Hillsboro City Council approves plan for AmberGlen housing complex
Published: Thursday, February 09, 2012, 7:15 AM Updated: Thursday, February 09, 2012, 7:15 AM
Casey Parks, The Oregonian By Casey Parks, The Oregonian
HILLSBORO -- A Tanasbourne site originally intended for a Hillsboro library will become a high-density housing complex, under a plan unveiled this week.
On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously approved an agreement to sell the five-acre property at Northwest Cornell Road and John Olsen Avenue to West Hills Development for $3.5 million. West Hills is the parent company for Arbor Homes, which will build the complex.
The development will be the first high-density housing complex inside the city's planned mixed-used, urban AmberGlen community. The city asked developers to build at least 200 units, said Assistant Planning Manager Colin Cooper, but the company could build more. Eventually the city hopes to bring between 5,000 and 7,000 units into the AmberGlen area, and this is a good first step, Cooper said.
"We think Arbor is going to push the upper limit of what can be built on the site without structured parking for a residential project," Cooper said. "We think they have a good preliminary plan that relates well to both the site and the surrounding street frontage, as well as the Rock Creek Greenway."
Later this month, the City Council will begin holding public hearings on proposed zoning changes to AmberGlen. Those changes would help transform the business park into a neighborhood more like Portland's Pearl District. The new zones will require a minimum of 45 dwelling units per acre.
The city paid $1.5 million for the land in 1999, intending to build a 60,000-square-foot library and police precinct. But in 2004, voters rejected the $25.5 million bond intended to pay for its construction. Instead, the city bought and renovated an existing building on Brookwood Parkway for about $13 million. The Hillsboro Main Library opened there in 2007.
When the city first placed the Tanasbourne site on the market in 2007, officials said about $2 million of the earnings would go toward financing the new library. City spokeswoman Barbara Simon said Wednesday that the money from the sale has not been allocated yet but would go into the facilities management funds.
Mayor Jerry Willey said the sale "means we can fund some of the projects we have earmarked. And somebody's going to develop the property. It's a win-win."
The site has gone through three other proposed sales since the city decided not to use it as a library. The first two bidders withdrew their offers, citing poor market conditions. Most recently, Polygon Northwest Company negotiated an offer in June 2011 but terminated the agreement in November.
-- Casey Parks
http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/...l_approve.html
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