Washington County planners rejected a proposal to build 236 apartments near the Multnomah County border, and the developer has appealed.

Washington County Land Use and Transportation (LUT) denied the project on Tuesday, Aug. 25, at a 3.33-acre site north of the existing Sylvan Highlands complex at 1380 NW 66th. The developer filed an appeal two days later, on Thursday, Aug. 27, Cedar Mill News reported.

A Washington County Hearings Officer will hear the appeal on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 1 p.m. Residents can attend via Zoom.

Why planners said no

The site is zoned R-25, allowing about 25 units per acre, or roughly 83 apartments. The proposal would have nearly tripled that density to 71 units per acre. County rules require that kind of increase to come with access to transit, retail and employment nearby.

LUT planners found the site falls short on both counts. Barnes Road is close, but steep terrain makes access infeasible. All traffic to the proposed buildings would funnel through the existing Sylvan Highlands complex.

The proposal met many other county requirements, according to Cedar Mill News. But the transit and commercial-proximity gaps blocked the higher density.

CPO program slated to end Sept. 25

The denial arrives as the county's Citizen Participation Organization (CPO) program, which has channeled development notices to neighborhoods for nearly 40 years, is slated to end Sept. 25, according to Cedar Mill News. CPO 1, which covers Cedar Mill and the surrounding area, held its final community-led meeting on March 10.

Without the CPO pipeline, it is unclear whether LUT will continue sharing development information with the public beyond the county's online Developments Under Review database. Neighborhood meeting notices reach only nearby property owners and do not appear on county websites.

Virginia Bruce, chair of CPO 1, wrote in a January column for Cedar Mill News that "it doesn't feel like community members have much of a say in Washington County these days."

The Board of County Commissioners voted Jan. 27 to replace the CPOs with a new program called SPARC (Strengthening Participation and Reaching Communities), organized by commissioner district, according to the county's community participation page. The first SPARC meeting for District 1 was scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 3, at the Aloha Community Library or virtually, Washington County said on Facebook.

The Sylvan Highlands appeal hearing is open to the public via Zoom on Sept. 17 at 1 p.m.