The Forest Grove Planning Commission on Monday approved site development and design plans for a proposed 45-unit apartment complex. The project team includes Creekwood Homes, Suntel Design, and AKS Engineering.

West Grove Apartments is to be constructed at 2230 and 2320 26th Ave., near the Pacific University campus. The site includes two tax lots in the Curtis subdivision. Each lot currently has a single-family residence; both would be demolished. Properties abutting the site mostly have single-unit residences. A vacant property to the southeast is owned by Pacific University.

Plans call for construction of four three-story buildings. Combined, they would hold two one-bedroom units, 41 two-bedroom units, and two three-bedroom units. An additional management office would be in one of the buildings. Site improvements would include 72 motor vehicle parking spaces and 20 bicycle parking spaces. Parking would be in the site’s east, south and west portions.

Open space around the buildings would be landscaped with trees, shrubs and ground cover.

One of the project team’s goals is to achieve compatibility with single-family detached homes in the area. During Monday’s meeting, AKS Engineering consultant Tony Mills said the team accounted for neighboring residences as much as possible by doubling the required setback for most buildings.

Building 1, adjacent to 26th Avenue, would be set back 20 feet from the front property line. Buildings 2, 3 and 4, in the site’s interior, would be set back at least 10 feet from property lines, a city staff report states.

Creekwood Homes “has committed to building a six-foot cedar fence around the exterior of the property,” Mills said.

The fence would help screen the buildings from neighboring properties.

The commission’s approval came with conditions. Some include: providing frontage improvements in accordance with code requirements and in coordination with the city’s 26th Avenue improvement project, providing striping and signage designating the western access drive aisle as a one-way exit-only lane, ensuring pathways are separated from dwellings by at least 10 feet (with small reductions allowed in certain areas), and providing a children’s play area.

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