Scott Edwards Architecture and JRMA Selected to Lead Pre-Design for Cornelius Community Drop-Off Depot

Portland, OR (October 17, 2025) – J. R. Miller & Associates, Inc. (JRMA), a leading architecture, engineering, and planning firm, is pleased to announce that they have been selected, in partnership with Scott Edwards Architecture, by Oregon Metro to lead the pre-design and planning of the Cornelius Community Drop-Off Depot, a vital new regional facility that will expand equitable access to recycling, organics recovery, and self-haul disposal services in western Washington County. The new facility will expand recycling, organics, and self-haul services for more than 120,000 Washington County residents.

Metro owns an 11-acre site, where the new community drop-off depot is planned. The facility will help close a longstanding gap in self-haul and household hazardous waste services, providing convenient and affordable options for more than 120,000 residents. Once complete, the site will offer free drop-off for reusable and recyclable materials, safe household hazardous waste disposal, and affordable self-haul disposal for garbage and organics.

During this pre-design phase, the team will evaluate using a three-stage phased approach for the facility to identify the most effective path forward. These include exploring options for a temporary, small-scale depot to meet near-term service needs, as well as considering a two-year interim facility that expands services. As the full site is planned and constructed, an assessment of the feasibility of moving directly to a full-scale permanent depot is conducted.

This project advances Metro’s Regional System Facilities Plan, which identified significant service gaps in western Washington County. The Cornelius depot will directly address those gaps while aligning with Metro’s Sustainable Sites Policy and long-term climate goals. The team will integrate sustainable materials, low-impact site layouts, regenerative design principles, and LEED-informed strategies into every stage of planning.

JRMA brings over 43 years of experience and more than 200 transfer station and public drop-off depot projects to the project, along with deep expertise in phased facility planning, adaptive site design, and sustainable infrastructure. The firm has worked extensively with Oregon Metro on projects such as the Metro Central Commercial Food Waste Pre-Processing System and condition assessments at Metro South and Metro Central Transfer Stations.