Oregon City Council will hold a public hearing at 8 p.m. on Nov. 18 in council chambers on Seaman Road on a request for a Special Use Permit for outside storage of car dealership vehicles at 2200 Woodville Road.

The Oregon Planning Commission at a meeting last month recommended approval, with some specifications.

The Special Use Permit would be in a C-2 General Commercial zoned property.

The applicant/owner of the property, James Duran, of Brown Road, also owns the City Wide Auto Credit lot across the street from the lot where he is seeking the Special Use Permit, and DC Motors in Northwood.

At the Oct. 18 meeting of the Oregon Planning Commission, Jim Gilmore, commissioner of Building and Zoning, said the lot is located at the intersection of Oakdale, which is a one-way street, and Woodville Road.

Duran wants to store, not sell, cars from his car dealership across the street on the lot, which he has owned since 2004. The lot would only be used for the overflow of vehicles for sale.

The Project Review Committee had no objections to using the lot for storage, according to Gilmore. It did recommend that an all landscaping buffer yard pertaining to parking lots should apply to the storage lot. Gilmore said the Special Use Permit would allow storage, but not the sale of cars, on the lot.

Gilmore said the fence line would have landscaping outside of the fence to screen the view of the stored vehicles.

Mayor Mike Seferian, a member of the Commission, supported the request, saying it was a good location to store operable vehicles.

Richard Orovitz, a member of the Commission, was concerned about the turnover rate of the vehicles on the lot.

Duran said the average turnover time is 45 days, though some vehicles are 90 days. If a vehicle is not sold, it goes to auction or is offered at a discounted price, he said. His business sends the vehicles to auction if the turnover is longer than 90 days.

Even if a vehicle does not sell within a definite time period, said Duran, the vehicles are rotated between the two lots. The vehicles will not be parked in the same spot for a long time.

Joe Gajdostik, a member of the Commission, raised concerns that the lot would turn into a junk yard and that the vehicles not selling or running would be stored on the lot.

Seferian said the lot, which will be paved asphalt, is small and limited for vehicle storage.

A Special Use Permit could place limitations on the type of storage that is allowed on the lot, according to Gilmore.

Duran said the lot would be used for overflow storage only, not for sales. Employees would drive vehicles from the lot for customers who are interested in buying them, the same procedure he follows at DC Motors.

Duran said the lot was a junk yard before he bought it and that he cleaned it up and has maintained it since then.

The Commission wants the permit to specify that the vehicles had to be functional by state law and completely “roadworthy.”

“They all have to be operable vehicles as a condition,” said Seferian after the meeting.

It would be easy to determine if vehicles are not operable, he said, because they would eventually start piling up on the lot.

“Then the inspection department could come out there and cite him and give him so much time to remove those,” he said.

Seferian said he supports issuing the Special Use Permit Duran because the lot is a vacant parcel that can be put to good use.

“We’re always pleased when we can find vacant parcels that are purchased and put into use if the use is reasonable for the area,” said Seferian. “That lot is a little bit back from the front of Woodville Road, so no one for years has really entertained the idea of putting a retail outlet in it because it’s kind of a secluded piece of property. I think it’s a reasonable use for that parcel. The Commission recommended approval, so now council will decide whether he will get the permit.”

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