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LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
Publisher’s note: Welcome to Perlman’s Potpourri for December — a roundup of news items from the Gateway and Parkrose neighborhoods of mid-Multnomah County from veteran Beat Reporter Lee Perlman.
Coming up, Metro planners give the Gateway Urban Renewal advisory committee a pessimistic view of development in the Gateway Urban Renewal Area.
Parkrose kicks off the Streetcar System Planning, an extensive planning process that will, eventually, bring streetcars back to Portland streets ... someday.
Also in Perlman’s Potpourri, a joint venture by the Portland Bureau of Planning and the Port of Portland, the Airport Future’s Planning Advisory Group, is officially on the job.
Should Portland’s Bureau of Parks & Recreation more than double its System Development Charges for new housing developments?
An open house for construction will be held when the 102nd Avenue Project gets underway in mid-January.
Two Parkrose Neighborhood Association events are planned for December. Banfield Pet Hospital is seeking pet food donations for Meals On Wheels clients. Plus, big box store developers meet with their wary neighborhood association adversaries.
But first, Metro planners ...
Metro planners give Gateway advice
Metro planners last month gave the Gateway Urban Renewal Program Advisory Committee a rather depressing view of what their prospects for development were under current conditions — and a more optimistic one of what they could be with a little help.
At the request of Metro councilor Robert Liberty, planner Sonny Condor of the agency’s Data Research Center rated the area’s desirability in relationship to other communities. On a scale of 0.1 to 1, for instance, the West side’s Pearl District rates a 0.8 as a place to live and build housing, and Dunthorpe would be a 1. Currently, Gateway is a 0.2. Under existing trends it can expect significant job growth but more modest housing development.
Developer and PAC member Dick Cooley said he was not surprised. “The area has the same built environment that it had in the ‘50s, and the demographics are really poor.” Moreover, he said, “I fear that our RH and RX (high-density housing) land will be built at R2 (garden apartment) densities, and it will stay that way for 30 years.”
Portland Development Commission staffer Justin Douglas said, “Given the amount of TIF (Tax Increment Financing from increased land values), we won’t get to the regional center’s goals.”
However, Liberty asked, “If Gateway went from 0.2 to 0.5, what would that do?”
“It would result in 5,000 new housing units,” Condor replied. “I don’t know how to change your built environment, but it would create a lot of demand.”
Cooley said, “Intuitively I believe that when you change density and demographics, you lead jobs and the quality of those jobs.”
Liberty noted that there is a precedent for changing the built environment when there is a will to do it. “The Pearl is an example of deliberate place-making,” he said. Regarding the prospects for Gateway, he said, “This is not just an opinion; it’s supported by analysis.”
Hazelwood Neighborhood Association Chair Arlene Kimura agreed, “This is validation of our gut check that this (progress) can happen. This is based on data, not just a wild-assed guess.”
Developer and PAC member Ted Gilbert asked if Cascade Station could be considered part of the Gateway market area. “Actually, no,” Condor said. “It’s different and larger.”
“You can hop on MAX and get there in three minutes,” Gilbert argued.
“No, you can’t,” Cooley replied. “You can get to Lloyd Center almost as fast.”
Port begins airport-planning process
The Airport Future’s Planning Advisory Group, a joint venture by the Portland Bureau of Planning and the Port of Portland, is up and running.
Established to help guide a new master planning process for Portland International Airport, the PAG, as it is known, has 31 members. The Port initially insisted that the group should not grow so large as to be unwieldy, despite protest from neighborhood groups that they were under-represented. However, when the Portland City Council heeded these protests and added three community representatives, the Port promptly added three more.
The PAG now includes several representatives of Portland neighborhood groups but only one — Wilkes Community Group Chair Ross Monn — from Mid-county. Woodland Park Neighborhood Association Chair Alesia Reese is an alternate. John Weigant represents the Airport Issues Roundtable, a volunteer watchdog group. Another AIR member, Fred Stovel of the Rose City Park neighborhood, is seated as a representative of the Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement.
At its second meeting last month, the PAG adopted Collaboration Principles (essentially rules of procedure), and a statement of Vision and Values. These included, “Support the goals and economic viability of the neighborhoods.” It called on the Port to “avoid if possible, and if not to minimize and mitigate,” negative impacts on neighborhood livability, noise, air and water quality, and greenhouse gases while pursuing its goals. Prior to a unanimous vote, there was minor tweaking of language.
Port planner Chris Corich presented the Port’s positions on several issues, including:
• The feared third runway will not be needed until far into the future, and the Port will not seek approval from the city for it during this process, but “it is prudent planning on the part of the Port to consider it.” The runway, when and if it is built, would send arriving and departing planes on a southeast path, sharply increasing noise impacts for many East Portland neighborhoods.
• The Port would not consider building a “replacement or supplemental airport” due to the investment in PDX, finding a new location for freight-hauling aircraft (one of the largest sources of community complaints) because of the need for such facilities to be near PDX, or a night curfew because federal regulations forbid it.
• The Port will seek to reduce its contribution to pollution and greenhouse gas generation, but will not consider new air quality standards.
• The Oregon Air National Guard has a lease for its facilities through 2029, and has expressed extending it beyond that time. However, with the deactivation of the 939th fighter unit, the facility may not need as much room as it now occupies.
Corich was somewhat more ambiguous about the study of high-speed trains as an alternative to air travel.
The PAG took no stand on the issues at its November meeting. Weigant said, “These are very significant issues, and we need more than just a statement that ‘It’s PDX’s policy.’” Regarding the National Guard base, he said it has “an obsolete mission to defend the U.S. against Soviet bombers, and they have what are clearly the noisiest aircraft at the airport. It would be a serious mistake to extend their lease without consulting the PAG.”
The group will meet next on Dec. 18 at the Port of Portland Building, 121 N.W. Everett St.
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