In a decision released on Tuesday, Oct. 1, the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals sided with the city of Wilsonville against Home Depot.
The appeals board’s determination followed a months-long dispute between the city and home improvement supply corporation. Home Depot has been working to open a Wilsonville location in the former Fry’s Electronics building at 29400 Town Center Loop West, in a process involving two land use reviews. One review defined the existing nonconforming status of the property and the other decided whether a new Home Depot would qualify as a continuation of that use.
Fry’s Electronics closed at the site in 2021 and Home Depot submitted an application to replace it in 2023.
The city has repeatedly denied appeals for both applications, defining the property as an electronics-related retail store and determining that Home Depot’s operations would be different from Fry’s Electronics and therefore not a “continuation of use.” Home Depot argued in its petition to the appeals board that the city “misconstrued the applicable law” and was incorrect in specifically defining the existing nonconforming use as an ‘’electronics-related retail store.’”