M-5 Mill District - A New District Craft Industrial Zoning District

Update: Staff are currently working on updates to the M-5 Mill District as of March 15, 2024. Please stay tuned for more details soon.

Background:

The area currently includes a mix of C-3 and M-2 light industrial zoning, and is intended to provide a mix of commercial and industrial uses to promote employment. Focus is on developing ‘craft industrial’ uses and maintaining a “grittier” feel more in keeping with the industrial heritage than the main-street, historic feel along parts of First Street. We recommend creating a new Craft Industrial Zoning District (M-5) to regulate the mix of uses allowed and prohibited, dimensional and design standards, and to provide better continuity for the area than can be achieved through existing split C-3 and M-2 zoning. New zoning provisions will:

• Limit allowed uses to commercial, including potential hotel use, and light industrial uses with limited impacts to neighbors and high job creation potential.
• Allow residential above the ground floor as part of mixed-use developments, similar to the C-3 zone.
• Allow new ‘craft industrial’ use category to allow combination of on-site manufacturing and retail component, with a flexible amount of retail space depending on the developer’s need.
• Prohibit industrial uses with higher impacts such as warehousing, storage and heavy manufacturing uses.
• Develop parking and loading standards that meet functional requirements of proposed uses while reducing off-street parking requirements to allow more flexibility developing and redeveloping sites.
• Establish minimum lot size closer to 5,000 SF similar to C-3 zone than the 20,000 SF required for M-2 zone.
• Develop dimensional standards for height and yards, particularly adjacent to residential districts, to ensure balance between development potential of the district and limiting impacts on neighbors.

This process of creating the M-5 District will extend into 2024. The City is working jointly with the Newberg Downtown Coalition to engage property and business owners so that this is a community effort to create a really unique and exciting place to visit in the City of Newberg!

Updates:

• On July 9, 2020 the Planning Commission conducted it's first workshop. 
• Workshop with Business Owners in March of 2021.
• Included in 2024 Planning Division Work Plan approved by City Council on January 16, 2024.