Tigard City Council adopts 2025–26 goals, separates housing and economic development priorities

The Tigard City Council voted unanimously Thursday to adopt council goals for 2025–2026 after discussing wording changes, splitting housing and economic development into separate goals, and asking staff to return with measurable metrics and targets.

City officials said the adopted goals will guide the city’s budget discussions and priority-setting for the next two years. Deputy City Manager Emily Trich introduced the draft goals and told the council staff planned to include the final goals in the proposed budget and to develop targets and metrics as part of quarterly updates.

Council members debated the order and wording of goals before agreeing to separate ‘‘create housing opportunities for current and future residents’’ and ‘‘create economic opportunities for current and future residents’’ into distinct goals so each receives focused attention. Councilor Schlack and others urged not to de-emphasize housing; Councilor Robbins and Councilor Shaw pushed for clearer emphasis on economic development. Council President Wolff and a majority of councilors agreed to split the topics and to clarify strategy language.

City staff also made several wording changes at council direction. In Strategy 1.1, the council replaced the word ‘‘needs’’ with ‘‘infrastructure capacity’’ to clarify the city’s intent to align housing strategies with available utilities and public infrastructure. The council broadened a sample policy to encourage middle housing citywide rather than limiting it to River Terrace 2, and asked staff to inventory existing middle-housing stock before setting growth targets. Economic-development language (previously Strategy 1.3) was moved under the new economic goal as Strategy 2.1.

Danelle Hawthorne, the city’s Economic Development Manager, explained the intent behind preserving housing stock: "Preservation of housing stock is different than increasing housing stock because we—in redevelopment, we worry people are currently living, increasing the investment in the ability for people to age in place, which includes like bringing services to where people live." The council asked staff to rephrase that sample output to reflect that broader meaning.

Council members also edited the goal addressing city facilities. The adopted wording reads: "Deliver resilient, sustainable, and well-maintained facilities that provide reliable and efficient services to our community." Councilor Hu suggested adding ‘‘sustainable’’ and ‘‘efficient,’’ and the change was accepted. The council also updated the goal titled to emphasize fostering Tigard as a great place ‘‘to live, work and play’’ and refined associated strategies on natural areas, transportation, community safety, and community connection.

On timing and implementation, Deputy City Manager Emily Trich said staff will develop metrics and targets after the council confirms goals so the proposed budget can reflect the council’s priorities. Trich told the council the metrics are samples at this stage and that the professional team will define ‘‘how’’ and set targets during the budget process. The council received a timeline update for related housing work: staff said the Tigard Home Project (citywide housing work paused after staffing changes) is being resumed with a target to present for adoption by the end of fiscal year 2026 and that a workshop on that project is expected this summer.

Councilor Robbins moved to approve the goals with the discussed changes; the motion was seconded and carried on a unanimous vote in the roll call (advisory youth vote included). The roll call recorded affirmative votes from Youth Councilor Mannini, Council President Wolff, Councilor Gudusi, Councilor Hu, Mayor Heidi Lou, Councilor Robbins, Councilor Schlack and Councilor Shaw.

With the goals adopted, staff will incorporate the council’s direction into the city’s proposed budget and return with draft metrics, target dates and any recommended ordinances or programs needed to implement the goals.