Sky Harbour Group has withdrawn its application to build a private jet hangar complex at Hillsboro Airport, canceling an Oct. 6 City Council hearing.
The move came after months of opposition from Beaverton-area residents and ends the current review process, though the company plans to resubmit.
The New York-based developer formally pulled Case File No. DR-044-25 on Wednesday, Sept. 9, according to the Hillsboro Herald.
Sky Harbour's director of development, David Annin, wrote in a letter to Hillsboro senior planner Ruth Klein that the company "heard and takes seriously the comments raised by the community and the City Council" at an Aug. 18 hearing but did not have enough time to address them.
Port of Portland spokesperson Molly Prescott confirmed the withdrawal to KATU, saying Sky Harbour intends to file a new application. No resubmission date has been set, and the city said no new application had been filed as of Friday, Sept. 11.
The proposed project would have placed seven hangars for roughly 30 private aircraft on 13.7 acres at 2315 NE Brookwood Parkway, on the eastern edge of the airport.
The hangars would have been visible from neighborhoods in Hillsboro, Aloha, Beaverton, Tigard and Tualatin, The Oregonian reported.
Sky Harbour operates private jet facilities in Houston, Nashville, Miami, San Jose and Seattle. Hillsboro would have been its first Pacific Northwest site.
Two community appeals challenged the project. Oregon Aviation Watch, led by founding member Miki Barnes, filed the first. The second came from three Washington County residents: Sarah Richmond, Brett Hamilton and Valerie Pratt, who live in Beaverton and Tualatin. Both appeals were filed June 17 after the Hillsboro Planning Commission voted 5-0, with one abstention, to approve the project on May 27.
The commission heard 14 speakers in opposition and reviewed 150 pieces of written testimony before that vote, the Valley Times reported.
At the Aug. 18 council hearing, Brett Hamilton told KGW: "We are trying to stop out-of-state New York Sky Harbor Group from turning Oregon into a parking lot for billionaires' private jets."
City planning staff had recommended denying both appeals. The council postponed its decision to Oct. 6.
That hearing will not happen. With the application gone, both appeals are moot.
The withdrawal also frees the Hillsboro City Council from the narrow quasi-judicial role it held during the appeal.
Klein noted in a staff report that the council may now explore broader policy options around airport operations, though federal law still limits what a city can regulate on aviation noise and emissions.
Any future Sky Harbour application would start from scratch with a new case file number, a new completeness review and new neighborhood meeting notices.
