Hillsboro City Council Work Session and Regular Meeting – March 3, 2026
Hillsboro City Council Work Session and Regular Meeting – March 3, 2026
The Hillsboro City Council held a work session and regular meeting on the evening of March 3, 2026. The work session focused on codifying the city's sanctuary status, including a review of the proposed ordinance, community engagement, and updates on ICE-related reporting. The regular meeting included a proclamation for Women's History Month, public comments, approval of the consent agenda, land use items, and the unanimous adoption of Ordinance 6513 codifying the Sanctuary Promise Act. The council also participated in a training on quasi-judicial land use appeal procedures.
Consent Calendar
- The consent agenda was approved unanimously by roll call vote (all present in favor). Items included routine approvals and actions.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Barry Johnson Smith (community organizer, speaking virtually) expressed strong support for Ordinance 6513, highlighting the inclusion of public reporting and CBO collaboration. He urged the council to vote yes.
- Blaine Solomon-Pearson (community member) thanked the city for inclusive engagement and voiced support for the ordinance. He also asked the council to center Persian and Iranian voices regarding the situation in Iran.
- Jacob Roloff (Helvetia resident) expressed support for the sanctuary codification and also raised concerns about data center tax breaks and farmland preservation, noting that bills SB 1586 and HB 4084 had been dropped for now.
- Denise Kerr (39-year resident) opposed SB 1586, criticizing Intel's declining workforce and the lack of environmental and traffic studies. She urged the council to protect farmland and community health.
Discussion Items
- Codification of Sanctuary Status (Ordinance 6513): Staff presented the history of the codification process, including engagement with council, community members, and CBOs. Key additions to the code included a reporting structure and coordination with CBOs. The council discussed training, public signage, and the community advisory committee (CAC) formation. Staff noted that training for employees is underway, and a new ICE-related incident reporting platform is live. The council also explored options for one-reading adoption with an emergency clause.
- Annexation and Zone Change (South Hillsboro – Risewell Homes): Planning staff presented a request to annex 45.88 acres and apply a concurrent zone change consistent with the South Hillsboro concept plan. No public testimony was heard. The council approved the order and the first reading of the related ordinance.
- Plan Unit Development 002-25 (Synopsis West): The council adopted order number 31 approving a 610-unit multi-dwelling complex, including 578 units in four-story buildings and 32 townhouse-style units, with adjustments per state law.
- Land Use Appeal Training: After the regular meeting, staff conducted a training on quasi-judicial land use appeal procedures, covering bias, ex parte contacts, conflict of interest, and the 120-day rule. Council members participated in a mock hearing exercise.
Key Outcomes
- Ordinance 6513 (Sanctuary Codification) adopted unanimously in a single reading with an emergency clause, taking effect immediately upon enactment. The ordinance adds subchapter 2.68 to the Hillsboro Municipal Code, codifying Oregon's Sanctuary Promise Act and related policies.
- Annexation 001-26 and Zone Change 002-26 approved: Order number 30 adopted unanimously. First reading of Ordinance 6512 passed (second reading scheduled for April 21, 2026).
- Plan Unit Development 002-25 approved: Order number 31 adopted unanimously for the 610-unit Synopsis West development.
- Proclamation for Women's History Month read by Mayor Pace.
- Public hearing set for a land use appeal on April 21, 2026, as part of the council's quasi-judicial duties.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to the evening. Before we get into next work session, I want to thank everybody for being here, both in person and online. I appreciate you all taking the time. During this time of this work session, there is no public comment. But at 7 p.m., we'll move over to the auditorium where community members are invited to speak. If you are here in person and would like to speak during the public comments session, please pull out a yellow card and give it to our city recorder when we move over to the auditorium. Our city recorders and remote right there. So now I'll turn the turn over to Robbie, our city managers to get more session. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Looking forward to tonight. We have a culmination of a lot of work with the council, community, with staff of the past over us. So if we can pull the PowerPoint off, first couple of slides are familiar. But I'll go for the agenda quickly. And then Rahim is going to be in the chat. We're going to be taking this through the progress that we made with codified our sanctuary status room. Next slide. So just a reminder this is the next slide. It goes back to adding principles and equity statement that the city has adopted. We have our strategic plan and our focus areas. Staff is united in our goals to support our community that's being impacted right now. And then again, the council has a goal this year promoting accurate information and we take that goal very seriously as a city and making sure that we're providing our community with transparent and accurate information. And then finally, the the uh the plan that our city council adopted a few months ago. In fact, if we go to the next slide, it's kind of a reminder of that plan. So we spent a lot of time working on our internal preparedness and focus of training our employees. We've tried to partner with our communities wherever we can work with our tremendous CEOs that are doing an incredible job with the community right now. We have uh several different programs to provide funding supported again. We've been working in the legislature trying to call for state federal action on this because we know this is not something that the city calls were going to do alone. Uh there was an emergency declared uh which led to resolution 2906, which really gave us a lot of again, some of these similar things are included in the same resolution. Uh we are in the process of forming the community advisory committee. So Mona's gonna talk a little bit about that and the progress that she's made working with the CBS to set that up. And tonight is the green box implementing the city's sanctuary status and COVID policy. We've had a few meetings on this, so some of the information that you see tonight is gonna be repetitive, but it's important that we uh share it all again. Um, and uh ultimately this is on the agenda for the main meeting tonight for the city council to vote on. And so we'll definitely turn it over to Raheem uh to begin talking about city status uh in code. Thanks, Robbie. Uh good evening, council Marjorie Deputy City Manager. So um we've we've had a couple of conversations about uh codifying the city sanctuary status. Um the direction that council gave us going all the way back to November was review specific items being requested from councillor sinclair. This is when all of you presented your proposals that we was a starting point for us to start putting our plan together. Um you suggested uh well, you asked us to provide a recommendation on which items belong in the code versus other areas and bring back a proposed codification. We did that, and when we brought it back, you suggested that we review a community members proposal that was submitted at the time and engage with CBOs to gather input. So we've done those things, and we want to give you a quick update on how we're doing. Can I just say one thing? I want to thank um Councillor Sinclair. Providing a structured plan for codification and explaining why you think it's important. So I just want you to know thank you for doing that. Research, and thank you for pushing council to want to explore this as a possibility for our community. Thank you. Cool.
openpublica.com