If you thought traffic has been bad this summer.....

Have you been reading about Cabelas?

The grand opening is expected to bring 1,000,000 shoppers to the Tualatin big box store over the 4 day event.

A MILLION?

Sure as shootin' it'll be a non-stop vehicular onslaught.  No wonder Tualatin is upset about traffic coming to Stafford - they already have a serious problem with the Tualatin Sherwood road, and it's going to be worse with this new magnet store they've built at the freeway on-ramp.

Even with the loss of traffic generated by the closure of the iconic Jiggles, this is going to increase traffic daily and dramatically impact weekends as hunters and gatherers converge there to shop and gawk, because this store ain't just another Dick's. They expect people to travel a few hundred miles and cross state lines to get there.

Prudent Hamleteers will stock their shelves with chili and pork rinds and not venture too far from home the weekend of the 18th.

Wiser ones will just up and leave town.

And perhaps some of us will be looking out their windows and wondering if this is a sign of our own future should the Hamlet get all urbany and densified.

What will Borland Road look like that weekend? Roundabout traffic? And I-205? Will traffic on Childs Road be able to turn left onto Stafford at all that weekend?

I sometimes roll my eyes when the NIMBY arguments come up because TRAFFIC panic is always high on the list, and it pushes the protest buttons.

This Cabela weekend may get us all reaching for the panic button!

Will we stay Urban Reserve - or?

Last night at a Special Board Meeting, surrounded by the amazing evening beauty at the Fiala Farm, it was agreed 7-1 that we will have a vote this fall about the designation we want for the non-Borland area of the Hamlet.

The roads to this decision came from different directions. Over the last year some 80+ people signed a petition asking for the chance to have a vote to inform the county on whether or not we want UGB inclusion. There were also multiple requests for this to the board over the last two years, none of which were entertained.

Then the county, after Washington County got their Grand Bargain at last year's legislature, decided they wanted the same opportunity to fast track some employment land into the UGB. To do that though there should be a consensus among the cities, the county and the affected lands as to what should be added, maybe removed, maybe altered in the current designations. So now the County is actually asking us - what do we want?

Then there was the legal response to the lawsuit that Tualatin and West Linn filed saying that the Hamlet shouldn't be included in any planning until the traffic mess out here is dealt with. This was upheld. Where it's going to next isn't clear, but for now, there's no touching this area.

Which means prime Employment Lands in Borland can't be developed.

Anyhow, I hope I got that all correct because it is a little complicated.

So, in response to the County asking us What We Want, it was decided to have a vote in September to make sure that the wishes of our citizens are represented correctly. We've had surveys and town halls that have approached that question, but never an actual conclusive vote. Of course it's an Advisory vote to inform the County, but it is still a great chance to voice what the majority of the landowners out here hope will happen.

There will be information coming out with pros and cons, FAQ's, maps and places for discussion. Don't forget our staffordhamlet.com website which will be the source for that, too. And of course there will be newsletters.

Would you like to help with the outreach?  Please contact Tracy Tolbert or Dave Adams if you'd like to help with signage, donate some $$, lick envelopes or write the materials. We could use a solid core of people to help create the message that will get people inspired to come vote!

Escape from Purgatory?

Hi,

I haven't written much lately. A couple of reasons. And no, spring fever isn't one of them!

Being careful of Apple Carts
If you come to meetings you know it's been a tough slog going forward this year on the vision plan. I was on the Structure Committee and now the Task Force committee - both of which are moving the Community Vision Plan forward using all of our good Consensus Building tools. The Structure group was 8 people and we did ok We were all happy with the result and felt good about each other when we were done. (Well, I liked everybody more when we were done than when we started anyhow!)  We talked through tough things, unveiled those pesky elephants charging around the room, asked and listened instead of getting hurt feelings or jumping to conclusions and produced our report On Time. Go Team!  The Task Force is tougher - there's 12 people on it and after a couple of meetings some folks are calling for it to be disbanded and shut down. Really? And that's with a full time mediator at the meetings. True!  But that's newbie thinking. To build consensus in the Hamlet, oldtimers know you have to be able to walk on the hot coals baby!  So, we'll see how that goes!

Moving Targets
Things are moving around so much it's been hard to know what to write. About the time I hit 'post' the situation may be completely different! One side wants this plan, one side wants that plan, and then there's someone who has a plan all their own.


But I'm hopeful that a plan can emerge that will benefit the most citizens the most ways. 

Isn't that what SHOULD come out of a community vision?

As I wrote last time, the court case win by West Linn and Tualatin has affected us by not making full development here a slam dunk.  The county is saying that there might be a slightly different pathway. We could maybe go back to our great Undesignated status and have it be possible for EFU lands to 'upzone' or create some smaller lots to build on or sell off.

There's lots of questions on that we're trying to pin down.

Only upzone for EFU?  What about larger RRFF5 landowners? Is there a chance for them too? Is this only if we keep Stafford north of the river Undesignated?  Upsides? Downsides? Hiddensides?

Remember we've had this conversation before? Before we were in the Urban Reserve ( a status where ALL of your re-zoning or subdividing rights are frozen until a city kindly annexes you), we were exploring this same option for some limited change, limited growth, and limited stress on our infrastructure that is possible in Undesignated areas.

Dan Chandler from the County has called our  current status -  Purgatory.  An endless unchanging night. Hmmmmm.

Note: images of purgatory were so disturbing I'm sharing this instead.

Please stay involved, tuned in and Active in the Hamlet - this is the time to keep up to date!

next: Who Are The 65%??

The ball never lies

Last night's meeting with the County reps was very interesting. Out of the Land Use chaos here may be a way to actually craft the vision of lower density that we want! ? 

What's your take on it?