The City of Beaverton annexed the property of the proposed of Wal-Mart in 2005. The existing 'transit-orient retail commercial' zoning came with the annexed property that has no limitations on the amount of retail for the site. The applicant requested an Intergovernmental Agreement to have Washington County to be the lead review agency, but the County Board of Commissioners declined the applicant's request.
According to the testimony from City of Beaverton staff, they recommend denial due to not receiving an updated letter from Clean Water Services approving the proposed treatment of water discharging into a creek north of Barnes Road from the site. The applicant responded that the City will receive that updated letter from Clean Water Services before public comments close next week.
The Design Review Board gave the applicant 20 minutes to provide a presentation of their proposal. Most of the presentation focused on the architecture of the site. The Design Review Board had concerns regarding the façade of the north side of the building, garbage truck access, and the pedestrian plaza design. The attorney for the applicant mentioned he has received 453 letters of support in which 69 of the letters are residents from Beaverton.
Triple Creek Neighborhood Association, CPO1, and Save Cedar Mill each were allocated to 10 minutes of testimony. All three groups oppose the proposed development. Each group claimed the proposed development will be pedestrian unfriendly due to wide streets crossing signalized intersections. They expressed their feelings that a zoning called 'transit-orient retail commercial' should have developments that rely on public transportation instead of personal vehicles. The groups also expressed concerns regarding cut through traffic on neighborhood streets.
Tomorrow's hearing will have only public testimony. Each member of the public gets 3-minutes to speak. An opportunity to speak will be based on random drawing not 'first come, first serve.' The hearing will start at 6:30pm at Beaverton's City Hall and will last till 10:30pm.
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