creek planning area by the railroad along with a BPA easement that runs along that rail line. And while there are a few existing connections to the site, there's a road into the mining operation from the north. It doesn't connect fully through

the site. Same with a unpaved road to the south. And then again that railroad undercrossing on Graham's Ferry Road is a is a limiting factor. In terms of trail alignments, the Ice Age Tonkan Trail conceptual alignment runs through a portion of the area coming in from the west of the site and exiting at the southern tip of our planning area. And just briefly covering the guiding principles. These guiding principles were originally developed for the Basalt Creek concept plan. They've been revisited by staff in recent years. Make sure they're up to date. They're still consistent with Wilsonville's uh vision and hopes for the area. And they helped shape the draft concepts we discussed in October and are carried forward through this preferred concept. The first set being uh market driven, making sure that any plan supports both jobs and housing while also making the most of the site's economic potential. The second being balanced, taking advantage of the area's location and natural features while also exploring ways to mix uh housing and jobs and utilize that craft industrial land use type. The key part of this is making sure different uses transition well between each other as well as developing the right utility and transportation systems. And that third set of principles which we spent a bit of time talking about and helped really inform the preferred concept is are aspirational and focus on the overall character of the area maintaining and complementing Wilsonville's unique identity and creating a place that feels distinct within the region. And there's also an emphasis on creating that highquality business environment, something that stands out and is attractive to employers and workers. And then finally, making sure natural resource areas are treated as assets and integrated in a

way that also provides recreational opportunities for the community. And so going over the draft concept. These came out of a collaborative work session with staff as part of that process. We did explore a few what if questions. You know, what if this was this area was really focused on natural resources and we built the concept around it versus what if this area had access to the full regional transportation network and really maximized employment. And so that helped frame the different ways of looking at the site. These were our old concepts that we shared with you all. The first concept, the Tonkan environment. It focused on integrating development with the site's natural features. It included enhancing that creek edge, extending the ice age tonkan trail and creating a network of connected open space and trails. Development in this concept was envisioned to be a little more uh campus style with a mix of craft industrial and smaller scale office or manufacturing. And overall the idea was to create a unique employment area that's closely tied to the natural setting where access to open space and recreation was the defining feature. For our second concept, manufacturing and industry, that focused on regional connectivity and supporting employment growth, it included upgrades to key transportation infrastructure like the Grahams Ferry undercrossing and a potential public rail crossing at Cahalen Road. And that land use mix emphasized largecale industrial and office park development to attract those higher density employment opportunities and was intended to position the area as a potential industrial hub and supported by that improved access and circulation. Oh, I forgot I had animated the slide.

Sorry about that everyone. That third concept was the limited connectivity with flexible land use. Uh this was a more incremental approach. It would allow for a broad mix of land uses maybe not typically found elsewhere in Wilsonville like commercial recreation, outdoor retail, storage, lowintensity small businesses. Instead of that uh aspirational vision, this concept was a little bit more about organic growth and letting the area, you know, be what it may. And so getting into what we heard from you all, uh the guiding principles takeaways that we heard uh included leveraging those natural resources to both support community amenities and be used as a potential attractor for economic development. That the large parcel sizes could allow coordinated development. and it's a little bit easier or needing less city intervention than assembling 30 small parcels out in the area and then supporting that uh employment that complements nearby contributing to that balanced mix of regional uses. Of course, not without its challenges which were recognized um by both commissioners and councilors that limited infrastructure and connectivity. Uh we talked about how the there are flood risks near the wetlands. We know that Gramps Ferry Road floods at times. Um there's a important balance to strike between conservation with job creation. Um we know the habitat loss has occurred out there, but this is still a great industrial uh remaining area in Wilsonville and how can we capitalize that? And then of course just the proximity to the railroad. While it's great for freight um and could be, you know, maximized, it limits certain land uses um due to the vibrations or noise uh for high uh tech manufacturers that could be located out

there but couldn't due to this proximity. And then uh coordination with the railroad as well was recognized as a challenge to get a public crossing in that area. And then in terms of the preferred elements that we took away from this um the tonkan environment one that concept one it was great that it capitalizes on the trail and the coffee lake creek greenway but on the flip side of that the large areas that are dedicated to natural features could limit uh areas for jobs and economic activity. for that second one, manufacturing and industry. Um, you know, it was well liked that there's a strong potential for job creation and long-term revenue out here while still allowing for that integration of natural resources. Um, however, just the acknowledgement that that does rely on infrastructure improvements, uh, which rely on development occurring and helping, you know, pay and construct those as well. And then that third um draft concept, you know, it was acknowledged that it does offer flexibility to adapt to market changes, but it lacks that clear and intentional vision. Um and it was really emphasized that, you know, Wilsonville is that forwardinking city and this is a area and region that we should be aspirational in um when looking at our concepts. And so that gave us a blend of concept one and two was the was the preferred direction. And I'll pause there because I just talked a lot and I talked quickly, but we want to make sure that we heard you right and that if there's anything else new commissioners um that are, you know, seeing this for the first time, if you have any feedback or thoughts on that.

Um I have a quick question. How how does that deal with the the uh the railroad overcrossing on Graham's Ferry, which I know was an issue that was discussed because that's like expensive to fix or change and um yeah, so how how does this address that part?

Yeah, great question. Um and I have a few slides on that later on, but I will say that staff have been talking to the railroad operator and they are the idea is not off the table yet. they're generally open to the idea. Um, it would, you know, obviously require additional coordination, additional funding to make that happen. Um, but it's not off the table in the preferred preliminary preferred concept uh that we're presenting tonight. And Matt, I don't know if you have anything else to add to that, but just maybe a clarifying question back. Are we talking about the undercrossing or the overcrossing? Yeah, the undercrossing. So when you're coming up Grahams Ferry, you go under the railroad. I just was like riding my bike there too.

Yeah, I sensed that you were talking about the undercrossing but said overcrossing and then she responded to overcrossing. So I think we're make sure we're all where the road crosses under and the railroad goes over the road. There it is. Yeah. Um I I think maybe if we just go ahead and have you cover what you're planning and then circle back to that if if we're not hitting the mark. Okay. Jeff or or you first? You go first. Who's first?

Um I was just gonna say having been part of some of those conversations, this does feel reflective of what we had talked about and I appreciate the incorporation of the because we were talking a lot about bike peds. So I think it makes sense for that regional trail connection. um and then appreciate that it still looks like there's enough density there for um you know what we're trying to to achieve with the employment um offerings. So I appreciate um the the combo. Excellent. Thank you. Okay.

Yeah, this looks great to me too. Um one of the questions I had is thinking around the like the total available land that we'd be kind of envisioning being used for industry. Um, one of these looks like it uses a lot less of the land for developable kind of space um, in exchange for more natural spaces. And I think that's kind of the intent. But how does that uh, does that take us out of alignment with like the overall um, kind of economic opportunity analysis that we were talking about before and the land use kind of readiness that we need to have for the overall city of Wilsonville. Is that in reference to sorry the C1 Tonkan environment? That's Yeah, that's

like I love the natural spaces. I just want to make sure we're like does this compromise the our ability to meet those land use readiness goals that we have um or would we be able to make that up elsewhere or are there other ways that we're we're kind of thinking about that?

And that that's a fair point that that we took uh into the preferred concept. um really focusing in on preserving wet upland tree habitat and you know acknowledging that you're not going to be able to build right up against the wetlands um right there but kind of building out that purple area. Um and so the transportation analysis also uses these these blobbies that are on the screen right now understanding that um for industrial development you're going to have a lot of your site dedicated to internal circulation, off- streetet parking, landscaping, storm water, things like that. Um, so hopefully this strikes the the right balance between protecting those existing natural resources that may still be there, recognizing that the that the Ice Age Tonkan Trail is a is a regional concept and that should be incorporated in here while still maximizing developable areas.

Yeah, I think you're asking the right question and it's the question we're actually posing to you tonight. Are are we striking the right balance? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I think I wanted to give u insight into what we talked about in October was right around this concept is number one great um ideas behind it but took too much space um that was developable and this is prime industrial developable land um and then two was a little bit too much over the top that's why when we gave our opinion we said could we do one and two together Um, and it it looks like this one is a nice cross between uh between one and two. So, um, yeah, you heard us. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Anything else before moving on into the preferred concept and kind of peeling back the layers of that? Um, I just had a clarification question. I noticed on one of the first slides it said it mentioned something about housing but I noticed in the diagrams there were no housing. So I just wanted to confirm there was no housing. Correct. Okay. Um the basalt creek I think that reference to the guiding principles. Um so that is for the entire Basalt Creek planning area. Okay. Um which encompasses more. So no housing here.

I've read a lot of studies on pollution and living in those environments. So okay. Thank you. Good good clarification to make. Okay, so this is our preferred concept graphic. Um, like we just talked about, this aims to maximize that developable land where possible while still recognizing the environmental uh aspects at here as well as the infrastructure constraints. You'll notice that the purple area and that internal local street are pulled off of the railway. that's to accommodate the BPA easement and acknowledge it in this concept plan. Uh it seeks to still preserve that remaining habitat again enhancing the creek edge helping maintain some natural character and recreational opportunities. It does consider some additional road connections to improve circulation and connectivity. And we're acknowledging that the exact layout will be refined as planning progresses and actual development occurs. But we are showing an internal north south uh local street through the area. Um the connections would be to the north on Tonkan Road and to the south at Grahams Ferry. And then shown slightly differently on the concept because we're acknowledging that it is aspirational, but we want to keep it in the mix is that public rail crossing at Cahalen as well. And then in orange are the linkages to the ice age tonken trail as well as some internal pedestrian circulation. If that public rail crossing at Cahalen occurs, there could be an opportunity to connect through there as well. And so my next slides focus on land use, transportation, some of the elements, other elements uh more singularly.

One quick question. So, it shows that there's a trail connection that goes over the water. Is that would that have to be built? Is there an existing trail crossing that goes over the water or are we waiting? I believe that's part of the conceptual trail alignment, which is I just want to Sorry, Commissioner Carr, I want to clarify. You're looking at the orange dotted line um that essentially is going east west kind of almost lining up with Kalin or Morgan. Yes. So I believe that that actually follows an existing access.

Okay. So um you can't quite see it but I think if you look close there's a gray line under there. Yes. You can actually access kind of West Railroad from the that back side. It kind of there's a connection point essentially across a wetland. It it doesn't look like a big lake, but it does look like a wetland and depending upon the time of year, there's more or less water that's there. Okay.

Um, but this is conceptual at this point in time. So, a lot of the Ice Age Tonkan Trail was delineated by Metro and the cities that will be connected by the trail. Um, and there were definitely ideas for coming through this area, but there's always time for local refinement when we get to the point of actually design and construction of the trail. So, just focusing on land use for a minute, that's obviously the purple area on the graphic uh representing where development would be concentrated. The preferred concept is envisioning a range of industrial park uses for flexibility from manufacturing to warehousing. Um but intending to overall position the area for that higher quality long-term employment and development. Uh again important to note that this is aspirational. It's meant to uh guide the area's future and the future discussions on zoning and the approach there will also play heavily uh into the land use vision and what can occur out there. And so getting into the transportation analysis, that's a key part of evaluating the preliminary preferred concept. DKS and associates conducted an analysis to look at how the area could function with both the existing network and then any previously planned roadways, intersections, and other projects that may be identified in the city's transportation system plan. And that work basically just helped vet the preliminary concept. Are the arrows and dashes we're putting on this graphic uh actually able to happen? And do they have any unintended impacts? So just quickly on the methodology and

approach, DKS used a 20-year traffic horizon assuming any planned network improvements that were identified for the for that 20 years would occur. Uh the analysis used the preferred land use scenario to reflect anticipated development intensity. uh multimodal access was assessed and that's including vehicles, freight, pedestrian and bicycles but all at a planning uh level scale and then DKS and staff did coordinate with Washington County for the Tonkan road connection since that's in the county's jurisdiction as well as the railroad operator about the Cahalen uh crossing. Some key assumptions of that. So the land use again consists of those small service businesses with larger manufacturing uses typical of that industrial park uh land use type. The transportation network would ultimately include uh the previously planned Basalt Creek Parkway in extension improvements at Grahams Ferry and Day roads as well as the Garden Acres connection. So that all impacted the analysis for this area. No new I5 overcrossings were assumed and as the baseline the public rail crossing at Cahalen was not factored in. So this analysis relies on the northern access working and the southern access working and then the internal circulation would rely on that north south local street providing the main spine for traffic in the area. So, just dialing in our entrance points, we have the Tonkan Road and Graham's Ferry Road connection. Uh, preliminary discussions with Washington County um did give the general thumbs up on a Tonkan Road connection, but obviously they would have to meet the county's access, safety, and operational standards for development. The Grahams Ferry Road connection is a little bit

easier since that's just Wilsonville coordinating and uh planning for that one. In terms of internal alignment, this is dependent on development, but we are identifying the dash line to represent that desired connection. Although again acknowledging that the alignment will and can vary. And then finally that Cahalen crossing while not included in the baseline transportation assumptions used for the analysis it is reflected in the preferred concept as a desirable connection to make. The city has been in contact with railroad representatives who are generally open to the idea of a public crossing. This would likely occur by you know upgrading the crossing at Cahalen and then improvements at another crossing may be required as mitigation um to make that work. And so the city is going to continue conversations about feasibility and uh long-term uh keeping this as the vision for the area to to make that that connection. And then in terms of key findings, great news. No major off-site road upgrades are needed beyond what the city is already planning for and what's adopted in the transportation system plan. Um we had talked a little bit about a potential access point from the west via Morgan Road in the joint work session. Uh that was determined that the preferred concept does not need to rely on that connection. So that's why it's not shown on the preferred uh graphic keeping it just to the Tonkan trail alignment going going that way. Uh the internal network performs adequately under the assumed development intensity and traffic conditions. And then the analysis also found that the ice age

tonkan trail alignment can be accommodated as it's shown uh at a high level knowing that further pedestrian and and bicycle analysis and the exact alignment studies will need to occur. And so just a snapshot of the identified transportation projects in the area. We have that new local industrial access to the site. It will be finalized and provided by development. We have the Tonkan Road upgrades including trucks access and safety improvements. The Grahams Ferry Road undercrossing uh improvements to make sure that freight vehicles can safely pass through there. And then the Cahalen Road crossing is still identified as optional and that could be tied to additional intersection improvements at Gramps Fairy Road and Cahalen as well as the pedestrian and bicycle trails through the site. And I'll pause there because that's a lot of transportation projects and information.

Go ahead. Awesome. Okay, I'll kick us off with a question. Um you mentioned no external uh no no external projects would be needed for this. One of the one of the things I don't think I saw in previous materials was any sort of acknowledgement about the potential wildlife impact of increased industrial traffic along Graham Road, especially where the wildlife crosses um Grampsberry Road from one side of Coffee Lake Creek to another

um is an area where I I anecdotally it's probably the place I see the most roadkill in Wilsonville, including like beavers and things like that. So, I wonder if I is this likely to increase wildlife impact on that crossing, which is just outside of the border of what we're looking at here. And and maybe I've missed it, so maybe it's maybe it's been acknowledged elsewhere. I will ask staff to help supplement.

That commissioner is a really good question. I mean, common sense kind of feels like the answer is yes, but I can't say I can't really speak. Feel like I'm speaking really loud. I can't really speak to that, but we can certainly dig into that and come back with some answers or at least an answer, but yeah, I had not talked about that yet. So, thanks for bringing it up. Yeah, appreciate that registering a concern.

Thank you, Commissioner Zendelle. I can mention that we have not done that analysis yet. Um, we definitely we have a robust program around our wildlife crossings, as you know, which is probably why we don't see it in many other locations in the city. um we can connect with our natural resources program manager um who manages those and see um what we can integrate into this as we move forward. I think that'd be great. I'm really impressed by especially the things along like Kinsman Road and McTus and those kind of areas where we see virtually zero um wildlife impact or at least strikings. So,

thank you Commissioner Candrian. Um so on the project labeled three here um is the assumption that traffic would then go south on Grahams Ferry to avoid the railroad undercrossing. Um

I think ultimately that project is needed for the area regardless of what happens with rest railroad. So I the intention would be to make that make number three happen um with or without west railroad development moving forward. Yeah. In conversation with the uh engineering and public works department earlier today that was confirmed that they feel strongly that that undercrossing will be needed no matter what happens in West Railroad for future development in Wilsonville. When you say needed that they'll need to upgrade it. They'll need to like redo it. Yeah. It is too short or does not have enough height for trucks to

Yeah. Because that's I mean access. Okay. Yeah. Like like I said I I probably bike through there like I don't know a couple times a month. Yeah. and like imagining semis going south on Rams Ferry would like not really work very well. So yeah, it's it's it's needed. It'll it'll be very expensive, but it's also very important. Um there's a lot of challenges. The wetlands, there's only so much that you can take out of that of of that hillside. So, um it'll be a challenging project, but it it sounds like it's one of the more critical projects that we have for that area. But is that project dependent upon like how the city decides to move forward with this project specifically or they're going to do it regardless?

Not necessarily. Uh, you know, I might have Matt jump in here in a second, but that particular project is actually part of the uh Coffee Creek urban renewal area. So, I believe funding at some time can be spent on that without West Rail, without the development in West Railroad. But I Matt, I kind of feel like I'm speaking out of turn here. No, it's there's some uncertainty here. I just want to say that. Um, but it is correct that the Coffee Creek Urban Renewal Area has funding um I don't want to say set aside, but that is intended to uh move us closer to building this project. That said, the the Coffee Creek plan does not anticipate that that funding would be sufficient to actually build out the project. So if there were development proposed in west railroad before that under crossing were in place that's an really important consideration. Um Miranda anything you want to add to that?

Um sorry uh commissioners yeah I would just notice note that there are a number of improvements planned out here. So, um I'd have to look back at our engineering plans on the improvements to Grahams Ferry Road as well, uh in addition to the Undercrossing, but the expectation is that this area does get improved over time, um not just for West Railroad, but for the city overall. So increased traffic that we have um with the full buildout of Villawis and especially if the land to the north of Villa develops, all of that will require um a redundant system and improvements to this area. So it's likely that we'd be talking about the undercrossing at some point with or without West Railroad. Um, and the the question really here will be and it's a little bit of a crystal ball and we won't know until things start to happen is where do things start to happen first and that tends to be where the development like the infrastructure improvements get built first. So, um, we'll be kind of weighing all of those different things as we move forward. Uh but having this established in the master plan as these are the critical points of access, these are the critical points of improvement that lays then the groundwork for us when we're talking about which projects go into the CIP when when do we start working on how we fund those projects, what might be able to get funded through the Coffee Creek plan versus maybe extending that plan if we need to in order to cover other projects. So, this lays the groundwork for it to say this is our vision for the area if we can get it there and these are the projects that would be needed to serve it. Does that help answer the question?

Yeah. I mean, my follow-up was going to be like, you know, does the project hinge on one of these things because that hinges on that and we hope to have identified money, but we haven't. Then it's kind of like catch 22 of like you're just waiting around for one thing to happen so the dominoes can fall. But if it's all part of the the larger plan, then I I think that's that's probably sufficient. And I think one thing to remember here as well and I don't mean to deflate any energy but the the timeline for the development of West Railroad is likely a decade or two out. So uh the expectation is that the city is going to have a plan in place on a similar timeline to figure out the the undercrossing and funding it.

Thank you Commissioner Carr. Um, did we check into whether the easement area could be used for parking or any of that because I know we did that in other parts of the city. I'm not an expert on that topic, but my understanding is that I don't know why I'm speaking right now because I'm not an expert on it. Is I'm looking to the land use expert here. typically underneath power easements isn't there typically certain uses allowed but no structures

correct so to in the past when we have had discussions with BPA um their response is that um and is this one BPA or is this one yeah okay that's what I thought um is that they don't allow any structures they have limitations on height um and for the most part um what they'll allow is things like paths or possibly parking but their answer is always going to be if we need to access something in our easement, um we will tear it up and we will do our project and if you want to imp have that improvement made again, you will be the one to make that improvement again. So um they don't typically take on the responsibility of um taking action um to correct maybe what has been displaced within the easement. Um, that being said, I think it's a it's like a negotiation point on each different location and whether they'd be open to it or not. So, just because they're open to it in one location, they may not be in another. We have not initiated those conversations with them in West Railroad.

And Randa, just to add on to that a little bit, excuse me. Um we've we've heard similar things in other jurisdictions for these easements where as long as there's not structures um often as long as there's not trees or anything else that gets within in within the way of those those lines. Um when we did the development assumptions for the transportation pieces, we assumed there was no development anywhere near those areas. So you know however parking is allocated through those areas or how those easements are used, there's a lot of flexibility for that. But, you know, we believe the areas that are developable, we made assumptions that that would be that that was part of the broader transportation and infrastructure analysis that was done um after we met LA late last year.

Thank you, Commissioner Zendel. Just wanted to plus one that um but in addition to like parking, maybe also green spaces. I think that's the other like use that I think we've seen underneath those kind of easements. Um, so yeah, I like that idea. Something to explore a little bit.

Okay, wrapping up with trails and natural resources. Uh, so again, the preferred concept reflects the alignment of the Ice Age Tonkan Trail. there's a potential additional trail around that existing wetland kind of creating a loop and then could connect uh to the Cahalen uh public rail crossing or just be a pedestrian and bike crossing if ultimately a full public crossing doesn't move move forward. Maybe there's still that potential for bikes and pedestrians to cross there. And then we would be remiss to talk about all the other elements that will come with any development in the area. the storm water infrastructure, the east west connections that will need to be made, the internal circulation, driveways, off- streetet parking, landscaping, all of those other elements aren't shown on the preferred concept, but they're not ignored. And then to wrap up our discussion and and we really appreciate the feedback so far, but we we have two main questions. One is that does the preliminary preferred concept uh reflect the direction that was given and reflect your preferred uh fe preferred direction for this area. Preferred concept preferred direction and then are there any aspects of the concept that need further clarification? uh because at this point we're really looking for everyone to feel comfortable with where the preferred concept is going and so that when the Basalt Creek master plan is presented that piece feels good to everyone and feels solid car

um yeah I I do like the combination of what we've come up with uh when we compared one two and three uh in October I think this is a really good uh reflection of of what we were mentioning during that the area that I saw under the it was the I think the zoning and we'll probably get into that later was there was a comment um about kind of flexibility in the market driven arena versus aspirational. I just want to be careful that we um our goal here is for this to be industrial land. Um I know it's right now a bunch of um contractors yards,

right? And those are contrary to our plan. Yeah. Um I don't want to make it I don't want to make it easy for that to continue. Um there was a comment in here that said even if near-term uses differ from the city's long range aspirations, I want to be careful that we don't allow too much um building without understanding our long-term aspirations. That was

kind of one of my comments. Um the other one was in the area of um explore opportunities for public realm investment. Um, does that mean like a we're naming this the West Railroad area or are we going to have a a sign entry thing that says that's what we're calling it or are we going to rename it? Are we um I just a little bit more detail and I understand details may come way down the line, but is that our goal is to have some type of an entry area um that as people drive in they now know that they're in a a special industrial Wilsonville industrial westside uh industrial area or something. Um just wanna just want to clarify that. Um, and then my last one, um, funding source. We didn't mention urban renewal. Did we specifically not mention that? Because isn't this covered by an urban renewal district now or not?

It's not currently. On the other side of the tracks, we have the Coffee Creek urban renewal area. Um, we did an infrastructure funding analysis for the greater Basalt Creek area but did not include West Railroad in that analysis. Um, but we could expand it to include that.

Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Right now it hasn't been within the the scope of the planning. Um, this is just a really interesting area and since it is literally uh separated from the other the rest of Basalt Creek, it felt like its own thing as it were. Um, we also expect that because a lot of the land is already aggregated under just a few owners that if and when development occurs, it would likely happen on a larger scale and that there would be less need hopefully for the the city to be um facilitating development through infrastructure investments, but that private development alone would be able to be covering doing those things. So, there's some question about whether or not urban renewal would be would be needed. We do know for those regional projects like the undercrossing that there's a need. Um, but within the area, the the hope is certainly that private development when it occurs, we'll be able to cover a lot of those projects.

So, the Grahams Ferry and the undercrossing and potentially the improvement at Kalin Road, those would all be covered under the urban renewal or not? the existing so the the uh Cahalen is not contemplated in the Coffee Creek urban renewal plan. Okay. But the undercrossing does have it is named as a project under the plan. Okay, that's all I got.

Thank you. Hey, and I want to thank you guys for sending over the uh draft basalt creek of funding analysis because that was helpful to see how at least that other part is supposed to pencil out. Um, and so, you know, my background was trying to, you know, in the when I was working for the government and the intelligence community, it was trying to get good information to policy makers so they can make smart decisions, right? And everybody wants you to like predict the future, which like that you just can't do, right? the best thing you can do is say like what people are thinking at that time. Um so but one thing that I I didn't see and um I don't know if we have it someplace else but like have we had expressions of interest from either specific employers or specific developers who say hey if this is set up you know per a good plan we would love to come build A B and C here. Is that something that we do normally as part of these product project outreaches? Um or is it so far down the road that it's not something that we usually contemplate?

Mostly the latter. Um yeah, I mean we definitely um want to think about market realities and development feasibility, but as far as approaching specific developers about prospecting in this area, that's not generally within the scope of of what we do. Um but as part of the basalt greater Basalt Creek effort and the Willer project generally we have been talking to the development community have been getting their input and so they're a part of the process but not in the sense that we're soliciting them in some way.

Yeah. Because I mean just like personally it'd be cool to see if you're like hey you know like I know at some point we've talked about like there's semiconductor money right from plans with the state and not that you would have like Intel or Lamb or any of those companies saying yes if you develop this per your plan we will come and build there but saying like talking to some of these companies saying like hey well you know over the next 10 20 years we do plan to expand so that we're aware of potential opportunities to draw those employers here versus kind of like a field of dreams. If you build it, they will come. And you know, we're hoping people show up to know like maybe some of the larger economic analysis of larger employers who are saying, "Hey, you know, because because they plan out like 10, 15, 20 years in advance, too, right? Where they're saying, hey, you know, we think that we're going to need so many thousand square foot of space." And you're like, "Cool, you know, here's our plan." And so you guys can have that in the back of your mind as as we're moving as we move forward and as you move forward, you know, think about Wilsonville. Um, so to me, that would be interesting to kind of supplement some of this material so that we could all have a better understanding of like if this works according to our plan, like who's going to be there as opposed to like um I think when I was on the DRB, one of like the park place things, we were approving a new building for them. We're like, "Well, who's going to rent it?" And they're like, "Well, we don't know. We're just going to build it first." And you're like, "Okay." So in theory, you can just build this huge industrial space, but like you don't have any tenants lined up and then that can also exacerbate some of the problems that we have of like, you know, some of the vacant industrial area that is easily seen either from the freeway or as driving through town. Sorry, that was a long soliloquy, I guess. Um, no, we're getting in the weeds. I appreciate it. Um, couple of thoughts. Um I I I understand the general intent of what you're saying. However, I'll

still comment on a more granular basis to say um techreated companies are probably going to struggle with development in this area due to vibration. Um so um there there's just that sensitivity and that consideration. Um, the other piece that I'll mention is that we haven't I hope I'm not misspeaking here, but I don't know that we've had a largecale employer self-developed in the Portland metro area since probably the late 1990s. And there's reasons for that. Um, but when you think about an Intel, for example, and I understand you're not suggesting that we're going to go and get Intel to come to Wilsonville necessarily, but it's still an interesting case study because we know it. It's Oregon. close to us in our backyard. In the case of Ronler Acres in Hillsboro, the city aggregated that property through urban renewal and really had a hands-on approach in orchestrating that outcome. And that's really what it requires. Otherwise, what we see a market for right now is speculative development. private capital going at risk to build speculatively without tenants in place just like you mentioned. Um sort of banking that they're going to have build something that's marketable and attractive to companies to move into because it's there. It's ready. Um hand them the keys and and they can move in. That's what we're seeing a market for right now and that's what we would likely see demand for in this area. Hopefully that helps.

Yeah. Yeah. No,

sorry. Um, it just seems like if you know, say that this is proposed like either a new urban renewal zone or an expansion, but you do have those companies lined up, right, to say, well, here's who's going to come here. It's a lot easier to say, here's how the city increases property values and here's all that it's going to bring versus the speculative piece where it's like, well, you know, they built it. now that they have to go find tenants and if they don't do that then it's going to take longer to you know pay off some of the debt like yeah like to see those benefits right so that's kind of just what I was like wondering if we ever include that in these analyses to say obviously we can't identify specific companies because they're not going to know for sure but you know we've talked to these companies or we've talked to people in these industries they forecast this much growth this could be a good place for Yeah.

Anybody else have any questions or comments? I can just make a comment if it's all right.

Just uh just quickly um again I asked my poor wife to drive the site again to see this morning and uh it really drives home the point of accessibility is limited. the addition the existing uh businesses that are there. Um the water we drove down Morgan and kind of deadended out there. It's it's an interesting place and you all know this, but it really drives home the point when you're looking at a picture on a map and you're actually there. Um but it sounds like you've merged and blended those comments that you've got for for plan 1.5. I guess uh it seems it seems a good balance and um I appreciate you being responsive to those comments. So I'm supportive. It looks good.

Appreciate that. Thank you for the comment. Thanks. Um when we're talking about the land uses, I think last time we did the joint work session session with um the thought around like flexibility of uses. Are we still going to be considering things like I think we had talked about restaurants and things like that? Is that still part of the conversation moving forward or could it be? I guess I don't know. Waterfront restaurant. Yeah. Um I commissioners, I'll just jump in because um Chris wasn't here in October. Um so just trying to show him a little grace. Um

got to love a good boss. Thank you. Uh so as you'll recall, our industrial areas have limitations on retail, but um restaurants that would be serving the area for the most part should fit. I mean, the limitations there are 5,000 square feet, so a lot of restaurants are 5,000 square feet or smaller. Um it is something that we can explicitly call out. Um or we could discuss um whether there's a reason to modify that in this area for some reason. But um for the most part um you know a wide variety of commercial uses are allowed, restaurants are allowed. Uh there's just a square footage limitation on retail. Um the and you could for example like if you're also thinking about like a brewery um or something. Yeah. Um, and a lot of times what happens with that is we would consider the area where the brewing is occurring to be manufacturing. And so the retail would be limited to just the restaurant service area. And so that's the retail component. That's the square footage. So let's say there's a 3,000 square foot retail tasting room and restaurant. Um, but then you have 20,000 square feet of manufacturing. It's probably a lot for Well, I guess if it's a good brewery. Um but so we would break down the building in that manner when they applied. So we have a lot of that within the city where the retail component is built in within that larger structure and we're just looking at what the retail component is to calculate that square footage. Um that's the way the code is written now. You will see the code at your work session in June. Um we want to get confirmation on this. Um, you've seen it once before, those commissioners who were here last year, and we're happy to find that draft for the new commissioners to take a look at. That

showed the com basically um what we're calling the Northwest Industrial Area. So, it takes the formbbased code overlay in Coffee Creek and includes that for that area. um and then takes the land uses that are in our PDI and PDI RSIA and put them in this area. For Basalt Creek, as you know, there were designations of um high-tech, light industrial, and craft industrial. And so there were some differences between allowed uses um maybe some limitations on certain uses and certain what we're calling like districts or subdists of that um Balt Creek area. So what we'll be doing, what our job will be doing, Chris will be taking a look at that and looking at what seems most appropriate for West Railroad given the additional constraints here and um what limitations make sense, what limitations don't make sense. Um, so you'll have an opportunity to talk about that in June if it doesn't look right to you.

Do you know if that creek is a running water creek or if it's a stand still creek like a wetland area? Does anybody know? Are you like that waterfront area? Sorry. Are you talking about the co like the Coffee Creek wetlands there? The large space on the west side. So that one's but yeah the running along the property line I guess that we're seeing here with the trees that is not accessible to us. I think you're talking about Yeah. Are we okay? That is the Coffee Creek wetland and it does have water. Like it's like it's not like standstill water. Okay. Yeah. It's not like a river. When I think about

when I think about um it's pretty standill. Yeah. I mean, water flows like the the wetland still eventually like flows and continues to flow to the south, but it's not like when you're looking at it, it does look like you're not going to like want to float it on an inner tube or anything, right? Really slow. Creek is like a trickling creek, you know? Like I'm trying to

Okay. Um, so one of the things I think about like retail spaces and restaurants and things like that, I worry about the the mosquito issues, you know, that that that come up and so it's something to consider. I don't know how those are mitigated for those areas along the waterways um for businesses. Yeah. But I I do really um like the blend of the concepts. I appreciate keeping the green space. That was really important. I was really leaning towards the very first option but this is a good compromise um while keeping the goals in mind. Yeah. Thank you so much for your work on this. Thank you.

Can I ask one more question just occurred to me um thinking you you talked about mosquitoes commissioner and it reminded me of like there are maybe unexpected consequences of some of the things that we're that we do. If we were to go to put in this north south access that connected from Tonkan Road down to Gramps Ferry, are there mitigating things that we can that we can put in place that would prevent through traffic like cutting cutting around and trying to get from Tonkan Road down to Grabs Ferry by cutting through this industrial area

or is that a concern that we should be wary of? Do you mean uh commissioner, do you mean things that would completely disallow through traffic or just things that would maybe you've done it once but you don't want to do it again because it took too long?

Yeah, exactly. Like there's a reason it's it's there's a reason there's there's a benefit for it being a through street for the people who are occupying that space, right? But if let's say people are trying to get back from soccer practice or whatever and they're like, "Oh, I can save 30 seconds if I cut through here at 90 miles an hour." Um, like are there are there things that we can do to kind of mitigate that when we're thinking about I mean maybe this is too premature to be thinking about this but down the road are we like when we're thinking about the street design or when we're thinking about the the actual path that that road takes.

Well, I did ask for a robust discussion. So I think that falls within the confines of that. Uh so you know uh uh Miranda might have have a different take but one of the things that comes to my mind is is first and foremost we're talking about a road that needs to be able to accommodate uh industrial traffic, large trucks and whatnot. So uh how you would mitigate to allow trucks to flow freely but cars not to might be a challenge from an engineering perspective. Um so I think that would be one of the things we'd have to really think through. I don't know that we've had that. I I since I've been here, we have not had that conversation yet. So, um I don't think it's a bad thought, but it it does remind me that um tractor trailers don't like speed humps and uh and things of that nature, but you'd probably need some um signalization or control at intersections.

Yeah, just to jump. So part partly with the traffic analysis, you know, they did look at, you know, what if these connections were made um with this additional development

that's fairly coarse. You just making sure that the the system generally works. If development were to come in through this area, um you would have specific traffic impact studies having to be done for each of these intersections and other areas. And I think that would get to, you know, what types of demand would be placed on these specific roads as they're constructed, you know, a little further down the road when we know actually what's going to be going in there. And say, you know, as some folks mentioned, if this happens 10 or 15 years from now, you know, traffic demand could be completely different than what it is today. And so, you know, certainly thinking about that today makes sense, but also knowing that when this development occurs and when those new streets go in, there's going to need to be more specific analysis done at the time of development. I

think we we might also be thinking with our 2026 hats on right now, which is makes sense, but if we fast forward into the future, um, Graham's Ferry will be improved and widened. And so I think under that scenario coming if you're coming from like to Walton on Basalt Creek Parkway and can shoot south on Graham's Ferry, it's going to be much more efficient than winding through an industrial park. Like the problem should take care of itself. I'm speaking theoretically right now of course, but um I'm just those are my thoughts. So along those lines, I was going to also note um all of the other projects that are associated with the Basalt Creek transportation refinement plan um and the different roads that are in the area. So one of the things we do to mitigate that would be that um you have your collectors and your arterials that are looking at moving more of the traffic and trans uh road uh cars and trucks I can't talk tonight through the area. So to that point, Basalt Creek Parkway will eventually be a five-lane road. Um and it will cross all the way across to um Boon Ferry. Um Day Road will eventually be uh an improved and widened road. Grounds Ferry. So you have all of these large arterials and collectors. You have garden acres that are going to serve that area and provide for um the primary avenue of freight through this area. And then what you see on this map is we're actually not contemplating adding this north south road to like the city CIP. This wouldn't be a city project. It's not an oversized road. So what we'd be looking at here is uh the developers when they go to develop, identifying what's the alignment that works best for the development and then ensuring that whatever that alignment is will allow

access to the next parcel of development. we don't allow landlocking here. Um, and that eventually that connection could happen with Tonkan. Um, if I'm putting my engineer hat on as well, um, they would also remind me to say that we like a redundant network because that actually creates a better, smoother, less, um, trafficfilled network. So, um, those are kind of all ways in which we'd be designing it. But I don't think you'd ever probably see the same level of traffic on this type of local road as you would on say a Salt Creek Parkway or Day Road into the future. Thanks. Uhhuh.

Great. Thank you for all the questions and comments. I appreciate it. Um, let's see here. Time does permit the commission to take public comment on this work session item. The commission asked the public comment be brief and specific to the aspects of the project under discussion tonight as presented in the packet material and not not general nature or on components of the project not subject to tonight's work session. All right. Do we I don't see anybody in the audience. Do we have anybody online? I do not have any attendees online.

Okay. Great. Thank you. All right. I don't think we have any additional questions or comments from staff or commission. Okay. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you very much for the comments. Appreciate it. Yeah. Yes. Thank you. We really appreciate the discussion and and the ongoing work, the October input as well. We'll see you in June.

Perfect. Perfect. All right. That concludes our work session. The next item on our agenda is anformational item. There's no staff presentation. This is for city council action minutes. Um, do we have any discussion or questions about the city of council action minutes?

All right. And the 2026 work uh planning commission work program. Uh, did anybody have any questions about that or any discussion? Okay. What? Let me just make sure so I didn't miss anything on the last page here. Okay. All right. Well, we've completed all the scheduled agenda items. Thank you everybody. Do I have a motion to adjourn? I have to adjourn. All right. The meeting is adjourned at 7:10.