Walmart Site Activity - Woohoo!

Engineered Structures Inc. (ESI) has been desginated as the General Contactor on the project. Work on the intersection of 4th has been started. Pictures to follow. Below is a Hillsboro Argus bulletin.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/argus/index.ssf?/base/news/1254853229176660.xml&coll=6

Excerpt: "A Wal-Mart spokesman said Monday that an official groundbreaking could be scheduled for the next few weeks. " ... "Construction of a store typically takes nine months to a year, setting up a late 2010 opening -just in time for the holiday shopping season."

Metro- Making the Greatest Place - Public Hearing (Beaverton City Hall)

My 5 min & 1.7 seconds of fame! I was alloted 2 minutes to speak like everyone else at Metro's Public Hearing for their Making the Greatest Place agenda item. Timer is circled in white. Councilours from Left to Right, Rex B., Counc. Park, Counc. Libery, Counc. Carl Hosticka, Pres. D. Bragdon, and Kathryn Harrington (not shown in picture).

I read a letter that I'd handed to the 12 people on the Dais...Michael Jordan stepped into the audience half way through the 29 people testifying. 5 other guest representatives were on the Dais/Daus...1 rep for Washinton County, 1 for Tigard, 1 for North Plains, 1 from Cornelius [Jef Dalin, Woohoo!] ...and 1 other I forget...I think Tualatin maybe.

Anyhow...the hearing started about 5:15 -> 8:00. These poor guys/gals had to sit through it all. With the occasional break, stepping away from the forum.


Here's the transcript of the letter I read/handed out:

I’ve been on the Cornelius Planning Commission for 6 months now, so I’m a
rookie to land use planning. Before then, I had little knowledge of
Cornelius’s UGB lines, parks, its small library, or how low budget the city is.
That all changed once I took notice of development along the main street and
also Hillsboro Argus headlines regarding Walmart or Mayor Kidd and his MAX to
Forest Grove. In fact, next week Cornelius will celebrate the completion of the
Adair Main Street project after 10 years of work, made possible primarily with
grant money. All of you are invited.

I’m disappointed with Metro
staff’s stance on Cornelius specifically. It’s okay that you close the
‘chapters’ on Cornelius during UGB expansion requests, but recommending against
any land north of Council Creek as offlimits for Urban Reserves is closing the
‘book’ on our aspirations for a self-sustaining community. It’s a stretch to
call Cornelius a great place to live, but certainly it is not a great place to
Work. Not yet that is. Lastly, Metro’s idea of growing south seem premature,
given most lands north of the Tualatin are Flood Plain, with peaks and valleys.
Not very attractive for future industrial partners.

Now I
understand Hillsboro is the STAR of the Region. It’s drawn the interests of
Intel, Genetech, Solarworld and countless others to the region, bringing 1000’s
of jobs and making Washington County very marketable in the process.
Establishing places like Tanasbourne, world-class Orenco Station, and a
beautiful network of parks. Please allow Cornelius the opportunity over the next
50 years to fill in and be more like its big brother
Hillsboro.

Some recent examples to note, Cornelius parks have been
largely untouched over its history, Kids and their families rely heavily on
basketball hoops on the streets, roaming the streets on bicycles, or playing on
School District lands. Graffiti is a nuisance all throughout our neighbors. And
the growing % of disabled people learn to maneuver around broken pavement that
is beyond disrepair. Please help Cornelius sustain itself for the long haul to
come and not Band-Aid issues with funding support at Metro discretion.

After the meeting Metro Councilour Rex B stopped by to say Hello and Thank me for sitting through the whole meeting. Nice to have face time with our elected officials.

Cornelius Main Street Celebration (North Side - Adair)

Cornelius will be celebrating the completion of the Adair project b/w the stretch of roadway of 10th->20th Avenues; including sidewalks, underground utilities, lighting, and furniture. It took 10 years to see this to completion, but its certainly worth it! I think it looks great. Can't wait for the renovation spread onto Baseline and all the avenues connecting Adair & Baseline...That's to be seen.

The hardcopy of the Cornelius Master Plan is available as a Reference at the Cornelius Public Library on 14th Avenue / Adair..adjacent to City Hall - Easy to Miss.

http://www.corneliuschamber.org/index.asp?Type=B_EV&SEC=%7BBF114A59-125D-4279-ACA4-C5A676AAEA5D%7D&DE=%7B77880404-0E08-456E-B78E-1879C08402BD%7D

Plan your Parking Strategy now..Cornelius Walmart ;)

Below is a detailed layout of the Walmart to be constructed, of the Site Overall. In the upper left hand corner you'll notice what appears to be an entrance...yes...however this will only be available to Emergency Vehicles only as the access crosses the Manufactured Homes of several Cornelius Residents. The entrance nearest to the Upper Right Hand Corner was the section of land previous reserved for the entrance to the future Residence plans...BEFORE these 16 acres were rezoned to Commercial Land for Walmart a few years ago. The entrance off of 4th Avenue is the middle-right section of the Picture indicated where the intersection of Barlow Ct & 4th Avenue take place...what is now a 3-way intersection will become a 4-way intersection for the Walmart...tricky part is where the new entrance is planned...there were Houses previously there...who knows how the Utilities situation is to be handled? I'm sure its somewhere buried amongst the 100's of pages of Blueprints. Also to note, they'll be a screening walls of sorts blocking the views of Semi-Trucks to the Forest Grove side of Residences and other partial walls along the North and East parameters. I've also indicated where the Large Sign and Coming Soon sign will be located. And of course the Detention Ponds for Stormwater as well.


Not indicated on this map are the 5-6 acres of lands to be developed for Storm Water removal...that utlimately makes its way safely to the Tualatin...some land due south of this map and west INTO Forest Grove School District territory will be utilized. ODOT and the Railroad people will be involved in these efforts too...because 36" pipe will need to be installed all to channel this future water. THIS HAS to wait until the end of the 2009-2010 school year however ~ June 2010.

Also, the amount of work that will be down to improve the roads of 4th Avenue and Adair to support the Walmart...sidewalks, stormwater installations, and the like.

The order and phases of the work is not well understood to me simply by looking at the plans...my guess is the sign permit pulled for the Coming Soon sign will come first.

Where the coming soon sign will be placed.

Be on the lookout for the "Future Home of Walmart" i.e. Coming Soon sign on the property by 4th/Adair. Where it gets placed will be right by the designed 'Adair entrance'.

We'll just have to wait and see

I spent a good amount of time looking over the drawings for the Walmart. One gets tired of looking at diagram after diagram, index after index...trying to imagine what everything would look like in 3D.

Quick summary: The layout will be pretty much the same as the Fred Meyer in Cornelius...the site will "face" east, the Garden Center will be closet to Adair, then the Home section, The Misc. Items, then The Grocery closest to the Northside of the Property. From those driving cars, they'll be 1 entrace from Adair, and 2 off of 4th Avenue, and 1 Emergency Only entrace on the NW end corner of the property. They'll be plenty of trees planted according to City rules, 2 Detention ponds for water run off and an interesting project that will dig up a stormwater removal system that will cross Adair/Baseline/and the P&W railroad to end up by a swale currently in place North of the Fern Hill School in Forest Grove land.

Others things worth noting:

• Subway (which is strange because there is a franchise just across the street in front of the Forest Grove Inn)
  
• Recycling Center
  
• Pharmacy
• Optical
• Can serve ~ 4,000 customers max at one time.
  

Super Walmart Update...All the details of the exact building you'd ever want & more

What's 6 feet tall (at a minimum) & 8 feet wide? Give up?

The proposed sign reading "Future Home of Walmart" at Adair/4th Avenue site. Be on the look out. I will be!

Also become familiar with the # 4221, because this will be the designation given to our Cornelius Walmart.

And it's future address is 220 N Adair St, Cornelius, OR, prepare to write your Welcome letters to the future staff & management...because I'm sure in 2010 and beyond you'll be seeing a lot of them.

I've recently come across the following site: http://www.bxwa.com/bxwa_toc/private/2408/rc1_wal_mart_supercenter_corne_89165/info.php

It contains every single detail of what the site will look like, plans for containing stormwater, the Subway that's planned, Eco-friendly roofing, you name it...you should be able to find it there. I'm big on planning, so I'll probably spent a considerable amount of time browsing through these 100's and 100's of pages...