The next meeting of the Hillsboro Airport Issues Roundtable Land Use Subcommittee on April 29th, 2008, will continue discussion of the draft Airport Compatibility Overlay Zone. We will also talk about the upcoming community open house on the evening of May 15 at Hillsboro City Hall.

The 2005 Hillsboro Airport Compatibility Study Update recommends the implementation of a series of operational and land use measures to ensure and improve the compatibility of the airport with surrounding land uses. The land use recommendations are the focus of this subcommittee.

The land use recommendations were developed with input from a Technical Advisory Group made up of 10 people representing local government agencies, citizens-at-large, airport users and local businesses. The advisory group met one time on June 23, 2005, in an all-day session. Experts in their fields, Oregon land use attorney Mark Greenfield and land use planner Frank Angelo assisted this group in understanding airport state planning rules and regulations and the land use planning process in general.

The Technical Advisory Group recommended that four agencies - Hillsboro, Washington County, Metro and the Port of Portland - work together to implement these land use recommendations. The recommendations are summarized in the Compatibility Study. The charge of the land use subcommittee is to carry forward the work of the advisory group and to offer policymakers more detailed language for the five regulatory land use recommendations.

The mission of the Hillsboro Airport Issues Roundtable Land Use Subcommittee is:
To engage in a cooperative and comprehensive analysis of the regulatory land use recommendations in the 2005 Hillsboro Compatibility Study Update. Offer policymakers at the city of Hillsboro and Washington County specific language to be utilized in the implementation of these recommendations.

As of April 10, 2008, the subcommittee has met seven times. All meetings are advertised and open to the public.

The subcommittee has completed the draft language for an Airport Zone. This language will eventually be forwarded to policymakers for consideration. Draft language for the Airport Overlay Zone is currently being developed and discussed.

The Airport Zone would regulate airport and airport-related industrial, commercial, and other uses that may occur within and beyond the 2025 airport planning horizon. The Airport Zone would be a separate zoning district that applies only within the airport property boundary and would define the specific airport-dependent, airport-related and airport-compatible uses that could occur within that boundary. The Airport Zone will need to be consistent with the Airport Overlay Zone.

The Airport Overlay Zone will be broader in scope geographically as well as substantively. It will reach off-airport to address land use compatibility issues related to future development.