Wilsonville City Council denies land use appeal from Home Depot

In a special meeting, the Wilsonville City Council denied Home Depot’s appeal of a decision rejecting the company’s proposed use of the former Fry’s Electronics building.

The May 17 meeting addressed an appeal of the Development Review Board’s April 24 ruling that Home Depot would not qualify as a continuation of the existing use of the space.

Planning Director Miranda Bateschell said in a previous email that the April 24 decision means Home Depot is unable to use the building as is, and would have to either receive approval for a change of use or submit a development application to use the space under existing guidelines as set forth by the Town Center Plan.

In legal terms, Home Depot hoped to move into the building as a continuation of the established non-conforming use rather than having to redevelop the property. Fry’s Electronics’ use of the building became non-conforming to updated development codes when the Town Center Plan took effect on June 5, 2019 and restricted retail use at the property to 30,000 square feet. The 159,400-square-foot building exceeds that limit.

The City Council previously upheld a separate Development Review Board determination that the legal status of the building is a “159,400 square-foot electronics-related retail store.” Home Depot representatives are appealing this decision to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.

At the May 17 meeting Home Depot representatives reasserted their past argument that the allowed non-conforming use of the property is broadly classified as commercial retail use, as opposed to specifically an electronics-related retail store, based on a 1991 land use decision.

The city and Home Depot representatives disagree on the relevance of the 1991 decision. City staff said previously that this decision is irrelevant to the current matter, and also that the representative had a flawed understanding of how the 1991 regulations would apply.

The representatives also reused a presentation comparing the operations of Fry’s Electronics and Home Depot, making the argument that the companies are both retailers with the primary difference being the products sold, during the meeting.

Near the end of the meeting, City Councilor Katie Dunwell said she felt the presentation comparing Fry’s Electronics to Home Depot was marketing material, and she did not believe it was appropriate for the current matter.

She also asked why the representatives didn’t seek a change of use out of respect for the 2019 Town Center Plan, to which Ordon-Bakalian responded that the representatives determined this would be untenable due to hurdles and ambiguities in the process.