West Linn presents Vision 43 corridor update; staff aim for plan adoption in 2025

City planning staff told the West Linn City Council on Jan. 21 that the Vision 43 corridor project is on schedule and moving from broad engagement toward draft plans and code amendments aimed at encouraging walking, bicycling, businesses and housing along Highway 43.

Associate Planner Chris Myers, who led the presentation, said the project has run about 15 months of public outreach and is now moving into a phase where draft code and visuals will be available for more targeted review. "We really have been going for about 15 months on this project," Myers said, and staff expect a draft corridor master plan in spring with a goal of final adoption by about October 2025.

The project team has held more than 40 engagement events — open houses, neighborhood meetings, intercept surveys and walking tours — and has run three online surveys that together have collected about 1,000 responses, Myers said. Consultants on the project include MIG and transportation subcontractor Kittelson & Associates; MIG is producing renderings and a pedestrian/bicycle connections analysis that may identify roughly a dozen possible new crosswalk locations.

Myers described two example zoning scenarios that surfaced in the third survey: one that allows increased lot coverage (about 80–90 percent) with building heights up to roughly 45 feet in designated commercial areas, and a second scenario that would allow up to about 55 feet in selected locations, enabling four stories of housing over retail. He said the 35-foot height limit now applies where commercial properties are within 50 feet of residential zones and that much of the corridor is therefore currently limited to lower heights.

City Manager John Williams and planning staff emphasized the distinction between land-use changes and roadway improvements. "This is not a highway infrastructure project," Myers said, noting the plan focuses on land uses adjacent to the corridor rather than on repaving or re-striping. The consultants’ forthcoming transportation analysis will model how community-preferred land-use changes could affect traffic and what tradeoffs would be required.

Staff also told councilors they have spent about 35% of the project's $200,000 budget to date (roughly $67,000) and remain on schedule. Planned next steps include publishing enhanced renderings (bird’s-eye and street-level views), releasing draft mixed-use zoning code grounded in community input, completing the transportation analysis and preparing a draft corridor master plan for public review.

Councilors urged continued outreach and coordination. Councilor Bonnington asked whether the city had invited the school district to weigh in on any Highway 43 sites; Myers said a school-district representative, Pat McGuff, attended the project’s technical advisory committee but the project has not had broad formal coordination with the district on specific parcels. Council President Baumgartner and others recommended clear, repeated education about technical tools such as tax increment financing (TIF) if the city later pursues them as an investment tool.

Myers and staff raised a set of possible follow-up actions for council consideration, including a TIF feasibility study, amendments to the Transportation System Plan (to add crosswalks and pedestrian/bicycle projects), and possible city-sponsored demonstration projects on city-owned parcels such as the old firehouse. Staff said they will bring a proposal and cost estimate for a TIF study to the council for the upcoming budget process.

Council members praised the breadth of engagement and asked staff to continue visiting businesses and property owners so the draft code will be financially realistic, particularly where underground parking or other expensive features are being discussed.

The council did not take formal action on Vision 43 during the Jan. 21 work session; staff requested feedback and outlined the schedule for coming drafts and public review.