This letter was published today by the Oregonian from Sam.
The Oregonian editorial board is right in their March 27 editorial. It is the City's job to "build a plan that works for all the [Hayden Island] neighborhood."
The development hiatus that City Council unanimously approved six months ago on Hayden Island allows the residents and the City to complete a neighborhood plan that can address the unique transportation challenges of the island.
For four months before City Council adopted a moratorium my office began to reach out to stakeholders on Hayden Island, including Jantzen Beach. (While there were developments already in the permitting pipeline, Jantzen Beach was not one of them.) I personally met face to face with Morgan Stanley, held a conference call with Michigan's public employee retirement system, sent a letter to the governor and continued conversations with Jantzen Beach representatives right up to the adoption of the moratorium and as recently as last Tuesday.
In those meetings, my message was clear. I shared the concerns of the neighborhood and island businesses that Jantzen Beach's proposed development reduced on-site transit access, added no public street connectivity, increased parking dramatically and complicated freeway access off the island-one of our state's worst and most dangerous bottlenecks.
Jantzen Beach's message was also clear. The City's interest to protect the transportation infrastructure and the neighborhood's role in shaping its future were simply not their concerns. To date, Jantzen Beach's owners have not attended neighborhood meetings to discuss their plans.
As I did when we met, I continue to be interested in working together to maximize both Jantzen Beach's investment and the community benefit. That, to me, is the definition of a successful public-private partnership.
My door remains open.