The Tualatin City Council on Nov. 10 upheld a Sept. 10 Architectural Review Board (ARB) decision to approve Lam Research Corporation’s plan to construct new facilities on its Tualatin campus.
Lam’s TUX project application calls for a new 120,000-square-foot office building, a new 90,000-square-foot lab, a 29,000-square-foot central-utilities building and a 2,230-square-foot storage building on the southern portion of the campus adjacent to Southwest Leveton Drive.
The TUX project includes 544 new parking spaces (127 of which were previously approved for Building “G”) on the northern portion of the site with all employee traffic being directed to three driveways on Southwest 108th Avenue plus three existing driveways along with one new driveway on Southwest Leveton Drive that would be used for truck traffic. The Planning Commission previously approved Lam’s Industrial Master Plan application for property lines and setbacks.
Lam’s property currently includes seven buildings and parking on 75.96 acres of land in a Manufacturing Park Zone located on Southwest Leveton Drive, west of Southwest 108th Avenue and south of Southwest Tualatin Road.
About 1 ½ years ago, a group of neighbors led by Brett Hamilton living along and north of Tualatin Road across from the Lam campus formed an organization called Save Tualatin Road advocating for no employee entrance/exit at 115th and Tualatin Road, and the elimination of noise pollution and off-site sound impacts from Lam’s operations. Although Lam dropped the 115th entrance/exit from its application, it will now be opening another employee entrance/exit around the corner on 108th, just 320 feet from Tualatin Road.
On Sept. 25, Hamilton filed an appeal of the ARB decision on the grounds that Lam’s land-use application didn’t meet all the applicable criteria and that errors were made by both Lam and the City of Tualatin in the process.
During the City Council’s lengthy public hearing on the appeal, Lam representatives recapped their proposal and reiterated the concessions they had made during the application process while Hamilton’s testimony focused on the additional 2,036 daily vehicle trips that the new project would generate and how dangerous the intersection of 108th and Tualatin Road already is. Attorney Andrew Mulkey focused on noise currently generated by the Lam campus plus more that would be generated by the future development. City officials noted that 32 formal complaints have already been filed about noise emanating from the Lam campus.
At the conclusion of the public hearing, several councilors spoke, including Council President Valerie Pratt, who said, “I mean, this is tough because I think these neighborhood concerns are valid, but I feel traffic is going to be there regardless… We’re adding traffic. We have a traffic problem and we are adding to it, but I don’t think closing off one driveway is going to make it much different.
“The noise concerns me more… Lam closed off… 115th. They’ve done things. It bothers me somewhat that they’re arguing back when these people are concerned about the noise and that they’re not doing more, but in my opinion, I wouldn’t support the conditions of the approval and I hold what the Architectural Review Board did.”
Councilor Maria Reyes said, ’Yeah, I am also concerned about the noise and the matters that were brought to us about the traffic, and I can see that being, I mean, we live in a world that’s evolving and that’s always going to be a concern for everyone. And I am with Councilor Valerie Pratt that the noise is what really kind of concerns me the most, but I also have to respect the Architectural Board who looked through this and spent hours… as well prior to this meeting and what they decided and what they brought to us at the time.
“I trust that they also did their due diligence and that they worked really hard to bring this application to us and gave their approval, so I want to uphold that… I trust that body also is very smart and wise and what they bring to us, I’m sure they’ve done their due diligence.”
Councilor Christen Sacco said, “Regarding the traffic, I have to rely on the experts and the standards that were presented during the hearing and the exhibits that were provided. I know there are traffic concerns in Tualatin… But I don’t think the traffic rises to the level to justify not going through with this…
“There’s already a condition in place for compliance to be followed for the noise standards. However, I also understand that you can’t measure something that doesn’t exist today… Lam is putting an enormous amount of money into this facility. I can’t imagine they would do so knowing they are going to face issues in the future, that they will sort of self-police so they can be viable moving forward with the amount of money they are investing at this location.
“As a city councilor, it’s my responsibility to make a decision that serves the interests of the entire city… I understand that what benefits the greater good creates burdens for some. That’s also a really hard thing to bear as an elected official… We have certain criteria we must follow that has been set forth. Our decision has to be based on that criteria.”
Mayor Frank Bubenik got the last word, saying, “I agree with the other city councilors. What this comes down to for me is the criteria, and that’s what we have to make the judgment on. I know, I live in the neighborhood, I’m impacted, but we have to make the decisions based on criteria, not on emotion, not on feelings, not on assumptions… Closing down that driveway isn’t going to significantly impact that intersection.”
Bubenik said that noise complaints from previous businesses in that area in the past were resolved. “So, I’m pretty sure all the sound issues that Lam is being charged with, they will be resolved, and they will also address any issues in the future,” he said. “So, based on the two things that were the focus of tonight, the traffic studies, the traffic impact, and sound, based on the criteria I have (to) uphold the decision of the ARB.”
The council voted 5 – 0 to uphold the ARB decision on a motion made by Pratt, and after the vote, she said, “Thank you to everybody on both sides for caring this much about our community.”
