Lake Oswego Planning Commission Meeting - April 27, 2026: Foothills District Plan Update and Visioning
Lake Oswego Planning Commission Meeting - April 27, 2026: Foothills District Plan Update and Visioning
The Planning Commission met on April 27, 2026, to receive updates from the City Council, approve minutes, and conduct a work session on the Foothills District Plan Update (PP 22-0005). The primary focus was reviewing draft vision and guiding principles for the Foothills District, informed by the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and City Council feedback. Commissioners provided conditions and direction for revisions, emphasizing connectivity between downtown and the waterfront, design quality, and sustainability.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The Commission unanimously approved the minutes from April 13, 2026, as written.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Micah McNerney (volunteer, Lake Oswego Sustainability Network / LOSN, and member of the CAC for the Foothills District) spoke in support of the staff's draft Foothills Vision and Guiding Principles. He thanked staff and consultants for incorporating LOSN's input, particularly sustainability, climate resilience, and clean energy. He invited the Commission to a Clean Energy Panel on June 8, 2026, from 3:30–5:00 PM at LORAC, featuring Oregon Department of Energy, EcoSmart, and PAE.
Discussion Items
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City Council Update (Council Liaison Rachel Verdick):
- Fire Department: Progress on a grant for prevention/education at senior care facilities, reducing calls for falls. Halfway through the program.
- Police Department: Thefts, burglaries, and stolen vehicles are down; calls for service have increased but response remains effective.
- Library survey open for input on future needs.
- South Shore fire station tours on Saturday, May 2, from 1–3 PM, and fireside chats with Chief Artman on May 2 and May 6 regarding bond conditions.
- Blue Heron Bridge work may cause closures on South Shore; flagging operations ongoing.
- Farmers Market starts May 9.
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Foothills District Plan Update (Work Session #5):
- Jason Graf (First 40 Feet) presented project progress, engagement efforts, and the draft vision and guiding principles developed by the CAC. The story map had received 50 responses. Engagement included open houses, CAC meetings, Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) focus on the Tualatin/State Street intersection, and meetings with affinity groups (e.g., high school, Oswego Point condominiums, Stanford Road HOA).
- The draft vision statement: "The Foothills District is Lake Oswego's greatest opportunity to provide the community with a significant riverfront presence… building upon the success of downtown… will establish Lake Oswego's next great residential neighborhood… inclusive, multimodal, sustainable."
- Six guiding principles were presented: (1) Create a walkable mixed-use waterfront district; (2) Balanced development with the natural river environment; (3) Reconnect Lake Oswego to the Willamette River and waterfront; (4) Support an inclusive and economically vital community; (5) Design as a model sustainable district; (6) Plan for adaptability over time.
- Commissioners used a QR code to provide live feedback. Key positions and conditions expressed:
- Commissioner: Supported with conditions, including emphasis on design, aspirational tone, and a diversity/equity/inclusion lens.
- Commissioner: Struck "small town character" from guiding principle #2; supported strengthening language about complimentary (not competing) relationship with downtown.
- Commissioner: Emphasized need for overt framing of the district as an extension of downtown, not a separate district. Suggested renaming to "walkable mixed-use waterfront connection" or similar.
- Several commissioners supported affordable housing, multimodal access (including potential ride-share or transit), and climate resilience measures.
- Staff noted that City Council had provided similar direction: strengthening connectivity, clarifying relationship to downtown, adding design quality, and removing "small town character." The North Portal (access from Tualatin/State Street) and the wastewater treatment plant were identified as the two biggest challenges and opportunities.
Key Outcomes
- Direction to Staff: The Commission's feedback will be incorporated into revised vision and guiding principles. Staff will present an update to the CAC on May 12, 2026, and to the City Council study session on May 19, 2026. Preliminary concepts (street networks, development blocks) will be shared in June.
- Next Commission Meetings:
- May 11, 2026: Work session on rezoning for housing project.
- May 28, 2026: Meeting canceled (Memorial Day week).
- June 8, 2026: Public hearing on tree regulation amendments and another study session on Foothills.
- No votes were taken on the Foothills items; the work session was purely deliberative.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Planning Commission on Monday, April 27th. Christina, can you please call roll? Chair Najok. Here. Vice Chair Bruce. Commissioner Modeno is absent today. Commissioner Mitchell? Here. Commissioner Guinea? Here. And Commissioner Sly is also absent today. And have Commissioner Tweing has not arrived yet. And Council Liaison, Rachel Verdick is also here. Thank you. Speaking of, uh, that brings us to item number three, City Council update. Uh, Councillor Verdick. Pleasure to see you. Great to be here. Uh, so we've had a few updates since I last saw you. And uh last council meeting, we had an update from our uh fire department who discussed um the progress they've made on a grant that they received to work with um prevention and education within our uh senior care facility. So they're going in and helping train them a little bit, helping with if there's an emergency how to evacuate. Um so they're making great strides in that. So that was a great update to hear, and just a really wonderful program. It's helping to decrease the number of number of calls that they are receiving for things like falls and so forth. So they're about halfway through that program. So we had that update. Um we also um heard about uh foothills, which you're gonna hear tonight, which is great. Um we approved our council goals and initiatives work plans. We also had an update from our police department. So if you want to know any statistics or anything, you can look back at the council meetings um and the notes on that. But bottom line is they're doing I think a fantastic job. And we're seeing though we've had some increases of calls to local, we're still getting out there, we're getting where we need to be. Um thefts are down, burglaries are down, uh, stolen vehicles are down. So, you know, a lot of good things going on with our police as well. And I will there is a library survey out. So if you want to have any input on the future of the library and the needs of what a new library might look at, I strongly encourage you to go ahead and um take that survey. And also in terms of fire, um, if you would like to see the South Shore fire station and the conditions that it currently is in, we're having tours and this Saturday, the second from one to three. And we also have some um kind of fireside chats with uh Chief Artman, who she's going to be kind of explaining the conditions in the potential future if we can get the bond passed. So that's gonna be, I believe there's one at Lorac on the second, and then I think there's another one on I want to say the sixth. So those are also opportunities if you want to go learn about that. And then just as a heads up, that there could be some closures on South Shore because they're doing work on the Blue Heron Bridge. So you might have some flagging going on on South Shore in addition to uh Stafford, of course. Keep your eye out on the work going on that's causing um detours and whatnot. So I think those are the highlights. Oh, and farmers market starts on the 9th. So enjoy. Any questions for me? Let me know if you need anything. Thank you. Thank you very much.
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