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NEWS & EVENTS DETAILS

- 170th/173rd AVENUE IMPROVEMENT PROJECT -


Update on the June working meeting of the PAC

The Project Advisory Committee (PAC) had their eighth working meeting on Thursday, June 3, 2004. The meeting was held in the cafeteria at the Elmonica elementary school. In addition to the PAC members and the project management team, there were several visitors in attendance. The meeting focused on a final discussion of the remaining alternatives and at the end of the meeting, the PAC formally recommended Alternative 1 with the minimum right-of-way and a 173rd connection that maintains the sight distance at Emerald Creek Lane.

All of the Alternative Alignments that the PAC developed and considered are available at www.deainc.com/170-173/altalign.html.

Although the PAC does not have any meetings schedules for the short-term, a project update meeting will likely occur during the fall of 2004. Visit the County website periodically to keep up with any new developments.


Update from May 2004 NAC Meeting

Julie Rockford provided a brief background of the recent history of this project and the NAC's involvement. For instance the NAC testified before the Beaverton City Council when they were updating their Transportation Plan. In the Summer of 2002 many NAC members testified before Washington County Planning Commission and Washington County Board of Commissioners. At the latter meeting we were able to get this area designated "a study area". As a result of that designation the County began working with the NAC, held public open houses to gather opinions and eventually organized the current PAC in the summer of 2003. Since then the PAC has been meeting regularly every 4-6 weeks. At the most recent County open house on May 12th the county revealed the 2 options that the PAC is considering. The NAC Board felt that we should try and poll our members at a meeting after the public meeting so that is why we delayed our meeting a week. The City did a NAC wide mailing of postcards advertising this meeting. At this NAC meeting, residents' opinions were solicited and a vote taken regarding what those in attendence prefered to see in terms of solutions.

Jim Essam proposed to separate the vote according to the proximity of your home. That being those in the directly affected area or outside that area. After much discussion the group vetoed that idea and it was decided that each household would get a red sticker and attach it to their preferred option.

Todd Watkins of Washington County brought with him the aerial maps that were present at the public meeting on May 12th and set them up for display in the gym. These maps showed the two proposed routes and some additional options.

The meeting was temporarily adjourned and for the next 45 minutes those in attendance could study the maps, ask questions, and then express their opinion by voting for one of the options.

Vote Tally Alternative 1 - 170th continues north past Elmonica school through the existing road right of way and then angles northwest across the open field.

Alternative 2 - 170th veers west before the school across the property that now has the large trucks parked on it.

For a more exact description please look on the County website.

There was also some discussion about how Julie would vote when the PAC decides on which alternative to select. One of the reasons for having this meeting was to get the pulse of the NAC (at least of those that came to the meeting).


Brief note about the May 2004 NAC Meeting

YOU ARE INVITED to vote for Option #1 or Option #2 for the 170th/173rd Realignment project at the Tuesday, May 18, 2004 Five Oaks/Triple Creek monthly NAC meeting, beginning at 7pm at the Elmonica Elementary School. NAC residents should know how this project will affect the neighborhoods. YOUR INPUT COUNTS!
  1. ATTEND THE MAY 12 OPEN HOUSE AT ELMONICA SCHOOL
  2. VOTE AT THE NAC MEETING RESCHEDULED FOR MAY 18.
QUESTIONS? If you canąt come to the meeting, call or e-mail one of the Board Members to be sure that your voice is heard.


Update from April 2004 NAC Meeting

An additional item to be considered at PAC Meeting #7 (on Thursday, April 22nd at Elmonica school) is a slight modification to Alternative 1: the addition of a bus island adjacent to the school and along 170th so buses would not have to enter the school grounds to pick up and let off children.

At the Public Open House scheduled for Wednesday, May 12th from 5pm to 7pm at Elmonica School, the County will present the following information related to 170th/173rd Improvement Alternatives 1 and 2: The NAC is encouraging everyone to attend this open house. The May NAC meeting date has been changed to May 18th in order to give everyone a chance to study the alternatives being presented. Details about the Open House are available at www.deainc.com/170-173/openhouse2.pdf.

At the NAC meeting, those in attendance will vote on their preferred option so please come and express your opinion. Todd Watkins the Project Planner will be at the meeting to answer questions. He will be bringing large maps for everyone to view.

PAC meeting #8 is still scheduled for Thursday, June 3rd from 5:30pm to 8pm at Elmonica Elementary School.


Update from March 2004 NAC Meeting

The PAC met on March 4th at Elmonica School. The PAC voted on the 6 plans currently under consideration and have selected options 1 & 2 and have eliminated the other four options. Option 1 has a variation now dubbed 1a that will have a bus island running from the trees to the south up to the school.

The next PAC meeting (#7) will be on Thursday, April 22, 2004 at 5:30pm at Elmonica school. The county should have engineering details for both options ready at this time.

The next open house is scheduled for Wednesday, May 12, 2004, and PAC meeting #8 will be held on Thursday, June 3, 2004. Both meetings will be held at Elmonica Elementary School on Lisa Street.


Update from February 2004 NAC Meeting

Todd Watkins reported that the PAC met on February 5th. Pat Mitchell and Julie Rockford made a presentation. The group is considering 6 alternatives. Two of the alternatives they must consider while the other two are on the table. The PAC is still open for ideas. At the time of the meeting the options had not been posted on the county website. They're currently being engineered. They will then be ranked and scored. The county is hopefully going to have an open house to the public in early April. They will be looking at all the options including the no-build option.

The next PAC meeting (#6) will be held on March 4th at Elmonica School Cafeteria at 5:30pm. The agenda is as follows:


Update from January 2004 NAC Meeting

The January 8th PAC meeting was cancelled due to weather. The next meeting will be January 22nd. The meeting is open for public input at the beginning. The PAC is currently involved in evaluating criteria to reassess the goals of the project. Julie Rockford would like to get more public input from citizens and PTO members from Elmonica and Five Oaks schools.


Update from December 2003 NAC Meeting

Pat Mitchell gave a brief report of the last PAC meeting. David Evans and Associates, a county consultant, gave some statistics: These are quite remarkable stats as they demonstrate that the no build option may be the optimum choice. It was suggested that we try and find out what the predictions were from 10 years ago to get an idea between prediction and reality.

The next PAC Meeting will be held on January 8, 2004. The meeting is open for public input at the beginning.


Update from November 2003 NAC Meeting

Betty Essam handed out the tabulated results of the open house that the NAC sponsored in October. A PAC meeting was scheduled for December 4th from 5:30 - 7:30 at Elmonica School. The meeting was open to the public.

Lauren Paulson informed everyone that the county is planning to straighten the intersection of Roy Rogers Rd/ Scholls Ferry Rd. Lauren contends that the County is building a defacto Westside Bypass of which the piece running between Baseline and Walker Roads is the last piece of the puzzle.


Summary and Citizen Feedback from the October 21 Brainstorming Meeting

A summary of the six development proposals, including feedback submitted by attendees, is available here for your review. The document is fairly large (~330k), and is in PDF format. You will need version 4.0 (or higher) of Adobe's free Acrobat Reader installed to your PC.


Update from October 2003 NAC Meeting

An excerpt from the Question & Answer session with Beaverton School District Superintendent Jerry Colonna...
  1. Washington County intends to extend SW 170th north past Elmonica School. This will be an arterial road with no parking allowed along its length. What is the BSD position as to a preferred route? How does the BSD intend to rectify parking & traffic issues at Elmonica if either the expansion and the extension of 170th along the school's western boundary occurs?
    Jerry Green answered. The BSD is primarily concerned with safety and traffic flow around the school. The BSD wants to protect the school's expansion possibilities. Jerry is serving on the PAC and representing the BSD. He did not answer the rest of the questions.


October 21 Brainstorming Meeting for the 170th/173rd Improvement Project.

A special Citizen Input meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 21, 2003 from 7pm to 9pm at the Elmonica Elementary School (170th Ave. & Lisa St).

We need to identify the best route for connecting 170th and 173rd Avenues South of Walker Rd. The purpose of this meeting will be to explain what is happening with this project, and to solicit your input about safety, access, and traffic needs. This will help US represent YOU at the PAC meetings.

Please feel free to share the official flyer with anyone you believe may be interested in this meeting. The file is in PDF format, so you will need to have a version of Adobe's Acrobat Reader installed to your PC. The software is available for free at www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.

Additional information about the project and the PAC is available from the County via the engineering consultant's website at http://www.deainc.com/170-173/.


Updates from September 2003 NAC Meeting

The first PAC meeting will be held on September 25. Safety is our biggest concern. Julie Rockford, the NAC representative on the PAC is arranging a public meeting to be held at Elmonica School on October 21st at 7pm. The purpose of the meeting is first to inform the public about what's happening, and second to solicit their opinions and ideas about this project. Julie and Pat are preparing a bulk mailer postcard that will go out to all property owners that live on a road that feeds either 170th or 173rd between Walker and Baseline.


Updates from August 2003 NAC Meeting

The PAC (Project Advisory Committee) roster has been released. It is as follows:
Name Affiliation
Jerry Renfro Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue
John Breiling CPO 7
Jim Brink City of Beaverton
Tamara L. Engevold* Property Owner
Betty Essam Property Owner
Matt Gorski Property Owner
Jerry Green Beaverton School District
Mary Alice Judy Property Owner
Vic Kane Property Owner
James McCoy Property Owner
Patrick Mitchell Property Owner
Rick Raetz Washington County Engineering
Julie Rockford Property Owner / NAC
David Shettles Property Owner / BCCI
Robert Trask Property Owner
Wes Yuen Property Owner


* Resigned after PAC Meeting #2

Additional information regarding the PAC and the project can be obtained by contacting: If you know someone who would be willing to share their expertise on road building, hydrology, civil engineering, traffic analysis etc, please contact the NAC board. We need to find our own consultants for this project. If we have our own panel of experts that we can use for this project and don't have to rely on the County Staff and their hired consultants, we have a better chance to get a road that we all can live with.

After the July NAC meeting, NAC Chair Rachel Nettleton wrote a letter to Washington County concerning two projects that are within the crucial study area for the 170th/173rd project. She asked the County to enlarge the study area and to prevent new development within the study area if it could interfere with any proposed routes. The County's answer was "No".

Julie Rockford, the NAC's representative on the PAC, attended an orientation meeting. They were not allowed to talk about the project. They were there to set the ground rules of behavior at the meetings and how votes were to be taken. The first proposed meeting is September 25th.

There is a form for citizen input for the project that we will try and post here at a future date (& send out with future agendas).


Update from July 2003 NAC Meeting

The PAC (Project Advisory Committee) has been selected. The NAC is pleased that several of the property owners that live along the proposed route and have expressed an interest in participating have been selected by Commissioner John Leeper. The NAC will be represented by Julie Rockford on the PAC. The first meeting may occur as early as August 5th. It was suggested that the NAC needs to hire an engineer to be our expert consultant to advise and interpret for us the technical aspects of the project.


Update from June 2003 NAC Meeting

The County held an open house at Elmonica school on June 2nd. The County had questionnaires and signup sheets for citizens that want to be considered as a member of the PAC (Project Advisory Committee). Apparently Commissioner John Leeper will choose the PAC members but we were unable to find out what criteria he will use. The projected timeline is for the preliminary design phase to begin in the summer of 2003, final design by summer of 2004. Once the design has been decided on then there is permitting, and right of way purchase. Construction to begin in the summer of 2005 and to be completed in the fall of 2006.

There was a lively discussion among those in attendance as many had gone to the open house. Many of our members were surprised by the Counties idea of what area constitutes the Designated Study Area. On the County handout it is shown as beginning well north of Baseline Rd. This would eliminate three of the 5 options that were considered during the hearings held during the summer of 2002. We have inquired about this but so far have had no response.

It was decided that the NAC Board needs to have a representative on the PAC. Furthermore in order to facilitate the whole process the NAC needs to come up with the plan. We already have a committee that has been working on this for the last 6 months. There are at least 10 NAC members that have sent in a request to be on the PAC. It is essential that those that will be impacted the most by this project have a chance to provide constructive input and to have their interests represented directly on the PAC.

David Kamin also brought to everybody's attention that there is a new subdivision that has begun at the terminus of NW 171st. It is called Tracee Meadows. Tyler Ryerson is the Planner for this project. For exact info on this project you can go to Planning on the second floor of City Hall and ask to look at the Plat.

There will be a maximum of 6 houses built depending on the route of 170th. Interestingly enough there is a proposed connection from 171st arcing west to 173rd.


June 2, 2003 Neighborhood Open House
for the 170th Ave. / 173rd Ave. Road Improvement Project

Washington County’s Department of Land Use and Transportation held its first Open House for the 170th Ave. / 173rd Ave. Road Improvement Project at Elmonica School on June 2. County staff was available to listen to comments and answer questions. There were also displays including a preliminary schedule, information about how to get involved, project location maps and aerial photos.

A summary of the open house and details of the overall project are available from the County via the engineering consultant's website at http://www.deainc.com/170-173/.


YOUR VOICE COUNTS

The Washington County Planning Commission consists of 9 members appointed by the Board of County Commissioners for four-year terms (the members' terms are staggered).  The Planning Commission advises the Board of County Commissioners on legislative planning and development issues such as the adoption, revision, or repeal of any Comprehensive Plan or implementing Ordinance or Code.  For certain types of plan amendments, the Planning Commission makes the final land use decisions for the County, but those decisions are appealable to the Board of Commissioners.

The Planning Commission is currently in the process of updating the Washington County 2020 Transportation Plan.  One issue of particular interest to the NAC is the extension of 170th Avenue from Elmonica Elementary School to 173rd Avenue (just south of the intersection at 173rd and Walker).

NAC residents attended the June 19, 2002 Washington County Planning Commission meeting(Oregonian clipping), and they made a short presentation regarding this project.  Their presentation slides offer a good overview of the extension proposed by the County, and of alternatives proposed by the NAC and other residents.  In July & August, the NAC created a more detailed set of slides outlining its two proposals (Plan #4 and Plan #5).  (Note: the June 19th slides are best viewed at a screen resolution of 1024x768).

NAC residents are encouraged to attend Washington County Planning Commission meetings and to offer their input regarding the extension of 170th.  Information regarding the Planning Commission, including meeting times and locations, can be found on their website at www.co.washington.or.us/deptmts/lut/planning/planning.htm.  Once there, follow the links to the Planning Commission and to the Meeting Agendas.

While you're on the website, you may also want to download and read the actual Transportation Plan on your computer. The direct link to this document is: www.co.washington.or.us/deptmts/lut/planning/ord588a.htm.

Other means by which you can provide input to the Planning Commission include:





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