Nov. 8, 2021, 5:20 p.m.
Chevron near Bethany Lake - Deadline TONIGHT Staff Public Comment
Neighbors Against Bethany Lake Gas Station
Hello Everyone-
Staff public comment deadline tonight!
If you want to have the Staff reply to your comment you should try and get your comment in by end of day TODAY Monday November 8th. While writing your comment please be polite to the County Land Use and Transportation staff reviewing the messages. And feel free to use primary source references, data, and perspectives from our site.
Print a flyer for your community
After submitting a public comment the next thing you can do is engage your neighbors.
Please consider posting a flyer in a community space, like near neighborhood mailboxes, or along the Rock Creek trail to help raise awareness. Please remember to collect the flyers after Nov 18 so we don't leave a trace.
Write a Letter to the Editor
Getting a letter published in a local newspaper is a great way to help raise awareness. We posted requirements for letters to the Oregonian, Beaverton Times, Willamette Week, and others on the site.
Below is a letter that a community member wrote about the purpose of our Neighborhood Commercial zoning.
Who loves land use zoning? Well, it is tough to love. But, it does have a purpose. Or at least it should.
There is a Chevron station proposed at 185th and West Union north of Highway 26 in Washington County. And the applicant is asking the County for a variance to reduce setback requirements because "a smaller building footprint would significantly impact the financial feasibility of the project". I think the variance should be denied because the fuel station is simply too big for the zoning it resides in.
The neighborhood commercial zoning codes for the area says its purpose is to "provide for the shopping and service needs of the immediate urban neighborhood". And the County code puts limits on the size of grocery stores, banks, professional offices, and more to ensure that facilities aren't oversized for the stated zoning purpose.
Inexplicably however, there are no limits on the size of a fuel/gas/service station in these Neighborhood Commercial zones. And so this developer is proposing a Chevron station in this "Neighborhood Commercial" zoning that is only two pumps smaller than his Woodburn Chevron which had the #2 gasoline sales by volume in the entire Pacific Northwest and sold 3.5 million gallons of fuel in 2019.
Washington County code should put limits on the size of service stations and deny this variance. Otherwise the zoning should just state no purpose at all.
If you want to learn more visit https://nabgas.com.
Thank You,
Nisha George
Thank You,
Brandon