Tolling I-5 between Charbonneau and the rest of Wilsonville makes no sense.

As Mayor, I will work to block the ODOT tolling proposal and every other tolling proposal that impacts our residents driving in and near Wilsonville.

The Aurora Airport is not inside our city boundaries, but it has been part of the Wilsonville community since 1943. We are proud to have LifeFlight headquartered within Wilsonville, providing life-saving support out of the airport for years. We are also proud of Columbia Helicopter, which responds to wildfires and other disasters nationwide. Many of our neighbors and friends are small plane pilots who fly out of Aurora. My uncle, an avid aviation enthusiast, flies in and out of small airports like the Aurora Airport all the time. If the Aurora Airport were to stay the same, it would not be an issue for our city.

Now, airport developers and land speculators are trying to turn it into something else—longer runways, larger jet aircraft, the potential for an air freight hub, more jet fuel sales and pollution, more overflights for Wilsonville neighborhoods, and increased traffic congestion, especially on the Boone Bridge, a critical choke point for congestion. This threatens vital farmland, our environment and impacts our lives in so many ways. 

The State of Oregon owns the Aurora Airport runway, but private developers own the real estate where the jets are fueled and stored in hangers. They aspire to have office buildings and hundreds of parking spaces on the constrained lands adjacent to the runway. “Through the fence” expansion of these private lands and ever-bigger jet aircraft make our airport problems much bigger without providing any new benefits to local residents. If we keep the airport at its current size, we can balance the costs of noise, pollution and traffic congestion with the economic, emergency and aviation benefits of the current “right size” of the Aurora Airport. 

The Oregon Department of Aviation (ODAV) and the Federal Aviation Administration have completely ignored alternatives that would limit unwarranted growth. They want to grow the Aurora airport to sell more fuel to bigger jets on a footprint limited in space and configuration. Growth at any cost is not reasonable for this airport site and is not in the best interests of the people of Wilsonville or surrounding communities.

The worst part of the current Aurora Airport Master Planning process is the lack of transparency from the Oregon Department of Aviation. I saw a similar pattern of behavior from some of the public agencies I dealt with while investigating the Kinder Morgan Pipeline. With respect to the airport, the impacted communities are being intentionally shut out of discussions on this proposed expansion. So far, our voices have been ignored by the Oregon Department of Aviation and the Federal Aviation Administration, which work closely with the airport developers. Developer profits have crowded out the voices of local residents who must live with the consequences but receive few benefits.

As a Wilsonville resident, I have been dismayed by some of the tactics taken by ODAV and other proponents of the proposed Aurora Airport expansion.

I attended a recent Aurora Airport Master Plan Open House that most residents of Wilsonville only learned about thanks to a postcard sent out by our city. The only options that proponents presented would allow for a significant increase of nuisance and noise for all Wilsonville neighborhoods, but especially Charbonneau, Daydream Ranch and the other neighborhoods on the east side of Wilsonville which are under the flight path of the Aurora Airport. 

All expansion options encourage larger and heavier aircraft to land and take off at Aurora Airport. The State of Oregon, as owner of the airport, does not charge ANY landing fees at this airport, which encourages increased use by aircraft such as private jets looking to avoid the significant landing fees and restrictions at PDX when flying into the Portland area.

The number one source of revenue for the Oregon Department of Aviation is aviation fuel tax, which would obviously increase from additional fuel usage at this airport. 

Leaders from impacted communities are and should be very concerned about the disregard that expansion enthusiasts and the Oregon Department of Aviation have shown our communities by restricting our participation and ignoring our input.

Wilsonville is a pro-business community, but we have maintained the quality of life for our residents with good planning and a long-term focus on balancing economic vitality and quality of life. The Aurora Airport Master Plan, currently under consideration, causes an imbalance in these two goals by making the airport too big, allowing aircraft that are too large, and not living within the constrained boundaries of this small but vital airfield.

I will fight to ensure Wilsonville’s concerns are properly represented, demanding transparency, and opposing subsidizing expansion with taxpayer funds. Let’s keep the Aurora airport at its current size while maintaining the quality of life and economic benefits balance that we currently enjoy in our city.  

The bottom line: I pledge to oppose this unbalanced airport Master Planning process as your candidate. As your Mayor, I will continue to fight overreaching governmental agencies that want to silence our residents from having a say on expanding a facility that so greatly impacts our health, safety and livability.

Replacement of the 70-year-old Boone Bridge connecting Wilsonville neighborhoods and our entire region has long been a major choke point to transportation  that costs our citizens in lost time and productivity. 

I am committed to working with the City’s planners and engineers, as well as our businesses, to further refine and improve our city infrastructure to ensure better access for all our community members and help alleviate regional traffic congestion that impacts all of us locally.

I am a strong advocate for small business owners and franchisees. I oppose corporate practices that harm our community and create unsustainable rents that burden local entrepreneurs as well as corporate practices that destroy long-term business opportunities in our community. Working together, we can continue to create an environment where businesses can thrive while benefiting our residents. I have also outlined how I will gather additional community input to help advance the Town Center Plan to create a vibrant downtown that residents indicate is one of their top concerns.

I am passionate about and will continue to ensure that all community members, including our seniors, people of color, the LGBTQIA community, people with disabilities, and historically marginalized individuals, can live and thrive in a safe and inclusive city. I am committed to working with our businesses, state, and federal partners to make Wilsonville a more affordable place to work and live. This includes finding constructive ways to address the skyrocketing cost of residential rents and the increased challenges facing first-time homebuyers, while continuing to support the development of affordable housing so our community members can remain in Wilsonville at all stages of their lives. I also believe investing in opportunities for our City’s youth pays dividends when they can grow to become engaged and contributing community members.

I am committed to holding our public institutions and industries accountable, whether addressing the safety issues of the aging 62-year-old Kinder Morgan Petroleum (“KMP”) Pipeline, making the critical seismic improvements to the Boone Bridge, or supporting our law enforcement in safeguarding our children, families, and property from harm, often caused by individuals from outside our community. 

Whether it is the safety concerns of the KMP Pipeline, the State’s attempts to institute tolling on highways dividing our City, or the expansion of the Aurora Airport, I remain committed to making sure Wilsonville has an active and influential voice at the table with ODOT, Department of Aviation, Metro, Clackamas County, and the State Legislature.