BREAKING NEWS- In a dramatic turnaround for one of the most fiercely contested land-use battles in Hillsboro history, New York-based developer Sky Harbour Group has officially withdrawn its application to build a massive private jet complex at the Portland-Hillsboro Airport (HIO).
The withdrawal, formally submitted on September 9, 2026, ends the ongoing City Council appeal proceedings and cancels the high-stakes public hearing scheduled for October 6.
The Withdrawal and Property Owner Consent
In a letter sent to Hillsboro Senior Planner Ruth Klein, Sky Harbour’s Director of Development, David Annin, stated that the developer is withdrawing Case File No. DR-044-25 under Hillsboro Community Development Code Section 12.70.080.
Annin cited the overwhelming pushback from the public and city officials during the marathon August 18 public hearing as the driving factor behind the retreat:“The Applicant heard and takes seriously the comments raised by the community and the City Council at the August 18, 2026 hearing and needs additional time to look into and address those comments. The period available for submitting materials addressing those issues, however, was not sufficient time to obtain and assemble the necessary information… The Applicant has therefore decided to withdraw the application and resubmit.”
Dan Pippenger, Chief Aviation Officer for the Port of Portland—which owns the 13.7-acre leasehold at 2315 NE Brookwood Parkway—officially consented to the withdrawal in a separate letter dated September 3.
Immediate Effects: Appeals Dissolved, October 6 Meeting Canceled
Following the receipt of the letters, the City of Hillsboro Planning Division issued Staff Report No. 9, confirming that the matter has been officially pulled from the City Council’s October 6 agenda.
According to Senior Planner Ruth Klein:
- Appeals Terminated: With the underlying application withdrawn, the two community appeals filed by Oregon Aviation Watch (APPEAL-001-26) and Oregon Air (APPEAL-002-26) are officially rendered moot, as there is no longer a Planning Commission decision to affirm or reverse.
- Deadlines Expire: The statutory 120-day state land-use deadline (which had been extended to October 7, 2026) no longer applies.
- The Record Closes: The third open record period officially closed September 9, marking the final entry in this specific case record.
Significantly, Klein noted in the staff report that because the appeal proceeding has concluded, the City Council is no longer trapped in a quasi-judicial role that strictly limited its review to narrow zoning criteria. During the hearings, staff had repeatedly advised councilors that aviation operations, flight frequency, noise, and greenhouse gas emissions were largely preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Klein noted that with the quasi-judicial gag lifted, the Council may now explore broader policy avenues regarding airport operations, noting:
“Authority over aircraft operations and emissions rests largely with the Federal Aviation Administration, and federal law limits what a city may regulate. Some avenues may remain within those limits.”
KEY POINT: If the Hillsboro City Council truly meant what they said during the Appeal hearing, they must immediately move to take action and begin a code change process to change the land use codes to require specific criteria to protect the residents of our communities. Failure to do so will ultimately allow this project to be refiled and approved. Time really was the only reason Sky Harbour withdrew for now!
What Happens Next? A “Reset” on the Horizon
While neighborhood advocates and environmental watchdogs will celebrate the withdrawal as a major grassroots victory, Sky Harbour has explicitly signaled that it does not intend to walk away permanently.
The developer said it intends to “resubmit” once it has formulated responses to community concerns.
Under the City of Hillsboro’s development rules, any future submittal cannot simply pick up where this project left off. City Planning confirmed that a resubmittal will constitute an entirely new application from scratch:
- It will receive a new case file number.
- It will require a new completeness review and new neighborhood meeting notices.
- It will establish an entirely new public record.
Whether Sky Harbour attempts to return through an administrative Type II staff review (if it avoids asking for code variances) or returns to a public hearing before the Planning Commission under Type III review remains to be seen.
For now, the neighborhood skies over Hillsboro, Brookwood Parkway, Aloha, Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, and the slopes of Cooper and Bull Mountains have won a decisive reprieve.
The Hillsboro Herald will continue to monitor the Port of Portland and Sky Harbour for any future filings.
Regarding the withdrawal of the Jet Port application, my level of trust with the Planning Commission, the Planning Department, the City Council, and the Mayor has been significantly eroded. Might another reason for this withdrawal be an attack on the opposition (us) to deplete our financial resources to pay for legal services necessary for ongoing resistance planning and future probable appeals just as happened recently?
Also, I’d like to understand if there are any methods to keep Hillsboro Counselors, Commissioners and the Mayor from communicating with corporate representatives or amongst themselves during this upcoming reset period about Sky Harbour except during public meetings that have been advertised. This would be much like the rules that are imposed on juries before a trial.
It all comes down to a matter of trust.
Well, they cannot gather in private to have a meeting or substantive discussions about it. That does not mean people do not message each other or talk by phone. In this case, the Council showed some real concerns. Much like the Data Centers, nothing will change, and Sky Harbor will return unless our land-use laws change. So the Council would need to step up and go after new regulations and that takes time. So they will need to start right away. In addition, not all of them made theor positions clear on this matter.
It’s been interesting to contrast this project with the construction of Hillsboro Aviation’s headquarters on 30th a decade ago: https://verticalmag.com/features/building-beyond-ordinary-hillsboro-aviation/
In some ways, it’s a similar beast: Luxury appointment in the hangar, space for private jets and helicopters. In some ways, the negative impact is a bit greater: The sale of avgas and the accommodation of planes using it was more worthy of the alarm over lead than what we’re seeing today.
But Hillsboro Aviation, a known entity here, made its case by touting the multiple uses of the facility: Training, transport, potential Life Flight, firefighting. When Hillsboro’s air was grey and those smoke-jumper planes appeared at Hillsboro HQ in 2020, it was a better illustration of the facility keeping its promises than anything we’d seen to that point.
Luxury facility though it may appear—and the occasional team jet suggests it very much works within that capacity—the Hillsboro Aviation HQ avoided what we saw with the Sky Harbour example by taking advantage of a considerable setback, contributing other uses to HIO, and building upon its equity in the community by actually fulfilling promises.
The Sky Harbour example, as initially presented, brought none of that to the table, presented no arguments for need or community benefit, and seemed like a stress test for acceptable scale. Not only does this present an opportunity for the city to define what land use and scale should look like at HIO, but use Hillsboro Aviation and Global Aviation as points of comparison.