Hillsboro: NW 273rd Avenue Rename Returns to Planners, Now Tied to Annexation
- A plan to rename NW 273rd Avenue in north Hillsboro as NE 28th Avenue returns to the Planning Commission on Wednesday, Oct.
- The change is one of three street renames, filed as case SN26-0002, on the commission's consent agenda for its 6 p.m.
- That routine path is how the rename began.
A plan to rename NW 273rd Avenue in north Hillsboro as NE 28th Avenue returns to the Planning Commission on Wednesday, Oct. 28, more than a year after the City Council dropped it from a 2025 renaming package. This time, the Oct. 21 staff report says the new name would not take effect until all 10 currently occupied tax lots on the road are annexed into the city.
The change is one of three street renames, filed as case SN26-0002, on the commission’s consent agenda for its 6 p.m. meeting in the Civic Center Auditorium, 150 E Main Street, and on Zoom. A consent agenda bundles items a board treats as routine, and they are often approved in a single vote with no discussion. Any vote is only a recommendation: the report says the City Council must then hold its own public hearing.
How the first attempt stalled
That routine path is how the rename began. The commission passed the 2025 version, case SN-001-25, as a consent item on July 9, 2025, by a 5-0 vote, its July 9, 2025 minutes show. The staff report at the time said the change would require 12 properties to change their addresses.
The council’s Aug. 19, 2025 hearing went differently. Four people spoke against the renaming, the council minutes show, citing the burden of address changes and saying many residents plan to move and a new name would complicate selling. Councilor Elizabeth Case asked about annexation, and the minutes note there were no current plans.
The council then voted 6-0 to adopt the resolution without the 273rd Avenue segment, keeping the package’s other changes. The new staff report calls that a denial and says the council asked for more outreach first.
A compromise built around annexation
Staff took that request to residents this summer, holding two open houses at the Hillsboro Brookwood Library on June 10 and July 14, 2026, with “approximately 7-11 attendees” at each, the report says. At the first, residents raised access to NW 273rd Avenue from NE Evergreen Road, signage at NE Huffman Street, and the cost and work of changing their addresses.
Between sessions, staff checked options with Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, police and the Washington County Consolidated Communications Agency, the report says. At the second, staff offered three options, and the report says staff and residents compromised on one tied to annexation.
Annexation is the process by which land outside city limits formally joins the city. Under the new plan, the change starts only once all 10 occupied tax lots listed in the report have annexed. The street would then carry both names for two years, with new addresses and letters sent at the one-year mark, and house numbers would stay the same.
The report says the rename would “align with the street numbers of the City’s grid,” which starts at Main Street and 1st Avenue downtown. The report does not estimate when the last of the 10 lots might annex.
Three renames, three timelines
The 273rd Avenue rename shares the agenda item with two smaller changes, each on its own timeline.
| Change | Order | Addresses | When it would take effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| NW 273rd Avenue to NE 28th Avenue | No. 8505 | House numbers stay the same; the 2025 report counted 12 properties | After all 10 occupied tax lots annex, then a two-year dual-name period |
| SE Century Boulevard to SE 65th Court | No. 8506 | 10 properties get new addresses; numbers stay the same | After a new traffic signal works; tentatively March 2027 |
| Part of NE Birchwood Drive to NE Birchwood Road | No. 8507 | None change; two properties already use the name | No delay described in the report |
The SE 65th Court change stems from Washington County’s Century Boulevard Extension Project, which realigns the boulevard near SE Lois Street and leaves a small north-south segment needing a new name. The county’s project manager told city staff the new signal is scheduled for March 2027, a tentative date that depends on materials and weather. Affected residents learned of it at a May 14, 2026 county open house that drew 63 people, the report says.
The Birchwood change is a tax map correction in the Birchwood Park neighborhood. A resident of one of the two properties on the segment flagged the error, and the report says residents there face no cost because the signs and their addresses already use NE Birchwood Road.
Residents on the other two segments would have to update every document carrying their mailing address. The report lists the city’s costs, from county recording fees to new signs, but gives no dollar figures.
How to weigh in before the vote
Written testimony goes by email to [email protected] before 8 a.m. on Oct. 28, according to the meeting agenda. In-person speakers sign in at the auditorium and are called first.
Zoom speakers must preregister before 3 p.m. that day by email or at 503-681-6153, and get three minutes each. The webinar ID is 862 7797 1388, passcode 214416. The agenda’s sign-up rules refer to speaking during “the public hearing,” but it lists no public hearing items and does not say whether spoken comments will be taken on this consent item.
Free interpreters, including sign language, can be arranged 72 hours ahead at 503-681-6100.
If the commission declines to forward the orders, the report says, “the proposal would go no further.” If it forwards them, each order asks the council to schedule a hearing “at a time the Council deems appropriate,” and the packet sets no date.
Top image: File photo, 2018: street signs at Blanton and Monarch in South Hillsboro. Photo: M.O. Stevens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
