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It will be many years before build-out, but the city of Wilsonville is putting extensive planning into the proposed Frog Pond Area, a 500-acre area east of town.

If all goes according to plan, eventually the area will include three large subdivisions of market-rate single-family homes, two schools, parks and hiking trails.

With public input, a planning task force that includes property owners, residents, planning commissioners and city councilors has been actively working on a concept plan for the area’s development for the last two years.

Last week, the city published survey results from two open houses and online comments by about 300 people. The comments showed a wide range of opinions ranging from 鈥淚 do not support developing this land鈥� to those who for advocated affordable housing. Others only wanted to see upscale development in the Frog Pond Area.

Unlike Portland, where multifamily dominates residential building, Wilsonville is leaning toward market-rate homes with no provisions for apartment complexes in the Frog Pond Area, said Wilsonville planning director Chris Neamtzu.

鈥淭he plan doesn’t have apartments at this point,鈥� Neamtzu said. 鈥淭he council took that out of the plan, and there will be no apartments, no condos, no senior housing. There will be some townhomes in the plan, but not affordable. It will be market rate.鈥�

The planning commission task force will hold a work session June 10 and then meet with the Wilsonville City Council on June 15 on latest updates to the Frog Pond Area concept plan, he said.

Early planning is important, said Mayor Tim Knapp, even though build-out isn’t expected for another 15 or 20 years.

Knapp said the city is taking a long-term planning approach because many more jobs are expected in the coming years because of Coffee Creek and Basalt Creek industrial areas, where employment is expected to grow as those areas are developed.

鈥淏oth were designated by Metro for industrial development under the UGB process,鈥� he said. Coffee Creek is within Wilsonville city limits, he said, while Basalt Creek will eventually be annexed into Wilsonville or Tualatin or divided between the two towns.

More than half of Wilsonville is apartment housing, Knapp said, the result of public demand during the downturn. The city sponsored one complex for low-income residents and more affordable housing is still needed, but future demand from the private sector appears to be for single-family homes.

鈥淲ilsonville has several thousand more jobs since the downturn, which in indicative of strong business and employment growth in our community,鈥� he said.

With that in mind, it’s prudent with big areas like Frog Pond to plan as early as possible, Knapp said. Neamtzu said the project team for the Frog Pond Area is trying to do just that.

鈥淭here’s a lot going on with this project and it’s still all in process,鈥� Neamtzu said. 鈥淥ur project team has been working on a wide variety of information like detailed infrastructure estimates, transportation, utilities, parks, working with civil engineering and economic analysis to depict the type of community envisioned in that area.鈥�

The Frog Pond area is divided by neighborhoods, the West Neighborhood, East Neighborhood and South Neighborhood. Only the 135-acre West Neighborhood and about 30 acres of the South Neighborhood are currently in Metro’s Urban Growth Boundary, he said. But the city is working on a Frog Pond Area Master Plan for the entire area with the expectation that it will someday all be in the UGB.

That won’t happen anytime soon, since Metro is not planning to expand the UGB in the near future and some residents in the Frog Pond Area are suing Metro because it designated their land as 鈥渞ural reserve.鈥�

In the meantime, the city will continue to reach out to landowners and residents, Neamtzu said, with the hope they will see the greater good in developing the area.

鈥淲e are trying to create a plan the community can support by getting buy-in,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s important because it’s an emotional process for some who don’t want to sell.鈥�

Land in the Frog Pond Area is privately owned by many different people, he said, and although no one will be forced to sell their land, eventual development may cause hold-out landowners to see things differently.

鈥淲e’re looking to the future, trying to meet demands and there’s a lot to it,鈥� Neamtzu said. 鈥淣obody has to sell, but the area will likely change over time. The reality is that when housing is getting built (nearby) it changes the reason you’re there in the first place.鈥�

The city was interested in developing the Frog Pond Area long before the West Neighborhood was brought into the Metro UGB in 2002, Neamtzu said. A draft concept was developed during 2007 and 2008, but was abandoned because of the recession.

Expanding the UGB will be a slow process, he said, which leaves the South and East neighborhoods in developmental limbo. Initial development will be in the West Neighborhood, where the city would like to see developers build 750 detached homes over its 135 buildable acres. Potential for the East Neighborhood is 114 buildable acres with 72 buildable acres for the South Neighborhood.

But planning will continue for the South and East neighborhoods, Neamtzu said, because that’s what Metro now requires before land can be considered for inclusion in the UGB.

鈥淭wo years ago they (Metro) changed the rules and now you have to do a concept plan first and then nominate (the land) for the UGB,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat gives them a lot of information to be able to evaluate. But different areas are pitted against each other and they’re all grappling for a limited amount of expansion.鈥�

In the meantime, city planners will be working on development codes for the West Neighborhood, probably well into next year.

鈥淥nce we’re done with the concept plans, and once the codes are in place, it will set the stage for developers to come forward,鈥� Neamtzu said.

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