November 2016

Win a LOONI Award!
All city staff are invited to compete in the LOONI (Lake Oswego Origninal & New Idea) award program. Simply form up a team, and come up with an innovative idea on providing better service or saving money. For details, click here.

News
A lot is happening in the City of Lake Oswego:

North Anchor Project
LORA recently bought the former gas station/car repair shop at the NW corner of State & B. This gives the prospective developer--LO resident Vanessa Sturgeon--a lot more flexibility in how to develop the North Anchor site. She and her firm are doing hotel market analysis and design work on a project that will include ground floor retail, upper floor housing, and a boutique hotel.

Block 137 (former Wizer lot)
The project is on schedule for completion in early 2018. The developer, Pat Kessi, said they have 300 people/families on a waiting list for their 200 units of housing. They also have some prospects for tenants of the retail space.

Springs Assisted Living
An assisted living facility at the NW corner of Kruse and Boones Ferry has received land use approval. The owner is doing the final design work, and we anticipate a building permit application in early 2017.

Mary's Woods Expansion
Design work is also underway for a major expansion of Mary's Woods, in the large grass field adjacent to Hwy 43. It will include more senior housing, and some related retail/commercial space.

Operations Center Upgrade
Work is moving fast on this complex project. PW is already using the first component of the project: the "decant" facility where they spread out materials collected by the street sweepers, etc.

Police Station
Approval of the architect contract is scheduled for the 11/1 City Council meeting, with a study session on 11/15 to get direction on the overall configuration of the new building. Brant Williams has been helping to find a new home for Lexi Dog, the tenant in one of the buildings that was acquired for the project.

LOTWP - Water Treatment Plant
This huge project is wrapping up with the last major structure--a building to house ozone treatment--and curbs, parking, and landscaping work. It should be all done by next spring. Our council and the Tigard city council have been discussing long-term governance and operation of the supply system. The major options are to continue the current intergovernmental agreement, or to form an intergovernmental agency similar to the South Fork Water Board (water supply for Oregon City and West Linn). No decisions have been made.

Municipal Broadband and Other Measures
A ballot measure on November 8 ballot is an advisory vote on whether or not the city should create a fiber broadband utility. Another measure asks voters if they want to keep in place the current ban on marijuana sales and processing facilities. There is also a countywide gas tax ballot measure; if it passes, the county estimates Lake Oswego will receive over $600,000/year for seven years for street maintenance.

Writing Tip of the Month from Dr. Grammaticus

Use words and syllables sparingly. Use “use,” not “utilize. “Promptly,” not “in a timely manner.” “Harm,” not “negatively impact.” “Encourage,” not “incentivize.” “Price,” not “price point.” And “skills,” not “skill set.”

1 comment:

  1. Before Microsoft put grammar and spell check in the box, you had to buy software that came in a yellow box called Grammatic to do that!

    ReplyDelete