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LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
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| Glisan Commons, a new building slated for development at Northeast Glisan Street at 99th Avenue, won final approval from the Portland Design Commission last month. The building, built in two phases, will have 67 units of affordable rental housing and 60 subsidized rental units for seniors. COURTESY HOLST ARCHITECTURE |
After holding one public hearing and keeping the written record open for additional testimony at the request of attorney Chris Koback, the Commission unanimously approved Glisan Commons. This project at Northeast 99th Avenue and Glisan Street is a collaboration between three non-profit corporations. Phase I will be four stories and 67 units of affordable rental housing managed by Human Solutions, above office space and other facilities for Ride Connection. The latter will also store some of their fleet of mini-buses and vans on an open parking lot. In Phase II, REACH Community Development will build 60 senior rental-housing units on the north half of the property.
The fact that the project is being done in phases was one of the grounds upon which Koback, representing adjacent property owner Mel Fox, had attacked the project in a series of letters. He complained that there was no guarantee that Phase II will ever be built. Architect David Otte said REACH would proceed with its part of the project when it obtained funding. The issue is under consideration by Hearings Officer Kenneth Helm, in a parallel process to okay a master plan for the property. A decision was still pending at press time.
City planner Chris Caruso told the Commission, “The zoning code has no provision for a guarantee for a project built in phases, and no definition of one. We've been told that Phase I will not be built without Phase II, but there's no guarantee.”
At the same session, the Commission reviewed The Rose at Gateway Gardens, Gordon Jones' two building, 90-unit multi-family project at 328 N.E. 97th Ave. The unit, which will be affordable to people making 60 percent of median-area family income, will be mostly studios, but include some two-bedroom units, Jones said. Those on the ground floor will have private patios, while the upper story units will have balconies. There will be 58 parking spaces. Jones said he would be applying for the 10-year tax abatement.
Planner Chris Caruso said the project had been “quite a long time coming.” Jones said he had begun assembling the property in 2004, and a variation of it had been a Design Advisory before the Commission in 2007; later delayed for economic reasons.
As part of the process, Jones will pay for the construction of a new street, Northeast Everett Place, between 97th and 99th avenues. He noted that the Gateway Street Master Plan in some cases calls for streets to run through existing houses.
Jones said that three existing homes, two garages and a commercial building on the site were deconstructed, with the materials saved for recycling. Landscaping includes edible plants and fruit trees, and a community garden, he said, adding that there will also be solar voltaic panels and solar water heating.
Jones said that his green project will be a good complement to the proposed Gateway Green recreation area planned at the confluence of I-84 and I-205. This prompted Commission member Andrew Jansky to retort, “Gateway Green doesn't have enough money to start, and your request for a (systems development charge) waiver is denying them funds.”
To this, Jones replied, “The intent of the urban renewal district was to build new streets and parks. They haven't built one thing in the way of parks, this is the first new street, and the district is about to expire.”
The project received an endorsement from Colleen Gifford, a member of the Gateway Regional Center Urban Renewal Area Program Advisory Committee. She called the Rose “a great project. This will be a nice site.”
Despite this, Commission members asked Jones to do more refinement of his exterior materials. The project will have another hearing the afternoon of July 12 at 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave.
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