What are they planning in my neighborhood?

If you want to know what’s going on with the vacant lot down the street, or have heard that some infill housing will be added to your neighborhood, Washington County’s Department of Land Use & Transportation Planning and Development Services staff has been working hard to help make this information more easily available to the public.

Much of this information has been available online for some time, but it hasn’t been easy to find or understand. Your CPO gets paper copies of some of it, but we’ve not yet figured out a good way to provide access to those who want it. Having it available in two main web pages will make it more accessible in a more timely fashion. For some types* of development applications, there’s a short window of opportunity for the public to comment on the development, so it is important to check regularly if you’re concerned about the impacts of development.

The list below summarizes online resources for tracking land use development activity in unincorporated Washington County. If you need additional information, please contact the Planning and Development Services Current Planning Section at lutdev@co.washington.or.us or 503-846-8761.

Land Use Projects Under Review page

Browse development review casefiles in unincorporated areas currently being reviewed by county staff

From the LUT Current Planning main page, select ‘Current & Historical Land Use Projects’ from the left navigation menu, then select ‘Land Use Projects under Review.’

Browse the list of all development casefiles currently under review. All columns are sortable, allowing users to sort by casefile number, land use procedure type, applicant, CPO, taxlot (parcel) number, etc. (For Cedar Mill residents, selecting CPO 1 is the easiest way to see what’s happening in Cedar Mill/Cedar Hills.)

Select a casefile number in the left column to access a ‘Land Use Casefile Report’ page with more information, including links to the public notice and staff reports (if applicable).

In the casefile’s Land Use Casefile Report, a ‘Parcel Report’ page may be opened by selecting the taxlot link. The Parcel Report provides a map of the parcel location, outlined in a dotted red line, along with additional property information.

“Development Review Public Notices Open for Comment” page

Browse Type II and Type III* casefiles currently open for public comment

From the Current Planning main page, select ‘Current & Historical Land Use Projects’ from the left navigation menu, then select ‘Development Review Public Notices Open for Comment’ to display Type II and Type III land use applications in their public comment period.

Type II and Type III land use applications are viewable on this page for 14 days after the public notice mailing. The public comment period for Type II actions is 14 days from the date the public notice is mailed. The public comment period for Type III applications continues through the public hearing.

Select a Type III casefile number (Lxxxxxxx) to determine the scheduled public hearing date. Near the bottom of the table in the left column, find the Attached Document section. Click on the Public Notice PDF link in this area to review the timeframes and actions to comment on Type III applications.

You can also subscribe to the LUT’s “Weekly Update” newsletter. It provides the only access to information about upcoming Neighborhood Meetings (a sneak peek at potential future land use applications before they are submitted to LUT), and now includes links to these improved development-related web pages and the casefile search tool. And if you’re a real info-nut, you can visit the Countywide e-subscription page to discover the many newsletters and updates produced by various county agencies and departments. 

*A description of the various Procedure Types is available here.

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