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| Required building size, car display area are points of contention (continued story) Marilyn Clampett made Harrison’s last point much more bluntly. “I thought the Tonkin dealerships exerted undue influence on this process,” she said. Because of increased development in adjacent neighborhoods, “There’s more and more need for small businesses,” she said. Hazelwood Neighborhood Association Chairwoman Arlene Kimura repeated the hope that 122nd Avenue not follow the path of 82nd where, she said, “The city is now spending an enormous amount of money to redevelop the street.” Kimura argued strongly for new development to be subject to design review. “I feel it has helped us move toward quality development,” she said. “The standards need to be drafted very carefully. Right now we have nothing at all.” Hazelwood Land Use Chairwoman Linda Robinson said, “We don’t want to get rid of the dealers, but we don’t want them to take over the entire street. We need other services.” She said that some of the neighborhood changes Tonkin had alluded to could be traced to new special needs housing in the area, while crime may be attributed to some extent to the number of surface parking lots. Echoing Kimura she said, “I really support design review. It should apply to the whole study area; from Northeast Weidler to Southeast Washington Streets at least.” A retail businessman, Postal Annex owner Bruce Altizer, supported the dealerships. “Whatever we do must support existing businesses,” he said. “I depend on the big business across the street. Big employers that pay good wages and benefits would allow me to pay good wages too. Ideally, car dealerships may go away as we run out of oil, but in the short run I’d rather see them there than nothing at all.” Phil Selinger of TriMet urged adoption of the proposals as drafted. “The region has made a considerable investment in high-capacity transit,” he said. “It works best with the 2040 development concept” calling for high density in designated areas. The proposals are a “reasonable accommodation,” he said. “While it’s a less than ideal transit-oriented outcome, TriMet can accept it.” The commission seemed very supportive of requiring design review for new development, and even proposed expanding it out of the study area. They also asked Manning to consider expanding the Glisan and Stark nodes to some extent. They were also sympathetic to Tonkin’s concerns about barriers to redevelopment. Commission member Tim Smith suggested that dealers be allowed to create a master plan calling for transit-related development in the long term. Manning replied, “It would be very difficult to enforce. There’s no effective way to make someone build” what the plan calls for. Smith then suggested reducing the minimum density requirement for owners who meet planning objectives in other ways such as widening sidewalks, providing attractive landscaping and finding “innovative ways of dealing with stormwater.” Manning replied, “That’s not something I have in my back pocket, but it’s something I could look at.” Commission Chairwoman Ingrid Stevens said, “Some dealers already have 50 percent built-out street frontages, but have just a huge display area. It’s hard to have place-making with so many cars next to a corner. But a 50 percent buildout requirement would make for a gigantic building.” Commission member Larry Hilderbrand asked Clampett if she still thought the process was slanted toward Tonkin’s interests. “I certainly do,” she said. Then she added, “I didn’t say Barry didn’t try.” In fact virtually every speaker praised Manning. “Barry’s done a good job,” Robinson said. “He had us all coming at him, poor man.” Discussing the Planning Bureau staff in general, commission member Gail Shibley said, “I’m impressed by how usual is the unusually great work on project after project after project.” The commission scheduled its next hearing on 122nd Avenue for Jan. 10. |
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