ARTICLE
This week, responding to concerns from the development community, the Beaverton City Council again continued a proposed ordinance that would require the build out of purple pipe infrastructure in new developments within the South Cooper Mountain area. While builders support the idea of enhanced purple pipe infrastructure, the current proposal fails to adequately grant vesting rights to projects that are currently in the development process. In order to ensure it does not adversely impact new housing, the ordinance should provide projects with full vesting rights upon the submission of a site development application. Importantly, doing so currently vests projects under the existing rules and standards contained in the city’s engineering design manual, which is responsible for governing the design and development of utility infrastructure. Since the regulations contained in the ordinance relate to the design and development of utility infrastructure, the same vesting mechanism should apply to those as well. To learn more about our work in Beaverton, contact Ezra Hammer at ezrah@hbapdx.org.