It will be several years before the project could be built, and there are several hurdles still to be cleared before it's a sure thing. To the regional government Metro, the property is still industrial land, and Metro rules in place when Emmert applied for the project limit the size of commercial buildings on industrial land. That means Metro would have to reclassify the property as commercial or grant an exception to its rule in order for the project to move forward as planned. Metro also would have to grant an exception to its wetland rules or remove the project from its water quality and flood management map.

Additionally, the US Army Corps of Engineers must sign off on the filling of the land, and, if it does, may require a wetland mitigation plan for the property, which means the wetlands would have to be recreated elsewhere. Finally, the project must adhere to six conditions of approval and it could be as long as three years for building permits, as the county and the state still must decide how planned Sunset Corridor will cut across Emmert's property.

Emmert owns Emmert International, a specialized heavy hauling company located in Clackamas. It's unclear if he would develop the property or sell it off as an entitled development. Emmert could not be reached for comment.

One of the more important of the commissioners' six conditions of approval requires Emmert to sell the right of way for the Sunset Corridor -- a limited access road that will connect Highway 224 west of Interstate 205 with Highway 26 west of Sandy -- for industrial land prices rather than commercial land prices, which are about twice as expensive ($10 to $12 per sf versus $5).

The commissioners gave tentative approval to the project in early January, then two weeks ago delayed a scheduled final vote on the issue and raised new concerns, leaving last week's vote an unknown.

While some opponents of the project have argued that using industrial land for a retail development is a bad idea when there is a shortage of industrial land, proponents have argued that the cost to fill the wetlands is too expensive to recoup via industrial development.

Instant Insights /

GlobeSt.com UPDATE: 300,000-SF Retail Development OK'd

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