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LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
The Gateway Planning Regulations Project is on its way to City Council, with few issues unresolved. The document, which will set zoning and other development regulations for the Gateway Town Center and a corridor east of 108th Avenue between Northeast Glisan and Southeast Stark streets, will have a public hearing beginning at 6 p.m. April 21 at City Hall.
Height issue answered
In a letter to the Portland Planning Commission, which held a series of hearings and work sessions on the draft plan, the Opportunity Gateway Program Advisory Committee, or PAC, set out a series of concerns. One, advanced by a group of homeowners on Northeast 103rd Avenue, had to do with the allowed height for new development on adjacent lots on 102nd Avenue. The Planning Bureau staff proposed to reduce the height from the current 120 feet to 100. The PAC rejected this as still too high, but could reach no decision on a specific height. The commission is recommending 75 feet.
Metro representative Andy Cotugno suggested dropping the issue, which the PAC agreed to do. “We said 100 feet was too much, and the Planning Commission agreed,” he said. “There’s no need to take it any further.”
More parking needed
A neighbor at the PAC meeting said, “We’d have liked it to be lower, but it’s better than it was.” The PAC did push forward on another issue. Gateway regulations limit how much parking any new development may have. The PAC agreed in general, but felt that there should be no maximum for structured parking and garages. The commission disagreed. Cotugno said, “Structured parking is self-limiting. If a developer wants to spend that much money for parking, it means he needs it.”
Developer Ted Gilbert added, “I agree in principle that you should have less parking in an urban center, but Gateway is going through such a drastic transition. We need to be sure development is allowed to occur, and there should be some incentives for building structured parking” instead of surface lots.
Sara King of the Portland Development Commission said, “we’re competing with suburban shopping areas.” A lack of parking would put Gateway “at a market disadvantage,” she said. Over time, as the area becomes more urban in character, the amount of permitted parking can be “ratcheted down,” she said.
For auto dealer Ron Tonkin, there remains a prohibition on the “exterior storage and display” of motor vehicles as part of new development near light rail stations such as the one on Northeast 122nd Avenue, where some of his dealerships are. There are also new regulations governing the redevelopment of large properties of 80,000 square feet or more, including a requirement that land be dedicated for proposed new streets as part of any development. There are incentives for owners to go through a master planning process that would allow them more flexibility in dealing with these regulations.
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