The City of West Linn has been working towards implementing a new vision for the Highway 43 corridor (Hwy 43) which serves as a critical north/south transportation link in the Portland Metro region. In 2006 the West Linn City Council adopted the Bolton Neighborhood Plan (BNP). And in 2008 the Robinwood Neighborhood Plan (RNP) was also adopted by the West Linn City Council. Both plans contain goals and policies for achieving a future vision of the Hwy 43 corridor. Those plans include providing complete and safe facilities for pedestrians, bicycles, and transit users; safe crossing points on Willamette Drive; commercial services that provide neighborhood needs; and providing pedestrian connections to needed goods and services as well as to other neighborhoods.

The City completed the first phase of a corridor visioning process in 2011 with several public outreach events that gleaned feedback on the commercial areas of the corridor. The area in the Robinwood neighborhood received strong community support (77 percent) for a vision to transform the corridor from primarily strip commercial and single-family residential into a neighborhood center with a pedestrian-friendly environment. The Bolton Town Center area identified on the Metro 2040 map also received strong community support (78 percent) to be a 2 neighborhood center that supports commercial and residential uses with a pedestrian-friendly environment.

The City followed up on this vision work by adopting an updated Transportation System Plan (TSP) that includes the 2016 Highway 43 Concept Plan which calls for continuous pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure along both sides of the corridor. Existing conditions along the Highway 43 Corridor have been documented beginning in 2008 with the original Highway 43 Concept Plan and continuing with the updated 2016 version. These documents provide a solid baseline for traffic projections, level of service deficiencies, and environmental conditions to be used in the analysis of the Highway 43 Corridor. With the hope of creating a destination corridor that has high-quality pedestrian and bicycle amenities, getting to the corridor safely is of vital importance. The Hwy 43 Corridor traverses older parts of the community that lack sidewalks making safe access to goods, services, and transit a challenge.

Current zoning along Highway 43 is a blend of commercial and residential, with many of the properties currently underutilized. With the corridor being an important regional transportation route and the primary transit route for the community, the City is interested in exploring mixed-use zoning to re-energize the corridor with a mix of housing types, work places, shops, and parks for people of all ages, incomes, and abilities. The City anticipates adopting the Bolton Town Center boundary as part of this project as required by the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities Rules.

Primary Project Goals

1. Evaluate land uses adjacent to the corridor (north City limits to I-205) and recommend zoning changes, amended code language, and potentially design standards; and

2. Evaluate pedestrian and bicycle connections to safely access the corridor from surrounding neighborhoods and recommend prioritized infrastructure improvements and financing options to adopt into the West Linn TSP

3. Recommend a Mixed-Use Zoning code chapter for the West Linn Community Development Code.

The outcome of this effort will create a destination corridor that is an inviting opportunity for West Linn residents to live, work, and move about safely and with ease.

The City expects the consultant to have experience in the preparation of long-range planning documents in a community that is subject to meeting the mandates and objectives of the Metro regional government, and the presentation of materials to the public and the City Council or Planning Commission if called upon to do so in the performance of the work.

The City has established a budget of approximately $125,000 to do this work. The City may also explore the possibility of a Tax Increment Financing District for the corridor under a separate contract, which may require some coordination tasks