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Industrial-parcel owners tell council trial closure of East Illinois harms access and property marketing
Summary
Owners of Newberg Industrial Park told the council the trial road closure at East Illinois / North Main / OR‑240 was implemented without adequate notice or study and has hurt marketing and freight access for the 100,000 sq ft facility; they urged immediate reopening.
Andre and Kathleen Meyer, owners of Newberg Industrial Park at 500 East Illinois Street, used the public-comment period June 15 to urge the City Council to reopen a trial closure at the East Illinois / North Main / Oregon 240 intersection.
"We respectfully request that city council immediately reopen East Illinois Street...the decision to implement the trial closure appears to have been based on insufficient evidence and a process that lacked the level of transparency, stakeholder outreach and direct notification ordinarily associated with a significant modification to a critical transport corridor," Andre Meyer told the council.
The Meyers said the closure has materially affected their ability to market and reposition their roughly 100,000-square-foot industrial building and has increased traffic on narrow residential streets. They said an engineering study was cancelled and that anecdotal community surveys (about 20 respondents, 12 in support) do not capture communitywide impacts.
Council members responded that the Meyers should work with the city manager’s office for follow-up and noted that staff had been in contact; the mayor said the appropriate channel is the city manager and staff will follow up. A councilor asked directly whether PPM Technologies was leaving because of the closure; the Meyers said PPM is not leaving because of the closure.
The comment was recorded in the public record; council did not take immediate action on the closure during the meeting but the exchange flagged the issue for further staff follow-up and potential study.
