The West Linn Planning Commission held a special meeting on Monday, August 10, 2026, beginning at 6:03 PM and adjourning at 10:58 PM. The primary agenda item was a public hearing for a Class II Design Review and Property Line Adjustments (DR-25-04/LLA-25-02) for the commercial component of a proposed mixed-use development at 2410/2422/2444 Tannler Drive and 1800 Blankenship Road. The commission also heard three public comments on land use items not on the agenda. After extensive testimony and deliberation, the commission voted 5-0 to close the public hearing and continue deliberations to August 26, 2026 at 6:00 PM.
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Westland Planning Commission. It's a special meeting on Monday, August 10th, and the time is 6 03. The first item on the agenda is call to order and roll call. This webinar is being transcribed and summarized. Lynn, would you mind? Calling roll, please. Thank you. Ummissioner Salti. Here. Commissioner Katrisky. Here. Commission Commissioner Deeds. Chair Shulty Hillen. Here. We have four members in attendance. Three are absent. Thank you. The second item on the agenda is public comment related to land use items not on the agenda. And we have three people who would like to speak. First is Scott Jensen, and I would ask that each person speaking keep their comments to three minutes, please. Again, my name is Scott Jensen and I live on Miles Drive. I'm speaking tonight on behalf of Friends of Oppenlander. Oppenlander contains an existing mature urban forest grove of approximately 28 trees. One of the neighborhoods' highest priority is preserving as much of that grove as reasonably possible. The developer has been willing to discuss preservation, but has explained that grading may make saving some of the trees difficult. At our neighborhood meeting, we were told that preserved trees could potentially end up approximately three feet above the surrounding finished grades. At the same time, the proposed street layout has changed dramatically during pre-application design. The original concept used a substantially straighter street alignment. That's why I speak to you now. We aren't asking the planning commission tonight to decide which trees survive. We're asking that preservation of the existing mature grove become a design objective while streets grading utilities and home elevations can still be adjusted rather than something considered after those decisions have already been made. Oppenlander has a natural east-west crest approximately in the middle of the property. While dirt may need to be removed and shifted for roads and other aspects of development, the water flows down hills structures basically already in place. We would like to understand which grading changes are actually required by engineering and city standards, and which are design choices that might reasonably be modified to preserve existing tree grades and root zones. Friends of Oppenlander is also meeting with parks leadership and the parks and recreation advisory board this week to explore whether some of the roughly half million dollars in or more in park SDCs potentially generated by this development could legally and appropriately help preserve part of this mature urban forest as permanent open space. Thank you in advance for this suggestion consideration. Thank you. Thank you. So any of my co-commissioners have questions for Mr. Judson. Thank you. Next to speak, we have Lindsay Wilde. Hi, my name is Lindsay Wilde. I'm also here to discuss Oppenlander. We've been trying to understand how the city's connectivity requirements are shaping the proposed street plan. We understand the applicant was told that the conventional cul de sac as shared in the pre-app conference was not acceptable. The revised concept instead creates a public street stub in the northwest corner toward already developed residential properties, while a number of northern homes appear to be served through a private shared flag lot loop. That creates long-term maintenance and financial responsibilities for future homeowners without necessarily creating actual public street connectivity. We'd like to understand what reasonably foreseeable future connection the Northwest stub is intended to serve and whether this configuration accomplishes the city's underlying connectivity objective or primarily satisfies the technical requirement.