News

The City of Wilsonville’s Tourism Promotion Committee has awarded $44,000 in grants to assist seven local organizations in providing events and attractions that bring visitors to the Wilsonville area.

These awards come from two programs, both funded by lodging taxes paid by overnight visitors: $25,000 from the City of Wilsonville Community Tourism Matching Grant program and $19,000 from the Clackamas County Tourism Community Partnership Program (CPP).

“The seven organizations we are funding this year have successfully drawn visitors in past years to Wilsonville and Clackamas County,” said Parks and Recreation Program Manager Brian Stevenson, who administers the grant programs. “We’re proud to support community efforts to bring entertainment and cultural enrichment to residents and visitors alike. Cumulatively, these efforts make Wilsonville a great place to live and visit.”

The City of Wilsonville is hosting an open house featuring southbound I-5 traffic-congestion mitigation concepts on Wednesday, March 14, 5-6:30 p.m., at City Hall, 29799 SW Town Center Loop East.

At the March 5, 2018, Wilsonville City Council meeting, the Council welcomed Soul’d Out, Wilsonville High School’s a cappella choir, for a live performance to commemorate the choir’s first-place finish at the International Championship of High School A Capella (ICHSA) Northwest Semifinal in January.

Declaring March 5-11 as Soul’d Out Week, Mayor Tim Knapp read a proclamation recognizing the choir’s success and congratulating the staff and students of the West Linn-Wilsonville School District. Afterward, Council unanimously approved a grant of $3,000 to support Soul’d Out’s fundraising efforts to travel to New York City for the ICHSA Finals at Lincoln Center on April 20.

For the 20th consecutive year, the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has recognized the City of Wilsonville Finance Department with the “Distinguished Budget Presentation Award”.

City of Wilsonville Mayor Tim Knapp is scheduled to present the “2018 State of the City Address” at the start of the City Council meeting on Monday, April 2, 7 p.m., at Wilsonville City Hall, 29799 SW Town Center Loop East, Wilsonville, OR 97070.

Serving his 10th year as elected leader of one of Oregon’s most dynamic growing cities, Mayor Knapp is expected to give a recap of recent activity over the past year and provide a preview of upcoming City initiatives, opportunities and challenges that Wilsonville faces in the next 12 months.

The City of Wilsonville and partner organizations of the “Bee Stewards” pollinator-improvement program are sponsoring a workshop designed to teach urban residents to attract and sustain pollinators in a yard or home garden.

This habitat-improvement event, “Attract Pollinators,” is Saturday, March 10, from 9 am to 1 pm. The West Linn-Wilsonville School District’s Center for Research in Environmental Sciences and Technologies (CREST), is hosting. CREST is located at 11265 SW Wilsonville Road (at Boones Ferry Primary School).

Pollinator experts will deliver useful tips, including basics about creating a pollinator-habitat garden, how to identify common native pollinators, what the link is between bee health and pesticides, and how to start a native mason-bee colony. Each participant receives a copy of the City’s new Pollinator Toolkit and a tour of CREST’s pollinator habitat.

The Wilsonville City Council hosted a joint meeting with the West Linn-Wilsonville School District Board of Directors on Feb. 12 at City Hall. The periodic meeting of both community leadership bodies serves as a catalyst for continued collaboration between the two local governments, facilitating cooperation and long-range planning for the benefit of residents and their school-age children.  

At the Feb. 5, 2018, Wilsonville City Council meeting, the Council  approved on first reading new form-based code standards for businesses locating at the new Coffee Creek Industrial Area. This innovation—believed to be a first in the United States for industrial development—sets clear and objective standards for new development. These standards are designed to allow developers to build connected, campus-like designs and to facilitate efficient, expedited City review of proposals that provide developers with greater certainty and more flexibility. The new form based code standards and review process are subject to a pilot period of three completed development applications or five years to allow the City to evaluate results of using the new code. Developers may still elect to submit custom plans that undergo the standard development-review process.

At the Jan. 18, 2018, Wilsonville City Council meeting, the Council took three major steps simultaneously to advance preparations for development of the Portland-metro regionally significant Coffee Creek industrial area of high-wage employers in Wilsonville.

The Council approved on second reading the annexation into City limits of 4.9 acres of roadway located in the northwest industrial area of Wilsonville. Approximately one mile of existing rural and unimproved county roads were annexed, including Garden Acres Road, Cahalin Road and Clutter Street.

In conjunction with annexing the existing roadway, the Council adopted a resolution seeking to transfer the road authority from Washington County to the City, which would then take ownership of the roads for improvements.

At the Jan. 4, 2018, Wilsonville City Council meeting, the Council approved on first reading the annexation into City limits of 4.9 acres of roadway located in the northwest industrial area of Wilsonville. Approximately one mile of existing rural and unimproved county roads were annexed, including SW Garden Acres Road, SW Cahalin Road and SW Clutter Street. The Council’s action is the first step that is to be followed by transfer of the road authority from Washington County to the City in preparation for development of the regionally significant Coffee Creek industrial area.

The Wilsonville Parks and Recreation Department is now accepting applications for three separate and distinct grant programs: the City’s Community Tourism and the Community Opportunity Grant programs, as well as the Clackamas County Tourism Community Partnership Grant program. Each grant program has separate deadlines and distinct criteria.

The City’s Community Tourism Grant Program awards up to $25,000 in funds to organizations that produce projects, programs or events that promote local business and tourism, and for festivals and special events that draw visitors to Wilsonville. The Tourism Promotion Committee reviews requests and awards the grant funds. The deadline for the Tourism Grant is Friday, Feb. 2. Funding for the program comes from the City’s transient room taxes that are assessed on overnight lodging visitors.

The Wilsonville Parks and Recreation Department is welcoming public feedback for an extended period through Jan. 15, 2018, as part of the master-planning process for Boones Ferry Park, which borders the Willamette River in Old Town. [DSC_0649_resized]

Three conceptual plans have been developed with various elements that were suggested as part of the community-engagement process. Community members are asked to share their feedback and preferences for development, which include: greater river access, nature play, a dog park, wooded trail system and a number of other options. To review the concepts and provide input, see www.WilsonvilleParksandRec.com/BoonesFerry.