Attend the Council Vote

Tuesday October 6, 2026

7:00 PM Pacific Time
Hllsboro Civic Center
150 E. Main Street
Hillsboro, OR 97123

The initial public comment period closed on August 26 and the response period closed on Sept 2. The applicant (Sky Harbour) has an opportunity to submit rebuttal arguments by September 9. Then, the Hillsboro City Council will have ample opportunity to review all comments in preparation for their deliberations and vote on October 6. All residents are invited and encouraged to attend the October 6 City Council meeting. No testimony will be taken at that meeting, but your presence in the room will speak volumes.

The Big Hearing:

On August 18, 2026, community members from all across Washington County turned out in big numbers to fill the Civic Center Auditorium for "the main event" appeal hearing before the Hillsboro City Council. Oregon Aviation Watch’s attorney Carrie Richter, and Oregon Air’s attorney Andrew Mulkey, provided brilliant legal advocacy laying out how Sky Harbour failed to meet their burden of proof, and gave the Council a roadmap for how to legally deny the land-use application. The Hillsboro City Council asked Sky Harbour a number of hard questions and made demands for information that their team could not provide. Rather than allowing the hearing to move towards a vote, Sky Harbour’s attorney Steven Hultberg made a smart move and requested to hold the hearing record open, delaying the vote and giving Sky Harbour more time to submit additional materials.

After many rounds of questions between the City Council, staff, attorneys, and appellants, the public finally got a chance to speak and wow did they deliver! for a full 90 minutes! (YouTube Video). Fantastic, heartfelt, informed, and bold public comments were delivered by residents. We all made the case against Sky Harbour's private jet hub. The hearing ended after midnight.

Timeline:

On Wednesday May 27, 2026 the Hillsboro Planning Commission approved DR-044-25 "Sky Harbour Hangars" in the City of Hillsboro. Their decision was improperly made, so we decided to file an appeal. On June 6, the Tualatin Riverkeepers began accepting donations to fund our appeal. On June 17, 2026, members of Oregon Air filed an appeal, and members of Oregon Aviation Watch filed a separate appeal. The two groups are working independently. On July 7, the Hillsboro City Council agreed to hear both appeals together [staff report] in a combined de-novo public hearing on August 18. On July 11, Oregon Air released our Appeal Narrative.

Why we Appealed:

• Air quality and noise assessments were not performed.
• The applicant submitted false statements to the FAA.
• Land use application does not meet the approval criteria.
• Public Notice was not sent to impacted residents.
• Important documents were withheld.

Hillsboro Planning Commisison:

At the Hillsboro Planning Commission hearing on May 27, City staff instructed the Commission that they were not allowed to consider air quality, noise pollution, or carbon impacts in their land use decision, because those issues are under federal jurisdiction. After a long hearing and a convoluted deliberation, the Commission voted to approve the Sky Harbour hangar proposal, with one abstention. The commission found that the negative impacts of the development were not sufficiently minimized or mitigated and they added a condition of approval to require a 6 foot solid wall to be built to protect the Brookwood Library from noise and jet blast. We don’t think the commissioners understand just how big these ultra-long-range jets are. The jet engines on a Bombardier Global 7500 are approx 11 feet above the ground.

One commissioner did remark that the public comments received were “almost overwhelming” so thank you to the community for making that happen. At 10am on the day of the hearing, the city had still not released the last 11 days of public comments, so we requested a continuance to give the commissioners more time to review. An hour later (at 11am) the city released a partial batch of public comments, but ultimately the commission did not grant the continuance. The hearing was closed and the next step was an appeal to the Hillsboro City Council.

Motion to Approve:

The Planning Commission's final Motion to Approve made by Commissioner Thrall-Nash [audio recording] includes a finding that the negative impacts of the development have not been sufficiently minimized or mitigated, but this finding was not included in the final written order. We have transcribed it here:

So I put forward a motion to approve Development Review 044-25 Sky Harbour Hangars with the addition of a finding that section 12.80.040.H.e has not sufficiently been satis [sic], has not been sufficiently minimized, the negative impacts of the development have not been sufficiently minimized or mitigated, and in order to sufficiently minimize or mitigate the negative impacts of the noise at the site, we’re adding a condition of approval to have the applicant build a masonry or brick, we’re going to call it a wall, that runs from hangar 5 up to the entrance of the site along the same fence line that was already proposed, with a minimum height of at least 6 feet. (timestamp 3:20:45 in the official recording)

Two Appeals:

Sky Harbour’s proposal is so unpopular, two separate groups have filed appeals to fight it. Both groups have the same objective, to Stop Sky Harbour, and it is strategically advantageous for the community to have two separate appeals, but the two groups are working independently. The Oregon Air appeal (Narrative) submitted by Aloha resident Sarah Richmond, Tualatin resident Brett Hamilton, and Tualatin City Council President Valerie Pratt is assigned case number APPEAL-002-26. The Oregon Avaition Watch appeal (Narrative) lead by Miki Barnes with eight other appeallants has been assigned case number APPEAL-001-26. Both appeals were heard together [staff report] at a combined "de novo" public hearing on August 18, 2026.

If you are interested in learning more about this case please read our Appeal Narrative and see our Document Archive. Big Thank You to the residents who donated already and to the Tualatin Riverkeepers for managing the donations to make this possible. With your help, we can win this!