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West Linn council narrows waterfront plan maps, asks staff to strengthen heritage and housing language
Summary
Council directed staff to adopt the 1996 flood elevation on waterfront maps, remove a planning-stage medium-density housing label south of 5th Avenue, and return Oct. 21 with draft language encouraging preservation of historic industrial structures and policy language on affordable housing before a Nov. 18 public hearing.
City of West Linn leaders moved Tuesday to narrow the draft Waterfront Vision Plan’s mapped development areas and asked staff to draft stronger, nonbinding language on historic preservation and affordable housing ahead of the plan’s next work session.
Consultants and staff outlined the plan as a guiding document that does not itself change the comprehensive plan or zoning. Adrian Witte, the consultant presenting the vision, told the council, “This is not intended to be, you know, a change to the comp plan or the zoning code, or the development code,” and said subsequent comp-plan or code changes would come later if council directs them. Councilors said the distinction mattered while they weighed public input and technical constraints.
Councilors reached consensus to use the 1996 flood-elevation map in place of the draft flood boundary and to remove a yellow “medium density residential (planning stage)” box that community members said implied support for housing inside sensitive wetlands south of 5th Avenue. City staff and the consultant said the change can be made quickly and does not preclude an applicant from pursuing an individual land-use action in the future; it removes an aspirational map call-out that had prompted community concern.
Public commenters had urged clearer wording on preservation and wetlands protections. Sandy Carter of Advocates for Willamette Falls Heritage asked the council to “specifically encourag[e] the preservation of some of the built industrial structures currently on Moores Island for repurposing and interpretation,” and councilors asked staff to bring back multiple language options that balance preservation goals with flexibility for future studies.
Staff outlined the schedule: the council-directed language edits will be returned at a second work session on Oct. 21, after which a revised draft would be prepared for a Nov. 18 public hearing if the council approves further changes. The city also signaled potential implementation tools to follow the vision, including targeted comp-plan updates, zoning adjustments and transportation planning work if council chooses to pursue them.
What’s next: staff will bring three proposed map edits and draft language on historic-structure preservation and affordable housing for council review on Oct. 21; a public hearing is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 18.
