How three days changed everything for a 165-day closure plan
The Real Story- A Column for the people of Washington County by Dirk Knudsen-
Three days ago, Washington County staff assured commissioners there was “no known opposition” to a plan that would close SW River Road for nearly six months. The item was tucked quietly onto the consent agenda—a routine bundle of approvals that normally pass without discussion.
But there was one problem: no one in the community had been notified. Our staff here at the Hillsboro Herald paid attention, caught this innocuous item hidden on an agenda posted over the weekend, and we spread the News.
Once the Hillsboro Herald broke the story, the quiet consent item exploded into a valley-wide firestorm. Residents who had lived along River Road for decades said they had never received a letter, email, or knock on the door. Small business owners with farms on the road had no idea their customers could be cut off for half a year. Parents learned that school bus routes were never even consulted. And commuters—8,000 vehicles per day—discovered that they might be forced onto a 12-mile detour, incurring millions in extra fuel, time, and wear-and-tear costs.
The outrage filled inboxes. County staff, who had reported “no opposition” just days earlier, suddenly had dozens of emails and a packed public hearing staring them down.
From consent agenda to crisis management
Faced with a wave of public testimony and media scrutiny, the Board of Commissioners was compelled to remove the item from consent and make it an action item at Tuesday’s meeting.
Commissioners listened to over an hour of staff reports, developer presentations, and resident testimony. The applicant—The New Home Company—brought in engineers to argue the closure was unavoidable because of a 21-inch sewer line, 30 feet deep, that had to be installed. They insisted flagging, boring, or rerouting were either unsafe or too costly.
But residents weren’t buying it.
📌 April Spots (River Road resident, 31 years)
“We have received no information in over a year… My neighbors and I only learned of the 5.5-month closure from the Hillsboro Herald.”
“Not allowing River Road to be closed and relocating the sewer line off-road now may involve higher upfront effort, but it will provide long-term benefits, fewer disruptions, and greater goodwill with the neighborhood.”
📌 Robert Marina (River Road resident)
“We too have gotten no notice, no information, nothing in this time.”
“How was this not a public hearing or any public notice beforehand on such a magnitude of closing River Road?”
📌 Steve Stoltenberg
“Directional boring — has that option been explored? … You’re talking about 165 days, 8,000 vehicles a day. Has there been an environmental impact statement made on this?”
“Who’s trying to sneak this in? This is not a Washington County project. This is City of Hillsboro — what are you trying to sneak through?”
📌 Lisa Duplessie (Rosa Road resident)
“Logic dictates to me that people will ignore the signs and take the temptation to go down Rosa Road… It happens right now anyway, despite it being a one-lane dirt road.”
“The developer’s lack of planning is creating an emergency of why we’re all sitting here right now.”
(excuse the spelling of names if incorrect)
Neighbors along Rosa Road and Roodbridge Road warned of unsafe cut-through traffic, school zones, and narrow gravel lanes that could become accident hot spots.
By the end of the night, commissioners admitted they didn’t have enough information. Commissioner Nafisa Fai said bluntly: “Poor planning on the applicant’s part does not constitute an emergency on ours.”
Scrambling to catch up
As the questions piled up, troubling facts came to light:
Late planning: New Home Company only began pushing for this closure in late July, giving staff little time to prepare.
No school coordination: The Hillsboro School District had not been consulted about school bus routes, even though the closure would hit just as classes begin.
Cost-driven decisions: Alternatives like flagging, off-hour work, or rerouting the sewer were dismissed not because they were impossible, but largely because they were more expensive or more complex for the developer.
Commissioners pressed staff on why such a disruptive closure was ever allowed onto the consent agenda in the first place. The uncomfortable answer: the County’s process, which it decided to go with, only required two weeks’ notice, no matter how big the impact.
On The Record – Quotes From Commissioners-
As the hearing wore on, and after a large group of hot citizens testified after waiting hours, the Commissioners began to understand. They asked follow-up questions of the county staff. They probed for answers- and few came. It was revealed that they were not prepared —and that no notice had been sent. The farce of this attempt to rush through a potentially catastrophic road closure became clear. The County Planning team clearly sided with the developer and did not request much to protect public interests.
This is where County Commissioners can shine, and they all did in their own ways on this one:
📌 Commissioner Nafisa Fai
“What I find very disturbing… one of the published documents says ‘no known oppositions at this time.’ How could we have known if we have not done our due diligence and have not reached out to the residents?”
“Patrick, there were questions referred to you that you couldn’t answer because the subject matter expert wasn’t here. I think it’s fair to delay this topic… because right now this decision benefits your company. It doesn’t look like it benefits anybody else, including the county.”
📌 Commissioner Jerry Willey
“I’m not feeling very good about this process right now. The fact that we have something that’s going to impact 8,000 commuters a day, and we give them two weeks’ notice… we haven’t contacted school districts and we’ve given them two weeks’ notice. I’m not comfortable making this decision tonight.”
📌 Commissioner Jason Snider
“Poor planning on the applicant’s part does not constitute an emergency on our part. The community engagement given the level of impact is woefully underpowered.”
“If I were even willing to move it forward right now, it would be with a condition that if you didn’t start by September 15th, you were done until next year and could do some robust community engagement.”
📌 Vice Chair Pam Treece
“It seems like we’re talking about a reasonably large issue here, and we’re applying the same two-week time frame that we would for smaller projects. That’s my concern.”
“I do believe this infrastructure needs to happen… but we’ve all learned a very valuable lesson tonight about the importance of communication and community engagement.”
Editor’s Note: What we learned, Commissioner Treece, is that the Hillsboro Herald may be a blog by your definition, but over 40,000 people read it and reacted. Currently, it is people like me, watchdogging moves like this by your Planning staff, who are the only way communication is happening. We would love to partner with you and your council to post updates as they happen. I do not see why that should not be aspirational for all of us. And we do it for free, whereas a mailer will cost the County tens of thousands of dollars. We are not the enemy; this is all about transparency, communication, and not having politicians downplay issues like this one. My door is wide open- so much more open than River Road will soon be.
Who Is Telling The Truth? Boots On The Ground VS Deceptive Graphics
I filed a Public Information Request with the City of Hillsboro on Monday to review the location of the 30-foot-deep sewer and any other relevant information I could find. I was not given much. I know development, as many of you have heard, having been involved in such projects for 40 years now. Thirty Feet or not, we don’t need 5.5 months to connect to some sewers. We have reviewed the approved Witch Hazel Village Plans, but not the sewer plans, as they are still pending approval. However, I realized that the sewer out here in the City of Hillsboro is not located in the middle of the road, as it is now lined up on the East edge of the road. The commissioners asked about this. How wide is River Road? Can’t the builder work around it and at least have flaggers and allow one lane to be open? Or is there a way to build a temporary road? One question after the next was met with excuses about it not being feasible. Being too dangerous or not owning the property. So, let’s break this down quickly.
Here is a slide prepared by the development team. The testimony regarding why the road “has to be closed completely for 5.5 months” stated that the road is too narrow, the digging equipment is too wide, and the trench is too deep. Now look at this slide. The top left note states, “Limited Space Between Existing Curb & Work Zone.” Fair enough. Tough place to work while connecting a super deep sewer. And if that is the case, ok, shut off River Road for 2 to 3 weeks for the section of sewer connections.
I knew this wasn’t right. At 5 PM tonight, I drove to the site and stood in the green “Approximate Work Zone “ as shown above, filming the traffic, and then walked to the middle of the street during a break. I took a photo of the same spot that this diagram claims to represent as the current state of play.
And what did I find? The width of the paved right-of-way on the sketch is about 22 feet. In the real world, the River Road right-of-way is about 60 feet. There is room to remove street trees, close a sidewalk, and create sufficient space for two lanes plus a median, allowing the sewer work to be conducted safely. Through the power of cut and paste and some baling wire, I bring you the actual situation.
This photo shows the developer’s machine right where I found the sewer mains- pretty much to scale. I installed a concrete lane divider wall to prevent anyone from driving into the sewer project. I measured 26 feet of width to the West of the possible barrier. We only need 10-12 feet to allow one lane of cars to travel and prevent a lane closure. The facts indicate that there is room for a significant safety setback and almost enough space for two lanes to keep the road open.
Finding #2 – The sewer manhole and line they need to access at Davis and River, and at Oakhurst, is located on the East edge and allows room to work while maintaining 1.5 lanes open. One of the sewer manholes being added will be located on the double yellow line in the center of the right lane. Here are the plans we obtained from the City of Hillsboro, which have still not been approved, by the way.
New sewer at River RoadAbove, I have left 9 feet of setback from the new manhole to the southbound lane. With the bike track on the West side of River Road, there is still 15 feet to allow one robust lane of cars through with flaggers. River Road does not need to be closed for this sewer manhole to be added. Even if we close it, we should set a 2-week timeframe to complete the work. That is more than enough time, and the developer is aware of it.
The Problem area is Davis Road and River Road-
The plans we received indicate that a new, deep manhole needs to be installed here. And this new one will be in the middle of River Road, and there are some gas and other crossings that will complicate this. Fine- confirmed. The fact is, this section of work is not a 5.5-month job. In fact, if the developer can not get a great contractor (hopefully local) to do it within 15-30 days and reopen the road, I will help them find someone. It is all time and money. Admittedly, this is an issue. However, they did not even show the Commissioners’ plans – nothing but an artist’s sketch. With some effort, engagement, and communication, I believe this River Road closure can be resolved quickly and reopened in a much shorter timeframe.
Regarding the sewer and the diagrams shown, they were designed to convince Commissioners sitting in a room to close the road, thereby saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. Without the benefit of any film or real-world photos, this might seem to be the reality. It is not. And I hope they all see this and make this group work much harder before asking to close the road again. Why am I able to do this on my own time, with no motive or reward, and no skin in the game, and yet they cannot? It baffles the mind!
Secondary and Temp Roads-
In addition to the manhole talk, the developer also said they tried to find a possible short-term road to move traffic around he work zone, but that there was no way to do it. No shock that when I was there tonight, trucks were driving down a massive access road to the East and around the project, just as cars could be diverted around this road closure. The developer owns all the land all the way to Brookwood, where it terminates. And they are building roads as we speak through their new 922-lot neighborhood, which can be used to access Brookwood or to navigate around the closure. The facts are that The New Home Company wants us to suffer while they save massive amounts of money.
Heck, there is even a road known as Pheasant that is already being connected, and based on the Developers’ rocky road carrying massive trucks, I would say they could install a gravel bypass from River to Pheasant in a few days. Hire some flaggers…and away we go! A win-win! No? That consent agenda favor isn’t working? Oh shoot – well, let’s meet like civilized people do and work this out. I will buy the beer and provide the names and numbers of about 50 neighbors just waiting to meet you and share their thoughts!
The Real Costs No One Calculated – The Theft Of The Citizens
One of the most telling exchanges occurred when county engineers admitted on the record that River Road carries approximately 8,000 vehicles a day, and that during the closure, those drivers would be directed onto a 12-mile detour, adding roughly 18 minutes per trip.
That means over the course of the 165-day closure, the public would drive millions of extra miles—burning fuel, adding to vehicle wear and tear, and losing thousands of hours of personal and work time.
Earlier Herald calculations showed the detour would cost the community millions of dollars in fuel, time, and vehicle impacts:
These calculations are verified. This calculates the total miles driven (8,000 cars x 12 miles a day out of direction x 165 days). Using a 16 MPG vehicle average and the current cost of regular gas, we derived the total costs for those who have to pay to drive around this closure. Then the delays, which the applicant said would require 18 minutes of extra travel, were factored in, multiplied by the number of drivers, and a $20 per hour pay rate was applied. This number would be much higher for carpoolers and executives. We went conservative.
The costs to our citizens are astronomical- and NO ONE CARES – at least not yet.
This River Road Closure Will Cost Our Current Citizens 18,000.000 Million Dollars – REAL MONEY THEY CAN NOT AFFORD TO LOSE
None of these costs were included in the County’s staff report. Not only that – neither the County nor the applicant made any acknowledgement of:
Carbon emissions from millions of additional vehicle miles.
Energy waste from gasoline burned in needless detours.
Lost productivity and family time.
By contrast, the applicant’s engineer openly admitted that one alternative—constructing a sewer pump station—would cost the developer $1–2 million more. That figure was held up as prohibitive. But when measured against the massive costs imposed on 8,000 daily drivers, the math doesn’t come close.
No Equity- No Environmental concern- No Concern for the people who built Hillsboro and Washington County and want to live peacefully!
In short: the County and developer were willing to count the developer’s dollars, but not the public’s.
Build the pump station and stop stepping on our people. That would save $16 million, our citizens could spend on other things and save them a 5.5-month closure!
Citizens prove they’re not apathetic.
In the end, the board voted unanimously to table the closure indefinitely. The decision was a stunning reversal from just days earlier, when passage looked like a formality. However, within a month, the developer will return.
This time, we all got lucky – some Residents were informed.
Testifiers repeatedly credited the Hillsboro Herald for alerting them, and commissioners acknowledged that the surge of public pressure reshaped the conversation. What was once presented as a routine approval became a case study in accountability: citizens showing up, speaking out, and forcing officials to hit the pause button.
As Vice Chair Pam Treece put it, “We’ve learned a very valuable lesson about the importance of communication and community engagement.”
The bigger picture
The Witch Hazel Village South project will eventually add about 900 homes to Hillsboro’s southern edge, part of the region’s push for 20,000+ new housing units over the next 20 years. But Tuesday night made clear that growth at any cost won’t fly unnoticed.
For now, River Road remains open. The sewer project is stalled. County staff will need to return with improved outreach, hopefully including some viable alternatives like those I outlined, and answers to residents’ questions.
The lesson is clear: the public isn’t apathetic—it’s uninformed. And when informed, they show up.
Commissioner Jerry Willey did not like the fact that there was no notice- a fair man and former Hillsboro Mayor- he clearly was looking out for his constituents.
Commissioner Nafisa Fai once again led the issue- when citizens’ rights come up against corporate interests, she is fair but expects the public and the people of Washington County to come out on top and not to be stepped on. She led this decision to wait and voted no on the approval of the River Road closure!
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I appreciate your fears- I have lived through that many times. I can not respond or post comments from emails that do not exist.
Thank you for uncovering and reporting on this!
Your more than welcome
This type of governmental decision making happens all the time…
@HillsboroHarold, you should reach out to this independent Journalist, she has a lot of individual knowledge on certain items but this one should certainly be addressed. Its not just a local effect decision… its sort of a big deal. https://stephanievolin.medium.com/oregon-judges-dangerous-new-tool-a6b8551df487
Washington county used to be governed by common sense commissioners. Now, they are clones of Oregon state government. They are driven by their ideology (though now slightly camouflaged to keep receiving federal funds) and possess a holier than thou attitude. They spend more time at meetings proclaiming land acknowledgments and going around the room sharing their pronouns than actually solving community problems. They do enjoy slurping up our tax dollars to fund their pet social justice projects though.