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| Parkrose Hardware plans remodel, expansion (cont'd) Ableidinger considered hiring a land-use consultant to deal with Portland’s Byzantine development rules and regulations, but after getting through the city’s LUR process, decided not to. Ableidinger did all the legwork himself. Between filling out forms and applications, reading the city’s rules and regulations, standing in line, and talking to a number of bureaucrats, Ableidinger accumulated a two-inch file of permits, applications and forms. Two inches is a lot of paper. Pointing to the file with frustration, Ableidinger said, “These are the city’s ‘we want more information – you can’t go past here till you tell us what you’re doing here – correct this, we don’t like that.’ These are the numbers of bureaus or people that you have to get through.” “We have been going as fast as we can through this process to get our building done,” Ableidinger continued, “It just takes a long time in the city of Portland.”
“The city could say we turned in a lousy set of plans,” Ableidinger continued. “Which, for sure, there were some things that didn’t meet their expectations, but we applied for our permit and turned in this set of plans January 12. It’s now April 5, and we don’t have our permit yet.” Subsequent to the interview, Ableidinger received his building permit on April 20. Going through this process, Ableidinger realized the city has plans for Parkrose but that Parkrose doesn’t have a unified voice telling the city what it wants. Ableidinger goes on, “Where and how is the city going to help us improve? If we can’t get the infrastructure, why would somebody develop out here? I’m talking down our district, and I shouldn’t be doing that. I want to help us improve the district. If I am going to spend the money I am spending to rebuild this, I need a little help to attract good tenants. There are lots of bad tenants who would like to be out here. Seeing the city pour millions into developing the South Waterfront district on Macadam Avenue, the Pearl District, and even Airport Way has this Parkrose businessman scratching his head wondering why his area, for the most part, is ignored. What does Portland have in mind for Parkrose? Ableidinger didn’t know but said, “Parkrose is such a unique and difficult area because the railroad tracks cut on an angle; by the time you get to 122nd Avenue, the north side of the street is unusable at that end.” “You’ve got the south side, which has the storefronts in the core, and you have the north side with the setbacks with parking. You’re going to have to do an overlay that is quite unique for this neighborhood based on the topography and the givens – like the railroad tracks – and what happens at the 205 interchange. Then decide how far is this (visioning process) going to go, down Sandy to 122nd or 148th.” What would Ableidinger like to see in the Parkrose business district? He looks at it as a question of how does Parkrose attract good retail and commercial businesses that would attract customers to the area? Most of it entails, Ableidinger surmised, combining the properties and leveling of some sites. He points to the recent leveling of the distressed All States Motel at 118th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard. Where, he said, you’d have to go “a few houses deep” into those areas and consolidate a piece of ground big enough to build some sort of retail and business center. Once larger developments are attracted to the area, then business infill and existing space will be filled up because it will become a neighborhood business district where people are going to shop. Instead of the business destination type of business district Parkrose is currently. To that end, in January, Ableidinger went to the Parkrose Business Association board of directors and suggested to them that they and the Parkrose Neighborhood Association start working closer together, bringing the city closer to Parkrose’s vision for its future. He also suggested they have a board member on each other’s boards of directors. Ableidinger said, “Because they (PBA and PNA) have so many things in common, like safety and crime issues, there are very few things we’re at cross purposes on. We focus on the Sandy Boulevard commercial district and the neighborhood association focuses on neighborhood issues.” “I suggested a special committee of the board, comprised of mostly the business side of it, but with the neighborhood involved also so they would be willing to support and endorse getting this design overlay – the one that doesn’t work for our district – fixed,” Ableidinger went on. “And to get a better overlay for Parkrose – you know, what Gateway did in going through their ‘what do we want to be when we grow-up’ work. But it’s a long process. It didn’t help me in this instance, but had they (PBA and PNA) done that work earlier, and this overlay didn’t mess us up, and I didn’t have to go through this LUR, I wouldn’t have been cross-ways with the city so long, and we could have gotten through this easier and quicker.” Ableidinger doesn’t want the next prospective Parkrose developer to encounter these same obstacles. “For any large retail or commercial establishment to come along Sandy Boulevard and consolidate some land and build a new center, they’d be more inclined to come to Parkrose if the business district paves the way by getting the design overlays so that it works for development of the area,” said Ableidinger. The PBA agreed with Ableidinger’s suggestion regarding a planning committee and formed the Long Range Planning Committee, a “blue-ribbon committee.” PNA chair Marcy Emerson-Peters said she was contacted by the PBA and told them she’s “ready to go.” An organizational meeting of the PBA committee as scheduled for the first week in May. Parkrose faces many challenges. After I-84 was built, bisecting Parkrose and Gateway, a decline was seen in Parkrose. Before I-84 was built, the Parkrose commercial district dominated the Mid-Multnomah county area. Parkrose’s decline was hastened with the opening of I-205 in 1983 and its interchange at Northeast 98th Avenue, creating another physical barrier to the area. With the Cascade Station mega-development breaking ground soon in Parkrose’s backyard, the commercial district faces another challenge to its viability. |
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