On Monday, October 12, 2026 despite compelling evidence in support of the land-use appeals the Tualatin City Council voted unanimously (video) to affirm the staff-level decision approving Lam’s Building B expansion. The City has once again missed a golden opportunity to protect the neighborhood from the foreseeable negative impacts of Lam's development.
Back in March 2026, Lam submitted the land use application (AR26-0002) to expand Building B, with a larger chemical management area, another scrubber exhaust, more air pollution, and more noise pollution beyond the scope of the TUX project (which was approved in 2025 and is currently under construction) The community submitted Public Comments in opposition. Two residents appealed the staff-level decision. A Public Hearing was held on 9/14 (video) and the record is closed.
Despite Lam’s reassurances that no toxics are stored in the bulk gas yard, it turns out that Lam does store and use Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHS) onsite. The above image is from Lam's Offsite Chemical Release Plan which was released to the public for the first time on 9/10/2025.
Tualatin's Noise Ordinance has a fatal flaw: Variances. The code currently allows any violator to apply for a variance (an exemption) and the City Manager can grant the variance without public notice, without public input, without a public hearing, and without even notifying the City Council.
The residents of Tualatin are requesting a new noise ordinance, and a moratorium on noise variances, in order to address the issues outlined in our Noise Ordinance Proposal. This is necessary to preserve and protect neighborhood livability.
Noise from Lam's Tualatin facility has plagued the nearby community for more than three years. Lam’s rooftop fans can be heard over a mile away on Durham Road in Tigard. Nearby Tualatin residents are being kept awake at night by this equipment. For the neighbors who live across the street from Lam’s gas plant, the continuous high-pitched hiss is a constant annoyance. Lam's noise model predicts that the TUX expansion will be even louder. Lam decided to locate their facility next to an established neighborhood, and Lam needs to operate in a way that is compatible with the surrounding community. We are asking Lam Research and the City of Tualatin to restore peace and quiet to our neighborhood.
See: Audio Recording | Noise Demo | Attorney Letter | Backup Alarms
On Friday July 31, 2026, just 4 days before a scheduled Tuesday morning vote, Washington County announced a proposed tax abatement Strategic Investment Program (SIP) for Lam Research. Four days does not provide enough time for meaningful public comment, so we drafted a Sample SIP email to the County.
However, On August 4, 2026, over objections raised by the community, the Washington County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the SIP. The public perception that this was a backroom deal is 100% correct. One of the commissioners even referenced the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) signed by the County, the City, and Lam. On August 5, 2026, we requested an immediate release of the NDA. On August 7, the City released a redacted version.
Despite compelling public comments and our TAX sample email, on August 10 the Tualatin City Council voted unanimously to authorize the City Manager to sign Lam’s SIP agreement. We were hoping that the City would use the SIP as an opportunity to negotiate for livability, but it is evident that this SIP agreement was decided months ago, and at that time, the City believed that this was the best deal they could get from Lam.
On Thursday September 24, 2026, the Business Oregon Commission met for final approval of Lam's SIP agreement. After receiveing public comments in opposition that raised serious social and legal concerns, the Chair moved immediately to a vote without any discussion or deliberation. The vote was unanimous and Lam's SIP is approved.
On December 8th 2025, just hours before the last Tualatin City Council meeting of 2025, and in response to comments received from the community over the past several days objecting to Exhibit 3, Lam released a significantly edited version of the document removing approximately 9 pages of problematic language related to noise. Our objections were addressed. The new findings do not violate the due process rights of the residents or prejudice the ongoing noise investigation. In a unanimous 5-0 vote, with 2 recusals (Councilor Cyndy Hillier who is ARB Chair, and Councilor Bridget Brooks who was absent on November 10) the Tualatin City Council finalized Resolution 5937-25 affirming the TUX decision.
Now that this land use decision is no longer before the City Council, we are again able to speak freely with our City Councilors, and they are once again able to return to their role as elected representatives, no longer bound by the restrictions of the quasi-judicial land use rules. We look forward to working with the City Council to implement a number of ideas proposed by the community over the past 18 months, including traffic improvements, speed limit reductions, and the creation of an Office of Livability. Thank you all for your continued support and involvement during this historic land use battle.
Looking ahead, in order for the City's ongoing code enforcement noise investigation to be productive, we are requesting a one-month pause, for reasons outlined in this letter. We look forward learning about Lam's plans to address the existing noise problems, which have continued to become louder during the TUX process. A reasonable person, looking at the evidence already on the record, would conclude that Lam's noise pollution meets the definition of a public and private nuisance. We invite Lam to be a good neighbor and start planning for the equipment upgrades that will be necessary to restore the peace and tranquility that existed here before Lam Research bought Novellus and increased the intensity of use of this Tualatin campus.
On November 10th 2025, after a long public hearing, the Tualatin City Council voted to uphold the Architectural Review Board’s decision approving the TUX project without any of the conditions that the community had requested. Our appeal was denied. We are disappointed that the City did not use the appeal process as an opportunity to fight for neighborhood livability or protect our community from the foreseeable negative impacts of Lam’s expansion.
The Community was Requesting:
• 108th North Access be closed to employees
• Do not add more Lam traffic to Tualatin Road
• Use Leveton Drive for all new Lam site trips
• Eliminate off-site noise impacts
• Restore peace & quiet to the neighborhoods
We asked for these conditions in order to mitigate the traffic and noise impacts of Lam's expansion, and we provided ample evidence for why these conditions were necessary. None of these conditions would have created hardship for Lam. As outlined by our attorney, Andrew Mulkey, our demands were reasonable, appropriate, and achieveable. We presented a solution that would have allowed Lam to continue to grow in a way that does not harm the community.
As a result of the City Council decision, we can expect to see 200 more cars per day on Tualatin Road, a 30% increase in turning traffic volume at 108th and a resulting 30% increase of traffic crashes at this intersection. The City’s position is that none of these impacts are significant. We disagree.
As for Noise, Lam’s site is currently in violation of the Tualatin Noise Ordinance, and based on Lam's own data, the expanded campus will be much louder. So unless Lam does something now to greatly reduce their noise impacts, the expanded site will most certainly violate the noise ordinance to a much greater degree.
This land use approval process did not need to be a conflict between Lam and the surrounding community. We reached out to Lam's design team, their local representatives, and their corporate executive leadership team. Each time, Lam refused to engage.
We would like to thank all of the community members in Tualatin who showed up to the public meetings, both in person and on Zoom, and to those who stepped up to deliver compelling testimony. We have been well represented. Thanks also to all of the residents who signed the community petition. Big Thank You to the neighbors for all of your ongoing support, engagement, donations, ideas, and enthusiasm over the past 17 months.
(More Videos | Meeting Info | Packet)
In the news: Tualatin Life (10/14/2025)
Traffic: The latest proposal from Lam Research would open an unnecessary driveway on SW 108th Avenue just 320 feet from Tualatin Road and add hundreds more cars to Tualatin Road. For Riverpark residents, Tualatin Road is our only option for local access. It is not reasonable to add more commuter traffic to Tualatin Road when Leveton Drive is sitting there mostly empty. We call on the City of Tualatin to plan ahead for future growth and put Leveton Drive to its highest and best use. Require Lam to use Leveton Drive, and Save Tualatin Road for local drivers who have no other option.
See Traffic Email | Traffic Video | Shorter Version
Citizen Appeal Filed: The Tualatin Architectural Review Board (ARB) voted to approve Lam’s TUX application without the conditions of approval that the community was requesting, so we have appealed the ARB decision to City Council. We believe that this land use decision should be revisited in light of existing noise nuisance conditions, adverse traffic congestion and safety impacts, failure to meet application criteria, failure to provide proper notice, plus new environmental noise modeling data that was released during the ARB hearing. We are raising funds to cover the legal costs of this appeal. Please consider making a donation (any amount) via Zelle to donate@tualatinroad.org.
See:
ARB Packet
|
Application
|
Decision
|
Appeal Letter
More traffic on Tualatin Road:
Lam's traffic study includes the following assumptions:
That
the expanded North Access point will carry 20% of all new site trips.
That 10% of new site trips will use SW Tualatin Road to reach North Access.
That half of these trips (5% total) will use SW 115th Avenue and SW Hazelbrook Road to access
Highway 99W when exiting the site.
(Lam Scoping Page 3)
At full occupancy, the proposed campus expansion is estimated to generate an additional 244 AM
peak hour, 233 PM peak hour, and 2036 daily trips.
(Lam Scoping Letter Page 2)
Traffic Jam at the Hazelbrook Onramp: The Hazelbrook onramp to 99W will fail to meet operational standards with the addition of Lam's trips: "long delays are expected on the stop-controlled approach to OR 99W during the PM peak hour. Mitigation is not recommended because it would encourage vehicles to travel this route from SW Tualatin Road instead of using SW 124th Avenue to access OR 99W northbound." (Lam Traffic Study Letter Page 18)
Summary: Lam's original 2024 proposal would have removed the primary driveway that currently connects their main parking lots to Leveton Drive (an industrial access road). Lam proposed using Tualatin Road (an overloaded neighborhood street) as their primary employee access. This traffic change would have created a cascade of negative impacts across North Tualatin, increasing bypass traffic on Jurgens Ave and Hazelbrook Road, increasing cut-through traffic in the neighborhoods, clogging the local Hazelbrook onramp to Highway 99W, and putting in harm's way the students of Hazelbrook Middle School. Lam refused to engage with the community to find a resolution.
The Solution already exists: Leveton Drive!
Lam's original 2024 proposal violated the Tualatin Development Code, as documented in our December & January sample letters to the City. This is Front Page News. Make sure to sign up for our updates. Next steps are public hearings. Speak out!
Tualatin Road is a busy street that runs along the north side of Lam's campus and the south side of the Riverpark neighborhoods of north Tualatin. It's heavily burdened with cut-through commuter traffic, and is the only local access route in and out of our neighborhoods. The last thing Tualatin Road needs is more traffic.
Leveton Drive is a lightly-used industrial access road that runs along the south side of Lam's campus. Leveton Drive is concrete, built to handle tractor trailers and heavy vehicle loads, and currently carries 3 entrances to the Lam campus. Leveton Drive has more than enough capacity to handle all the traffic from Lam's expansion.
Traffic counts (Vehicles per hour April/May 2024)
• Tualatin Road (PM peak at 112th Ave)
1313
• Leveton Drive (PM peak at 118th Ave)
370
Lam currently has a driveway that connects Leveton Drive straight to the parking lots on the north side of their campus, but the proposed site expansion would eliminate that driveway. This is the crux of the issue. Lam’s new site plan needs to include at least one usable driveway that connects their main parking lots directly to Leveton Drive.
For months, we have been asking Lam's planners to modify their proposal:
Use Leveton Drive not Tualatin Road.
To avoid the existing congestion on Tualatin Road, some drivers are already taking SW Jurgens Avenue to SW Hazelbrook Road to reach northbound 99W. A traffic signal on Tualatin Road at 115th, combined with more congestion near 124th, will increase travel times and make the Jurgens/Hazelbrook bypass even more enticing. As we know from experience, commuter traffic (aided by GPS phone navigation) will find the quickest route, even if that means speeding through a School Zone in front of Hazelbrook Middle School. If the bypass is quicker, it will become the default suggested route. Similar concerns about cut-through traffic have also been raised by the residents of David's Fox Run and Tualatin Woods.
Many Hazelbrook Middle School students live in the apartments west of 115th Avenue and walk to school. In the morning and afternoon during the school year, Tualatin Road, Hazelbrook Road, 115th, and Jurgens Ave carry a stream of school buses. Adding more commuters to these roads would cause longer delays and traffic backups, and increase the risk to students.
Research published in the journal Atmospheric Environment measured air pollution in urban and suburban areas and found that intersections with traffic signals have up to 29 times higher concentrations of particulate matter than open roads. Acceleration and breaking generate much more air pollution than free-flowing traffic. A recent study shows that brake pad dust is more toxic than exhaust emissions. Signalizing the intersection at Tualatin Road and 115th, in combination with the added traffic volume and longer traffic delays, will cause a degradation of air quality in and around Jurgens Park Senior Living, Tualatin Woods Townhomes, Hazelbrook Condominium, Woodridge Apartments, Rivercrest Meadows Apartments, and David's Fox Run. Prevailing winds from the south and southwest will carry this pollution further into Riverpark neighborhoods.
Lam's neighbor to the west, Japan Aviation Electronics (JAE), currently sends truck traffic (semi tractor trailers and warehouse deliveries) away from Leveton Drive with signage instructing truck drivers to use Tualatin Road. Lam is proposing that the new entrance on Tualatin Road at 115th would be jointly used by Lam and JAE. Leveton Drive was built for heavy truck loads, and we are asking that all truck traffic use it.
JAE's parcel contains an abundance of open space available for future development, and Lam has proposed that the Tualatin Road entrance would be shared with JAE. Therefore, future development at JAE could cause an increase in the number of vehicles using Tualatin Road. Because of this, we are asking the City of Tualatin to consider not only the impact of the TUX project, but also consider future developments that could use this entrance. For example, if the JAE parcel were built up to a similar density that Lam is using for the TUX project, how would that impact traffic on Tualatin Road?
Lam currently generates continuous noise pollution from two identified sources: (1) The nitrogen gas plant near the north side of campus, and (2) the rooftop air handling equipment on Building D. The nitrogen plant makes a high-frequency hissing sound that is clearly audible across Tualatin Road and deep into the neighborhoods. During winter, when prevailing winds are from the south, multiple noise signatures from Lam's rooftop air handlers are clearly audible downwind in the neighborhoods during day and night, both outside and inside homes more than 1500 feet from the source. This equipment runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and the off-site noise impacts are invasive, disruptive, and well-documented. Lam's new proposal shows 10 new exhaust stacks atop a new manufacturing building.
Lam Research is a multibillion-dollar microchip company that received $22 million in taxpayer-funded CHIPS Act grant funds to help pay for this expansion. We believe that any project that receives taxpayer funds should be held to a higher standard and not harm the community. A guiding principle listed on Lam's website is to “Act with purpose for a better world”. For those of us who live near Lam's campus in Tualatin, the current TUX project site plan is not in alignment with this principle.
“Janet said there is no access to Tualatin Road, currently only
a fire access is provided on Tualatin Road. Jennifer said we
looked at opening that but it’s faster to go down Leveton Drive and up 124th Avenue.”
Neighborhood Meeting (8/16/2022)
About the TSP Community Advisory Committee:
“In that meeting it seemed like there were a lot of us that were from the south part of Tualatin, maybe a little bit from the east side and a little bit, but we didn't get a lot from like Jurgens Park area, so maybe if we get more information from that area. In fact, there were about 15 or 20 of us in that meeting and not one of us were part of that area that I think we should also equitably look what the needs are in that area.”
City Councilor Maria Reyes at Council Work Session (7/10/2024 YouTube)
“A couple of the other issues that come up, one is the functional class of the road, and this goes back to before my time with Tualatin, but in the previous Transportation System Plan from 2012-14 there was a lot of objection to traffic on Tualatin Road so it was designated as a major collector and Leveton was designated as an arterial, with the intention that that would be like the major route for traffic and that's where traffic should be going to. Unfortunately what that ended up doing, and that doesn't actually match the traffic volumes, usually the higher volume road is the arterial the lower volume road is the collector. What that does with the access, our code is, access needs to be taken off the lower classification road, and so that would push more access to Tualatin Road, but looking at the practicality of it we're wanting to keep the three accesses on Leveton in order to keep that there.”
Tualatin Traffic Engineer Mike McCarthy (11/19/2024 YouTube)
“Such permitted uses must not cause objectionable noise, smoke, odor, dust, noxious gases, vibration, glare, heat, fire hazard or other wastes emanating from the property.
…
The purpose is also to protect existing and future sites for such uses by
…
limiting uses to those that are of a nature so as to not conflict with other industrial uses or surrounding residential areas.”
TDC Chapter 62: Manufacturing Park (MP) Zone: Purpose
“No additional access points
are proposed on Tualatin Road. The existing driveway shared with JAE will be utilized for limited
on-site access, but will not connect to Leveton Drive, and will be de-emphasized for
use as a public access.”
Novellus Land Use Applicattion (1/22/2001)
“The
applicant has indicated, in the narrative, that there will NOT be any additional
access points on SW Tualatin Road. The applicant, however, will keep the joint
access easement over a portion of the JAE property, to the west, for an access
point to the newly created north parcel 2. The submitted plans indicate that there
will be multiple ingress and egress routes over the proposed newly created lots.
These routes also include connectivity through the various parking facilities within
the proposed development.”
Novellus Land Use Applicattion (1/22/2001)
“The existing East Access on SW Leveton Drive is proposed to be limited to truck access.
To accommodate
the additional office trips, two (2) new driveways are proposed on SW 108th Avenue with direct access to
the expanded parking area. The North Access is proposed to be aligned opposite the north driveway
serving Olympic Controls. The South Access is proposed approximately 445 feet south of the North Access.“
Buliding G Traffic Study Page 3 (8/12/2022)
“With the proposed building, other site changes
including additional parking along SW 108th Avenue, two
(2) new driveways on SW 108th Avenue, and limiting the East Access on SW Leveton Drive to trucks are
proposed. With the closure of the East Access to passenger vehicle traffic, existing site trips that currently
utilize this driveway are anticipated to reroute to the proposed driveways on SW 108th Avenue to access
the expanded parking area. Figure 11 presents the East Access trip reroutes for the AM and PM peak
hours.“
Buliding G Traffic Study Page 11 (8/12/2022)
“The site currently provides access to staff via
three full-movement driveways on SW Leveton Drive. A fire
access is provided on SW Tualatin Road opposite SW 115th Avenue and a construction access is provided
on SW 108th Avenue approximately 300 feet south of SW Tualatin Road. Both of these driveways are
gated.“
Buliding G Traffic Study Page 13 (8/12/2022)
“With the proposed office building,
the East Access on SW Leveton Drive will be limited to truck use. Two
(2) new full-movement driveways are proposed on SW 108th Avenue. The North Access will be provided
opposite the northern access to Olympus Controls. The South Access will be provided approximately 445
feet south of the North Access. Trucks will navigate to the new office building by entering the East Access
on SW Leveton Drive and exiting the proposed South Access on SW 108th Avenue. All new office staff are
anticipated to access the site via the two (2) proposed driveways on SW 108th Avenue where an additional
approximately 500 new parking spaces will be provided.“
Building G Traffic Study Page 13 (8/12/2022)
“The additional parking added with the project will primarily be served by opening
the North Access on SW 108th Avenue and the existing West Access on
SW Leveton Drive.”
Lam TUX Traffic Study Scoping Letter Page 2 (6/25/2025)
“At full occupancy of both Phases, the proposed campus expansion is estimated to generate an
additional 244 AM peak hour, 233 PM peak hour, and 2036 daily trips.”
Lam Traffic Study, 10/2024 Page 1
“The west access to SW Leveton Drive at the southwest corner of the site will be relocated to the east and
repurposed as a truck access for deliveries to the existing and proposed buildings.”
Lam Traffic Study, 10/2024 Page 2
“SW Hazelbrook Road/OR 99W – long delays are expected on the stop-controlled approach to OR
99W during the PM peak hour. Mitigation is not recommended because it would encourage
vehicles to travel this route from SW Tualatin Road instead of using SW 124th Avenue to access
OR 99W northbound.”
Lam Traffic Study, 10/2024 Page 17
“As shown in Table 7, queues at some intersections along OR 99W appear to be longer than available
storage lengths. These intersections are built out to their full capacity, and little can be done to mitigate
these queues.”
Lam Traffic Study, 10/2024 Page 23
In order to preserve the livability of our neighborhoods and to protect our quality of life, we the people, who live, work, and play near Tualatin Road, including renters, owners, and employees, requested the following.
