In May, 97070 voters — for the first time ever — said NO to moving forward with the use of Urban Renewal to fund infrastructure for the Town Center Master Plan. This 30 to 40 year commitment of taxpayer dollars (hundreds of millions) would have funded infrastructure for the highest-density, residential development in the suburbs of Oregon: thousands living and working inside the 100 acres of the Town Center Loop — a METRO nirvana.
The 2019 Town Center master plan led by Council President Akervall boasted nearly 8,500 people inside the Loop. Levels of extreme density were conveniently and strategically left out of all the slick promotional materials sent to residents on Measure 3-605. The City deployed thousands of our taxpayer dollars in its 'informational' campaign arsenal; a density vision guaranteed to make their METRO groupies downright giddy.
With all three city sponsored ballot measures failing, voters made it clear their disenchantment with City's pro-METRO direction. Yet following the May ballot sweep, the word "misinformation" has been bantered dozens of times in newspaper articles, at public meetings and publications like the Boones Ferry Messenger.
Post vote most would think the city would re-evaluate and re-engage residents to address many of the shortcomings of its 2019 Town Center plan. These being lack of guaranteed public amenities, lack of guaranteed public parking and extreme density levels with zero consideration for the number one issue that has faced 97070 residents for over a decade: traffic, congestion and parking. How is packing the Town Center Loop with thousands going to alleviate the number one issue facing our town?
Did you know the City's 'twice-the-density of Villebois' plans for development of Frog Pond East/South are guaranteed to gridlock the entire region? I suppose comfort can be found that there will be a dedicated bike lane on Stafford Road.
Are you aware Wilsonville, per capita, has the highest levels of multi-units and mixed housing in the entire state — going above METRO requirements?
Post-election a "stay-the-course," finger-pointing City narrative has emerged that blames residents for succumbing to:
misinformationrampant social mediavoter confusionlow voter turnoutit was basically 50/50
Instead of reflecting, reaching back out to its community with surveys, polls, town halls, city leaders and staff are labeling a large swath of its residents as being bamboozled, doubling down and circling the wagons on its 2019 Town Center master plan.
One could argue it was the city's own hubris leading up to the election that ultimately paved the way to the demise of all three measures. Pre-election found packed council meetings, dozens of citizen letters and loads of public testimony — all dismissed.
When we asked direct questions about parking concerns, amenities and density we were offered links to hundreds of pages instead. In fact one basic open record request generated an estimated invoice of $2,308. City leaders refused to put in writing that residents were never surveyed about density plans or allowed to rank public amenities. Doing so showed they never truly engaged residents on these hot button issues.
The guts of the City's Town Center master plan — the feasibility studies showing the true number of occupants inside the Loop — were strategically high-stepped. Dodging such questions indicates staff and leaders were aware that providing such information would jeopardize a favorable vote.
Again, it may be hubris that will override an honest assessment of what the next steps should be.
Unlike our close neighbor West Linn whose city leaders place "Fight Tolls" as their number one council goal, Wilsonville City leaders continue to avoid placing "Oppose Tolls" as a goal, again much to METRO's sheer delight.
I think it is time our City stops feeding METRO's wants and begins taking care of 97070 resident needs.
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