Lake Oswego Planning Commission Meeting - January 26, 2026
Lake Oswego Planning Commission Meeting - January 26, 2026
The Lake Oswego Planning Commission met on January 26, 2026, at 8:00 AM. The meeting included a city council update from Councillor Verdick, unanimous approval of the January 12, 2026 minutes, and a detailed work session on the Foothills District Plan Update led by Planning Manager Eric Olsen. No public comments were received. The commission discussed opportunities and constraints for the district, received direction from city council, and addressed next steps for visioning and alternatives.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes Approval (January 12, 2026): Motion by Commissioner Moreno, seconded by Commissioner Mitchell, approved unanimously as written.
Public Comments & Testimony
- None.
Discussion Items
- City Council Update (Councillor Verdick): Councillor Verdick reported on recent council study sessions, including the need for a new library. She noted the existing library (built in the 1980s at approximately 28,000 square feet) was already 25% under the recommended size of 37,000 square feet at the time. While an ideal 70,000 square foot library is unaffordable, a new site is needed because the current building is deteriorating and cannot be expanded. Discussions with the school district about the Lake Grove Elementary site are ongoing. Councillor Verdick also mentioned updates on pedestrian improvement projects (Lakeview Boulevard, Meadowlark Lane, Treetop Lane), the stormwater manual, an economic development strategy update, and continued discussion on home occupancy. The library will host a makerspace event on March 14, 2026.
- Foothills District Plan Update Work Session: Eric Olsen presented the opportunities and constraints analysis, informed by technical studies, community advisory committee (CAC) input, developer interviews, and a January 6, 2026 council study session. Key constraints include steep topography, floodplain (1996 flood inundation area), sensitive lands along Tryon Creek, a single vehicular access point, and the rail corridor. Opportunities include the proposed relocation of the Tryon Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (opening redevelopment land), potential second access from the north (e.g., via Public Storage site or Terwilliger Boulevard), district-wide cut-and-fill balancing for flood resilience, and enhancing trail connections to downtown and Tryon Creek State Park. The frog ferry concept was also discussed as a potential long-term water access. Council direction emphasized prioritizing a second vehicular access point, balancing cut and fill at a district scale, protecting watershed and riparian habitat, introducing mixed-use redevelopment (including housing and ground-floor commercial), maintaining parks as central to the area’s identity, and focusing on catalytic initial projects. Affordable housing is obligated through the city’s Housing Production Strategy and will be integrated into the urban renewal plan. Commissioner Moranio stressed the importance of pedestrian connectivity from downtown to Foothills. Commissioner Guinea highlighted the timing opportunity of the expiring East End Redevelopment Area (late 2027/early 2028) aligning with the new urban renewal area for Foothills.
- Other Business: Introduction of new contracting attorney Sivani Miller (Miller Nash) who will support the commission.
Key Outcomes
- Minutes Approved: Unanimously approved as written.
- Foothills Plan Direction: The commission will continue to develop a vision statement and guiding principles, informed by council direction and community input. Next steps include an open house on February 26, 2026, a planning commission work session on March 9, 2026 (to refine vision), and a council presentation on March 3, 2026. The February 9, 2026 planning commission meeting is canceled due to council goal setting; the work plan meeting for the commission is tentatively moved to March 23, 2026.
- New Legal Counsel: Sivani Miller introduced as contracting attorney for the planning department for the next year.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call to order the meeting of the Planning Commission for January 26th, 2026. Christina, can you please call roll? Turn our trunk. Here. Chair Boost. Here. And Commissioner Moreno. Here. Mitchell? Here. Here. Here. And two. Joining us as also liaison, uh, Rachel Brady. Thank you. Uh moving on to item number three on the agenda, City Council update. Uh, Councillor Verdick, we invite you to join us. Great. Thank you. And I'm excited to be liaison for this next year. And I will be attending at least one meeting a month. But if you need me in between or have questions, please don't ever hesitate to reach out. I'm happy to do so. I'll be in contact with Eric quite a bit as well. So again, if there's anything you need or any questions, any clarifications, just please reach out and let me know. Um, my updates are not as long as Counselor Wenland's, but probably not as short as some of my colleagues. So if you have questions, please again just let me know. But the last two weeks, we've had um some great study sessions. One was on the library and the need for a new library and why we need a new library. So again, if there's any interests, if you'd like me to go more into that, I'm happy to. If not, you know, I know you guys always have very busy uh meetings, but that was an excellent discussion. Just basically that the existing library is the building's done. And we need we have to get a new location because that location will not suffice for the size of a library that we need. So when it was built in the 1980s, it was already approximately 25% under the size that was recommended at that time. It was supposed to be around, I wanna say if I'm remembering correctly, 37,000 square feet, and it was built at like 28,000 square feet approximately. Um now, you know, in the ideal deal world, we'd be having like a 70,000 square foot library. We can't afford that, so that won't happen, but obviously another 28,000 square feet is not gonna suffice either for the way libraries have changed, as well as um just the general needs of the community. So we as a city and as a community, we really need to start looking at where can this new library go? What should it look like, what um features do we want this library to have? Um and if none of you have been to an updated library recently, I really recommend that you go because they're very different than the traditional libraries that you see. Um, or our library that's quite old now. But again, the building is falling apart and the site can't grow the size of building that we need. So we really need to be moving that location, but there are a lot of um neighborhood concerns, a lot of community concerns that we need to have some very thoughtful um discussions on. We also had a study session on foothills, which we'll be talking about tonight, so I won't go into that. Um we had updates on the pedestrian improvement projects that have been going on, specifically Lakeview Boulevard. So if you haven't driven down Lakeview, I really recommend you do. It's pretty impressive what they've done. Uh also updates on Meadowlark Lane and Treetop Lane are some of the bigger areas. Um, there's been some other smaller ones, but those are three of the key improvement areas that were done. Um we had updates to the stormwater manual as well, and an economic development strategy update.
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