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Things change
If you live or own property near Gateway, and want to know what could be built on your property - or the property next door - under these regulations, there are a number of different things to look for in this draft. District boundaries. Zoning. Zoning regulations. Height and density limits, and bonuses. Design regulations. You might also want to look at the proposed Development Concepts.
BOUNDARIES: Currently the district covers the area bounded roughly by Northeast Halsey and Southeast Market streets, East 102nd Avenue and the I-205 Freeway. It will expand slightly to include land as far north as Northeast San Rafael Street, along East Burnside as far east as 115th Avenue, and a few acres east of the current line south of Southeast Stark Street.
The district has been subdivided into four sub-areas: The Halsey-Weidler Corridor on the north; the Gateway Station area, which includes the Fred Meyer and Mervyn’s properties north of Northeast Glisan Street; the 102nd and Burnside area, which extends southward to Southeast Stark and Washington streets; and the Southern Triangle, which includes Mall 205 and the Portland Adventist property.
ZONE CHANGES: North of Halsey, property now zoned CG (general commercial) will be rezoned CX, a high-density zone. In the Halsey-Weidler corridor, commercial property is being rezoned to CS, a commercial zone with strict design requirements, especially with regard to parking. Low-density apartment zones (R2 and R3) are being up-zoned to the denser R1 designation. To the south, in the Gateway Station and Burnside areas, much of the sub-districts would be rezoned to CX, RH (a high density residential zone) RX (an even higher density residential zone that allows some ground floor commercial activity), and EX (a mixed-use zone allowing most types of activity). This last zone change in the Prunedale area in the west end of the district.
ZONE REGULATIONS: RX zones currently allow some retail space; in Gateway they would be allowed more. The draft calls for up to 50 percent of new high-density residential buildings to be commercial if they are within 500 feet of a transit station, 40 percent otherwise. Some retail activity would also be allowed in the institutional (IR) zone covering Portland Adventist Medical Center. However, “big box” retail is limited, with individual business areas limited to 5,000 square feet in the Prunedale EXD zone and 10,000 square feet near the proposed Main Street Light Rail Station. Exterior display, car repair, drive through facilities and commercial parking lots are already prohibited; to these are added self-service storage and car dealerships if the cars are stored on the lot.
PARKING: No off-street parking is required, and there is a maximum parking limit for new development. No parking at all is allowed within 100 feet of a light rail station.
HEIGHT: “We added height in some areas and subtracted it in others,” planner Ellen Ryker says. In the Gateway Station and Burnside areas, where the height limit is now a fairly uniform 120 feet, it is reduced slightly to 100 feet in some areas but increased to 150 feet elsewhere. North of Northeast Halsey Street, a fairly uniform 45-foot limit is increased to 75 feet.
There is a similar change along Southeast Stark Street. In the Southeast Triangle there is a slight decrease, with much of the areas dropping from 120 to 100 feet, but a small portion near the Main Transit Station increasing to 150 feet.
When commercial or multifamily property abuts single family zoned land, there is a new “transition zone,” designed to protect homeowners from huge buildings looming over their property. In these situations, the commercial developer can build no higher than the maximum height allowed in the single family zone (usually 25 feet) in the nearest 25 feet of his property, and no more than 45 feet in the next 25 feet. Note, however, that the regulations apply to single family ZONED property; the rules don’t apply if the property is zoned for something else, even if this has always been a street of small homes. These regulations apply to the East Corridor district as well.
There are also height bonuses. Developers can build higher than the regulations would normally allow them to if they provide open space on the property that is available for public use, develop lots smaller than 15,000 square feet, and build “Eco-Roofs,” or include housing in projects in commercial zones where it is not required. The maximum possible height bonus is 75 feet.
DESIGN REVIEW: These regulations would now be required for all new development in the Gateway Town Center. Among other things, new buildings on major streets will have to build out to the property line; front entrances must face the street and be no more than 15 feet from the sidewalk, buildings must provide a certain amount of window space on both ground and upper floors; buildings along major streets must at least provide for “active uses,” such as retail shops, offices, lobbies or living quarters, on their ground floors.
Beyond this, however, the draft proposes a design review process, with public input, for all new development. At present, this is required only of developers who don’t want to meet specific design standards. Moreover, special guidelines would be crafted specifically for Gateway, rather than generic ones intended to apply to the whole city. The draft proposes goals for such standards that include “encourage urban design excellence,” “Provide for a pleasant, rich and diverse experience for pedestrians,” “Provide for...parks, plazas, open spaces, public art and trees,” “Assist in creating a regional center that...is safe, lively and prosperous,” “Ensure that new development is at human scale.”
Even more would be required of projects with a dollar value over $1 million; they must go through a Type III design process, with a mandatory public hearing.
For a project with 80,000 square feet of floor area, another type of review would be required; creation of a Development Plan, also with a Type III process. Somewhat like a planned unit development, the plan would require developers to meet city and Gateway development goals, but would also allow them some flexibility with regard to specific zoning requirements.
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