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Commission approves 122nd Avenue rezoning

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

The Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission last month unanimously approved the Southeast 122nd Avenue Rezone Project, despite some misgivings by its members, community activists and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Recognizing that the street and surrounding neighborhoods have too much high-density housing and too few commercial services, the project proposed to rezone some of the land near the street, especially at the intersections of Southeast Powell and Holgate Boulevards, Raymond and Harold Streets from multi-family residential to local commercial (CN1 and CN2). Another set of rezoning would change land near Leach Botanical Gardens owned by the Bureau of Parks and Recreation from residential to Open Space.

Representatives of the Oregon Department of Transportation testified that they were willing to sign off on most of the changes, but had reservations about the capacity of Powell to absorb the traffic that development of the rezoned properties might produce. After some debate, the Commission decided to send the entire package to City Council for enactment, but to sever the Powell proposals if differences with ODOT proved to be major.

Ed Long, a resident of Raymond Street, had a different set of concerns. In sometimes emotional testimony he said multi-family development of the area is not a good thing, tearing apart the fabric of what had been a strong residential community and bringing crime. However, he also opposed the introduction of more high-intensity retail, saying, “I don't want to sell out to WalMart.”

Commission member Chris Smith said the proposed zoning was designed to create small, neighborhood-serving businesses rather than big box retail. “We're not trying to turn this into a shopping mall,” he said.

Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood activist Mark White was even more forceful. He cited specific problems: the intersection of Southeast 122nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard has the worst accident record in Oregon; the senior care facility on Powell has a bus stop across the street that residents cannot use because the nearest safe crossing is a quarter-mile away; and the poverty rate among David Douglas High School students is 80 percent based on those who qualify for reduced-price or free lunch.

“How many meetings do I have to go to to [sic] say what's needed before something is done?” White asked. “Why do I have to come down here and beg for crumbs? What's wrong with us? Do we even have a soul anymore? The way we treat marginalized people says a lot about us.”

White later told the Memo his frustration is based on the City's shallow response. A broad-based program to transform the area has not been undertaken and, with little funding available from the Lents Urban Renewal District before its scheduled expiration, it probably never will be.

In response to Oregon Department of Transportation and neighborhood concerns, and to keep the 122nd Avenue Rezoning Project on schedule, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is presenting an amendment to their report. The amended proposal removes properties shown on the map from the initial rezoning recommendation. These properties will retain their current multifamily residential zoning designation.

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