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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2008)
4 • The Southwest Portland Post October 2008 NEwS OHSU’s planned 20-acre campus in South Waterfront still has some issues By Lee Perlman The Southwest Portland Post Oregon Health and Sciences Uni- versity is proceeding with plans for their South Waterfront campus, and in so doing encountering some issues. The Schnitzer family has do- nated 20 acres of land in the previ- ously industrial area to the school to create a new, or satellite, campus to their existing one on Marquam Hill. OHSU’s Mark Williams gave the South Portland Neighborhood As- sociation a progress report on the project last month, with emphasis on what is likely to be the most sensitive aspect of the development – views. Buildings on the campus will en- compass about two million square feet of floor space, he said, and they will be housed in a series of structures that will approach, and in some cases possibly exceed, 250 feet in height, as the code for this part of town calls for. View corridors will consist of the rights of way of newly-created streets, and even these will have their limitations as far as residents of the older neighborhood to the west are concerned. At the insistence of city planners, east-west streets will align with the river bank rather than with their counterpart streets to the west; thus residents to the west may not be able to use them to see through to the river. OHSU probably will not go through a master planning process for the new campus, and will be subject to little public process or regulation other than design review for individual buildings “that I’m aware of,” Williams said. “If you’re asking, will we try to place our buildings to maximize your views, the answer is yes,” he said. “If you’re asking to re-open the zoning code, we’re not crazy about that. We’ve already had that discus- sion.” Another issue is open space. Wil- liams said school wants lots of open space, “the campus we never had on the hill. We want to have the green- est campus in the country.” In fact, he said, under plans so far the school will have 9,000 square feet more open space than was called for in the South Waterfront Plan. Auto use will be minimized, with a single conventional north-south street and east-west ways given over largely to pedestrians and bikes. This didn’t satisfy Jerry Ward, longtime neighborhood activist and South Portland’s representative to the North Macadam Urban Renewal Advisory Committee. He told the South Portland board that the South Waterfront Plan called for two acres of park land on the northern end, and as far as he was concerned this did not mean a series of plazas for OHSU. “I don’t care if the public is al- lowed there; I wouldn’t feel com- fortable being there,” Ward said. “We need to get them to honor 10 years of planning.” South Portland board member Jim Gardner pointed out that the campus only occupied about half of the northern part of the district, and that a two-acre park somewhere else would satisfy the requirement. The campus, like the rest of South Waterfront, will have a 100-foot wide greenway west of the river bank, Williams said. According to long-term plans, he said, “This will be the most habitat-intensive part of the greenway. It won’t be a place for people to tromp around in.” He added, “This is the city’s plan. Whether it gets built or not is not our call.” Williams said that the campus, except for classrooms, will be “qua- si-public” space which people in the neighborhoods will be able to use. In the same spirit, the ground floors of some of the buildings may be given over to retail services that could serve the larger communities. Hamilton Street Sidewalks sociation hopes to work with the city to better define zoning laws and find solutions where the whole commu- nity including foster care residents benefit. Tanya Ghattas, the new Bridlemile Elementary School principal stopped by to say hello. Formerly principal at Winterhaven, a focus magnate program in Southeast Portland, she started at Bridlemile on July 1. A Johns Landing resident, she knows and enjoys Southwest Portland and is looking forward to working with the Bridlemile community. (Continued from Page 1 ) neighbors have seen them develop into institutions. Apparently, vague zoning laws cannot prevent teardowns of exist- ing older homes in order to build facilities expressly for adult foster care. These can cause traffic is- sues and change the neighborhood character. Everyone agreed on the need and desire for housing for the elderly. The Bridlemile Neighborhood As- advertise in the Post! Call Don or Harry at 503-244-6933. Deeper Sedation Dentistry... Dr. Little at West Hills Family Dental Center now offers DEEP SEDATION DENTISTRY. It’s MORE EFFECTIVE than just a pill. Call and find out why West Hills Family Dental Center is different. 503-291-0000 • www.fearfreedental.com Open Daily 8am to 9pm FoodFront.coop Hillsdale Grand Opening! Friday- Sunday, October 10, 11 & 12 • 11am-5pm Owner discounts all day. Meet local food vendors, free samples, music, prizes, and more! Hillsdale 6344 SW Capitol Hwy • 503.546.6559 Northwest 2375 NW Thurman St • 503.222.5658