6 • The Southwest Portland Post
NEWS
February 2011
City Council considers whether or not to allow detention facility in South Portland
ment Services determined that this was
an office building, allowed by right,
and subject only to design review. The
Portland Design Commission, in three
hearings, voted to approve the design.
Planner Kara Fioravanti told Council
that they had two questions to answer.
The first was whether the proposed de-
sign was acceptable. The second, which
the Design Commission deliberately
declined to consider, was whether the
use was allowed by right or a was a new
use requiring a Conditional Use permit
that would delve into its suitability for
this site.
Fioravanti conceded that the latter
issue had been a “tough question” for
staff. However, they had decided that
the building was more like an office
building than a detention facility as
defined by the code. In part this was
because the “detention” cells take up
such a small part of the building, in part
because those “processed” and held
there are not necessarily charged with
a crime, she said.
Builder Pat Prendergast later added
that the building would have neither
beds nor food facilities, and those de-
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
For three hours last month, the Port-
land City Council pondered the South
Portland Neighborhood Association’s
appeal of a proposed building addi-
tion at 4310 S.W. Macadam Avenue to
create what the federal government
says would be an office building and
neighbors say would be a jail.
Council members were polite to the
17 people who testified but, with one
possible exception, showed no indica-
tion of accepting their stance on the
issue.
The Lindquist Development Com-
pany is seeking a three-story addition
to a four-story former bank storage
building. The resulting 65,000 square
foot structure would be rented to the
General Services Administration and its
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE), which would use it to “process”
suspected illegal immigrants. About
4,000 Square feet would be devoted to
Holding Cells.
The staff of the Bureau of Develop-
Your SW Window &
door replacement specialist
Est.2002•CCB#152050
•Nosubcontractors•Vinyl,fiberglass,&woodwindows
•Nopressureorpricegimmicks•Installationmasterscertified
•Sustainableproducts•Solarreflectiveglass
503-643-3887
16285SW85thAvenueSuite107,Tigard,OR97224
www.clearchoiceconstruction.com
PORTLAND PLAN
FAIRS
Check out the DRAFT STRATEGIES for
Portland’s future
DEVELOPED WITH THE COMMUNITY, THE PORTLAND PLAN STRATEGIES
ADDRESS PORTLANDERS’ KEY CONCERNS:
Equity • Education
Economic Prosperity & Affordability
Healthy Connected Neighborhoods
SAVE THE DATE
WEDNESDAY MARCH 2
6:30 – 9 p.m.
SUNDAY MARCH 6
12:30 – 3 p.m.
Hosford Middle School, 2303 SE 28th Place
TriMet #4, #10
Oregon Zoo, 4001 SW Canyon Road
TriMet #63, MAX Red + Blue
THURSDAY MARCH 10
6:30 – 9 p.m.
De La Salle North Catholic High School
7528 N Fenwick Avenue
TriMet #4, MAX Yellow
SATURDAY MARCH 12
10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Immigrant and Refugee
Community Organization (IRCO)
10301 NE Glisan Street
TriMet #15, #19; MAX Green + Blue
FEATURING: Booths • Games • Presentations • Discussions
This building located at 4310 SW Macadam Ave in South Portland could be home
to a new federal jail. (Post file photo by Don Snedecor)
tained there would under no circum-
stances spend the night there.
Another issue was the presence of the
Southwest Charter School due to open
across the street from the building, just
60 feet away. The appeal noted that
processing facilities are not to be placed
within 300 feet of schools.
Fioravanti said that this is not a City
code requirement. Scott Mattson of the
General Services Administration said
the rule is a requirement of the federal
“procurement” policy for selecting a
site.
Since the charter school hadn’t signed
a lease at the time the site was selected,
he said, it wasn’t considered. “This is
not a regulation, and we can’t prevent
a school from locating next to us,” he
said.
Those who testified expressed unhap-
piness with both the proposed facility
and the process. Karmela Ungerleider
Abrams, a charter school parent who
testified along with her two daughters,
said, “This makes me almost want to
pull my daughters from the school I
love and cherish.”
Architect Fred Ganz said that even
in developing countries, “I have never
ever seen the lack of requirements
we’ve seen with this project.” When it
was examined by the Design Commis-
sion, it was “already a fait accompli.”
There was no chance to judge “the
practicality of placing this use on this
site.” The South Waterfront is “at a
very fragile place in history,” and “to
introduce a jail at the gateway makes
absolutely no sense.”
South Portland land use chair Jim
Davis argued that the proposed facility
was “clearly” a jail and a change of use
for the site, both of which would require
a conditional use permit. The concept of
“proportionality,” the amount of square
footage devoted to a given activity as an
indictor of its “primary use,” is not part
of the code, he said.
Both the Cedarwood School and
the College of Naturopathic Medicine
needed conditional uses, even though
they were locating in former school
buildings, he said. He also said that the
GSA, in its procurement instructions
for the site, had referred to the use as a
detention facility.
“With a conditional use, neighbors
will get a chance to have their legitimate
concerns addressed,” he said. “The
developer may hear things he never
thought of before, and would benefit
from.”
Mayor Sam Adams was polite to
those who testified against the facility,
but told two of them that their issues
could not be considered under the
hearing’s rules.
He was more aggressive with Davis,
several times asking, “How is that ger-
mane to the criteria we have before us?”
At one point, when Davis suggested
that those detained might in fact be
held overnight, Adams asked, “Do you
agree that if that happened it would be
a violation of the code?” “I’ll take your
word for it,” Davis replied.
Commissioner Amanda Fritz, herself
an immigrant from England, brought
out that the Main Post Office, on the
edge of the fashionable Pearl neigh-
borhood, contains both detention
facilities and classrooms where people
such as herself could attend required
citizenship classes. She did ask whether
Council could require a conditional use
permit as a condition of approval.
The most critical Council member
was Commissioner Nick Fish. After
questioning Fioravanti for several min-
utes he said, “The code doesn’t give us a
lot of guidance. Reasonable people can
differ over this because the definitions
are subject to interpretation.”
Council eventually agreed to allow
both sides to submit additional writ-
ten material through January 26 – this
at Lindquist’s request. They will then
have until February 2 to rebut the new
evidence. Council will hold a second
hearing on the case at 2 p.m. February
16.
Raffle Prizes • Childcare • Community Exhibitors • Local Food
Lake Oswego Street Car
COME SHARE YOUR IDEAS ABOUT HOW TO GET TO THE FUTURE WE WANT.
WWW.PDXPLAN.COM • 503-823-2041
The Portland Plan team will make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities.
Please notify us no fewer than five (5) business days prior to the event by phone at 503-823-7700,
by the TTY line at 503-823-6868, or by the Oregon Relay Service at 1-800-735-2900.
(Continued from Page 3)
question as to whether the Willamette
Shore Right of Way, re-assembled in
1988, would be available if rail wasn’t
built on it.
At the moment it is used in summer
by the Willamette Shore Trolley, which
provides recreational riding rather
than service, as a sort of placeholder.
“Some parts of the right of way were
purchased specifically for rail use,”
Obletz said, “and without rail on them
it would disappear.”
OHSU Building
(Continued from Page 7)
move back and forth to their main
campus quickly.”
OHSU’s next priority is to relocate
their dental school. “The existing one
is crying out for a wrecking ball,” Wil-
liams said. “Everything in it wouldn’t
meet current accreditation standards.”
They also have other plans for the
space the old structure now occupies,
he said. The project will be subject to
design review, and construction will
begin in “about a year,” he said.