The Southwest Portland Post., January 01, 2011, Page 7, Image 7

January 2011
NEWS
The Southwest Portland Post • 7
Willamette Greenway plans criticized by design commission
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
The Portland Design Commission
reviewed plans in December for the
South Waterfront section of the Wil-
lamette Greenway trail. The PDC
repeated the complaints long voiced
by area residents: too much atten-
tion to natural habitat, not enough
to human amenities.
The South Waterfront part of the
Greenway, 1.2 miles long by 100 feet
wide, had always been envisioned
as a combination of public amenities
and natural habitat.
There will be two separated pub-
lic trails, one for pedestrians and
one for bicyclists. There will be a
wide lawn at the foot of Southwest
Gibbs Street, east of the Aerial Tram
landing.
The debris-laden shoreline will
be reconstructed as shallow water
before a beach rising gradually to
higher land. However, plans for
a boat dock, and most public ac-
cess to the water’s edge, have been
scrapped.
Planner Kara Fioravanti said this
was done at the insistence of the
National Marine Fisheries Service,
which fears that a dock could cre-
ate a hiding place for predators that
feed on young fish.
“Those interested in protecting
fish want to limit human access,
and they’re very adamant,” she said.
“We had a very different plan in
mind. Frankly, the federal agencies
said they weren’t interested.”
This did not satisfy Commission
members. David Wark said, “There
will be thousands of people here,
and there’s not even limited access
to the river; there’s no access. Can’t
there be a balance?”
Commission member Ben Kaiser
said, “We have a goal to ‘embrace
the river,’ and if not here, where?
The entire city wants a different
solution, but one agency will wipe
it all out.”
Commission member David Kelt-
ner told Fioravanti, “The amount
of work you’ve done on restoring
natural habitat is going unreward-
ed. (Federal agencies) are not giving
back anything.”
Commission chair Gwen Millius
said, “NMS has said we have too
many docks, and unless some come
out we can’t have any more. There
is a tension between interests and
we have to respect that, but I don’t
think it’s balanced fairly now.”
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