Development Moratorium Information

The City of Sandy is currently not accepting new land use applications that propose new sewer connections, to give sewer system improvements time to catch up with the community’s growth and aging infrastructure.

This decision by the City Council will help Sandy avoid permit violations and comply with environmental regulations that protect local watersheds.  The City is taking this action consistent with a negotiated Consent Decree related to enforcement proceedings under the Clean Water Act. 

The City of Sandy initially adopted the initial version of the moratorium on October 3, 2022.  The term was extended on March 20, 2023, and the moratorium was replaced with loosened terms by Resolution 2023-27 adopted on June 20, 2023, after the acceptance of the Consent Decree. On November 20, 2023, the City Council adopted Resolution 2023-34, extending the moratorium to June 20, 2024. 

A ‘stress test’ of the wastewater system was performed in 2023 to measure its capacity, followed by analysis of the resulting data and a series of negotiations between the City and regulatory agencies. In their April 2024 approval letter, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Oregon DEQ “recognize(d) the progress that the City has made towards increasing capacity, including but not limited to significant inflow and infiltration reduction.”  Their approval raises the cap on Sandy’s wastewater system from 300 new equivalent residential units (ERUs) to 570 ERUs, with an approved pathway for the City to receive an additional 190 ERUs once further conditions are met.

On May 20, 2024, the City Council adopted Ordinance 2024-09 which allows property owners with an existing land use approval to request an extension. This application process is only applicable for an application that was submitted prior to the adoption of the moratorium on October 3, 2022. 

On June 3, 2024, the City Council adopted Resolution 2024-11 which allows up to 570 ERUs. This resolution has the effect of adopting a new moratorium and repealing the existing moratorium, rather than being an extension of the existing moratorium, because state law requires a new moratorium be adopted in order to make any modifications to the moratorium terms. This new moratorium includes an ERU allocation program intended to accommodate all of the developments currently in the City’s development pipeline, i.e. those developments for which land use applications were submitted prior to the enactment of the moratorium on October 3, 2022. The number of ERUs a development can receive is limited to the number of ERUs that can be calculated directly from the terms of the development approval, where applicable; or when that’s not the case, one ERU per buildable lot created through a land use process. This new moratorium also allows ERUs to be reassigned under certain circumstances and allows some additional types of land use applications, such as zone change requests.

The decision by the City to stop accepting new land use applications that propose new sewer connections does not affect land use applications received before October 3, 2022 when the City Council adopted Resolution 2022-24.

More information on Sandy Clean Waters is available here.

Click here to view the number of Equivalent Residential Units (ERUs) currently available.