Land Use Appeal

Public Hearing:
August 18, 2026 at 7:00pm
Hillsboro Civic Center
150 E. Main Street
Hillsboro, OR 97123

On June 17, 2026, we filed a land-use appeal challenging the Hillsboro Planning Commission's approval decision. On July 11, we released our Appeal Narrative. Tualatin Riverkeepers are accepting donations to fund the legal fight, and with your help we can win this!

Why we Appealed:

• Air quality and noise assessment were not performed.
• Land use application does not meet the approval criteria.
• Public Notice was not sent to impacted residents.
• Important documents were withheld.

Hillsboro Planning Commisison

On Wednesday May 27, 2026, at the Hillsboro Planning Commission hearing, 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’ 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 14 feet above ground level.

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 is closed and the next step is 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)

Appeal Details

Two separate land use appeals have been filed in the City of Hillsboro. Our Appeal, submitted by Aloha resident Sarah Richmond, Tualatin resident Brett Hamilton, and Tualatin City Council President Valerie Pratt has been assigned case number APPEAL-002-26. The other appeal, lead by Miki Barnes with eight additional appeallants, has been assigned case number APPEAL-001-26. On July 7, 2026 the Hillsboro City Council decided to hear both appeals together [staff report] at a combined "de novo" public hearing on August 18, 2026.

Public Hearing

We encourage all members of the public to attend the August hearing either in person or on Zoom and provide verbal testimony (limited to 3 minutes). State your reasons for opposing the development, how you would be impacted, and why you think the City Council should deny Sky Harbour's land use application. 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!