July 2011
NEWS
NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
Neighborhood coalition
elects new officers
who had also declared for the post,
withdrew his name at the last minute.
Sharon Troutman of Marshall Park
was unopposed as Treasurer, where
she replaced Tom Schaper, as was Lee
Buhler of South Portland, who was re-
elected as Secretary.
Spirit of Portland Award
nominations due
Marianne Fitzgerald (Photo courtesy
of SWNI)
The Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc.
board last month elected Marianne
Fitzgerald of the Ash Creek neighbor-
hood as their president. She succeeds
Brian Russell of Multnomah, who is
moving out of state.
Fitzgerald, who had chaired the
SWNI Transportation Committee, out-
polled Don Baack, former Hillsdale
Neighborhood Association chair and
chair of the SWNI Trails Committee, in
a written ballot. Baack joined in the ap-
plause when the result was announced.
In another contested election, Jim
McLaughlin of West Portland Park
unseated incumbent Ken Love of South
Portland for the First Vice President
position. McLaughlin had originally
announced that he would run for presi-
dent, but later switched.
Sharon Keast of Arnold Creek won the
Second Vice President position by de-
fault when Moses Ross of Multnomah,
The Portland Office of Neighborhood
Involvement is once again accepting
nominations for Spirit of Portland
Awards. Given annually, these recog-
nize groups or individuals who have
contributed to the city’s livability.
A citizen jury, under the direction of
ONI, selects the winners from nomina-
tions submitted by the public at large.
The award categories are large or
small business; community policing
and public safety; emerging commu-
nity leader; humanitarian; non-profit
organization.
Additional categories include public
involvement; community harmony;
emergency preparedness; City em-
ployee of the year; independent spirit;
outstanding partnership; Sandy Died-
rich environmental stewardship; youth
volunteer; and neighborhood of the
year.
Nomination forms are available from
ONI in City Hall or from the Southwest
Neighborhood Office. The deadline
for submissions is 4 p.m. August 5. For
more information call 503-823-3881 or
e-mail patrick.philpot@portlandoregon.
gov.
Water tanks approved; Ash
Creek neighborhood appeals
Hearings Officer Gregory Frank has
approved a plan by the Tualatin Valley
Water District to install a two million
The Southwest Portland Post • 7
gallon water tank at 6217 S.W. Garden
Home Road, replacing two 500,000-gal-
lon tanks at the site. The Ash Creek
Neighborhood Association, which
opposed the request, has appealed the
decision to the Portland City Council.
A hearing will be held at 2 p.m. July 14.
The Water District argued that the
proposed new tank would have little
impact on its neighbors beyond the
facilities already there. Ash Creek and
immediate neighbors argued that the
proposed tank would take up the en-
tire property, loom over its neighbors,
and affect their livability and property
values.
Southwest Hills NA opposes land
partition of PDC leader Scott Andrews
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
A minor land partition is normally
a very routine procedure. A pending
request for one in the Southwest Hills
has been anything but.
Scott Andrews is requesting a parti-
tion for his property at 1205 S.W. Myrtle
Drive in order to create a new home site
that he can sell.
The property comprises 28,000 square
feet, and the R10 zoning allows one
dwelling unit per 10,000 square feet
of lot area, so the request would seem
doable legally.
However, Andrews is proposing a
second lot that is only 7,800 square feet,
far less than the minimum the code
demands.
Moreover, the parcel straddles a creek
that Andrews proposes to fill, diverting
the water into a new sewer pipe. He also
plans to clear-cut most of the dense tree
growth on the property.
“This goes against all the protections
for land use in the City code, for natural
resources in particular,” Nancy Seaton
of the Southwest Hills Residential
League (SWHRL) told The Post.
SWHRL officially opposed the proj-
ect. They suggested alternative ways
to develop the property and held some
negotiations with Scott’s attorney, Bob
Evanson, including one at a SWHRL
general meeting.
The neighborhood failed to achieve
a meeting of minds, largely because
Andrews refused to consider including
the high ground of the property, where
his own home is located and where de-
velopment would be the least obtrusive,
in the second home site.
“He didn’t seem to want anyone
muscling in on his home,” Seaton said.
Normally, when such an application
goes to the Bureau of Development Ser-
vices, the assigned planner works with
the applicant until they reach a proposal
the City deems acceptable.
Not in this case. Planner Kate Green
denied the application, finding that it
failed to meet nearly all the relevant
criteria.
Andrews appealed the decision, and
in late April it went before a city hear-
ings officer – where there was another
anomaly. Rather than use one of the
staff of attorneys it regularly employs as
a hearings examiner, the city auditor’s
office contracted to use Beaverton at-
torney Ken Helm, who had never before
performed this function, for the case.
SWHRL members speculated that
it might have had something to do
with the applicant’s status. Andrews is
chief executive officer of Melvin Mark
Properties, one of the major downtown
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