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City plans zone changes and rules in Gateway

More intense development, slightly lower height proposed

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

The Gateway Planning Regulations Project will change the zoning in several areas of the district - and the direction is up. City planner Ellen Ryker gave a preview of the project’s recommendations to the Opportunity Gateway Program Advisory Committee last month. In some areas, especially on the periphery adjacent to residential areas, there will be an attempt to make new development more compatible with its neighbors. However, those who don’t want higher density in the area aren’t likely to be comforted.

The recommendations so far include the following:

Change areas zoned EG2, for industrial and commercial activity, in the western part of the district, to EXD, a zone that allows almost any use including commercial, housing and light industry.

•Change areas now zoned RH, fairly intense housing density to RX, the most intense high-density housing zone in the code.

•Change the zoning of McDonald’s and Car Toys from CG (General Commercial) to CX, the city’s most intense commercial zone.

•Change areas zoned CN - a neighborhood/commercial designation to CS, in the area north of Northeast Halsey Street. CS is a commercial zone with strict design requirements, especially with regard to surface parking. On land zoned CS, businesses cannot have parking in front of their building.


Change some land north of Halsey Street currently zoned R2 (1 unit per 2000 square feet of lot area.), usually for garden apartments and row houses, to R1 (1 unit per 1000 square feet of lot area.), usually for apartment complexes with twice the density. For example, on a 10,000 square foot lot in R2 five units are allowable. On the same lot zoned R1, 10 units could be built.

• Change zoning from CS to RH, a high density housing zone, for the part of the Russellville housing project between East Burnside and Southeast Stark Street that is already developed.
Changes involving allowed height of new development.

• Currently, buildings up to 120 feet tall can be built anywhere in the Gateway Urban Renewal District. Ryker proposes to increase this to 150 feet in the immediate vicinity of transit stations, and lower it to 100 feet everywhere else. Further, where zones abut single family zoned properties, developers can’t build higher than that property’s maximum height (usually 35 feet) on the nearest 25 feet of their property, or above 45 feet for the next 25 feet. This is intended to keep new high rises from looming over adjacent homes.

It’s exactly the sort of change neighborhood volunteer Joe Rinella, and his neighbors on Northeast 103rd Avenue north of Burnside Street, has been seeking for more than a year. The bad news is that it doesn’t apply to them. The blocks contain single family homes, but on the west side, where Rinella lives, they are zoned CM, a mixed commercial-residential designation. “How can we get the zone changed?” Rinella asked. “There’s no reason to change it,” Ryker replied. “We’re increasing the density in the district.”

Businesses get some breaks
Business owners will get some breaks, but only some. A requirement that any new development contain a certain amount of housing and open space will be lifted for several large commercial parcels, including Mall 205 and the PAC Trust property. “Frankly, the requirement has been very problematic,” Ryker said.

Auto dealer Ron Tonkin and consultant Peter Fry will get some of the changes they requested for Tonkin’s property. For them too, the required housing, open space and setback requirements will be lifted. However, prohibitions against outdoor vehicle storage and repair, which Tonkin and Fry also sought to remove, will be kept.

Also out of luck is Fred Sanchez. The Gateway Area Business Association (GABA) officer and Hazelwood Neighborhood Association board member had called for development regulation changes in GABA’s newsletter. He appeared to ask that commercial property owners be allowed to place parking and required landscaped buffers on adjacent residential lots. Sanchez is known to be seeking support for the idea and has tried to make it part of the Planning Regulations Project. Ryker says it will not be part of her agenda.

The idea has drawn expressions of concern from members of the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association. Sanchez claims that at the most recent Hazelwood board meeting they did not allot enough time to discuss development regulation even though it was an agenda item. Sanchez says, “Subsequent to these proceedings, changes are being made to reflect the businesses and the communities wishes. In six month’s to a year, final language will be brought to various businesses and community groups for their comments.”

The proposals will be available, in more detail, at an open house from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 30 at Portland Adventist Medical Center, 10123 Southeast Market Street. Call 503-257-2500 for room number.
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