December 2012
NEWS
The Southwest Portland Post • 3
Landowner proposes plan to replace a red cedar tree cut
without permission
By Jillian Daley
The Southwest Portland Post
The City of Portland has cited a
landowner for not seeking the city’s
permission before removing a Western
Red Cedar tree from the site of a future
subdivision at Southwest 63 rd Avenue
and Vermont Street.
The city has required that landowner
Robert Whitaker plant replacement
trees to remedy the situation.
During a Maplewood Neighborhood
Association meeting last month, the as-
sociation’s land use chair Claire Carder
told neighbors she supports the replace-
ment tree plan.
Whitaker intends to add six Western
red cedars, six Western flowering dog-
woods and three big leaf maples.
“I hope they’re not those two-inch
Five new townhouses
are planned for the
historic Lair Hill district
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
Bruce Vincent of Consolidated Land
and Cattle is planning to build five two-
story town homes at 3314 SW First Ave.,
on historically “sacred ground.”
Not only is it part of the Lair Hill
National Historic District, but it is on
the site of a 19 th century building, last
used as the Great Northwest Bookstore,
destroyed by fire in 2010.
At a pre-application conference last
month, Vincent and architect Cody
Johnecheck said the units would have
front porches facing First Avenue, that
they would have a common parking
area in the rear with a single acess, and
that they would be built on lots 17 feet
wide.
Planner Douglas Hardy said that the
project would be subject to two public
reviews, one for the lot division and a
Type III design review. The latter would
involve a mandatory public hearing
before the Portland Historic Landmarks
Commission.
Planner David Skilton said that lots
narrower than 25 feet might be prob-
lematic, and so would the planned
wide front porch. “A traditional covered
porch would be a much easier sell,”
he said. Vincent argued that there are
buildings nearby, approved under the
guidelines, similar to what he proposed.
Skilton added, “The design guide-
lines for this district are the most
squirrelly we have. They were written
in 1980 by the neighborhood without
consideration of code requirements.”
Jim Gardner, a South Portland Neigh-
borhood Association board member
and Lair Hill resident, took issue with
this. “We’re reviewed many other de-
velopments under these guidelines and
found them useful,” he said.
“Some of the buildings we weren’t
necessarily happy with or felt were
appropriate.” Gardner urged Vincent
to “take your cue from the older build-
ings” rather than those built under the
guidelines.
Gardner said he liked the porches
Vincent proposed. He had expressed
other concerns at a neighborhood meet-
ing prior to the pre-app. There was too
little differentiation between the five
units, he said, and they appeared to be
“one continuous wall.”
sticks,”saidneighborGeorgeKraus.
The proposed trees are to be two
inches in diameter and would provide
a screen between the five-lot subdivi-
sion and other residences. The tree the
new plantings replace was 30 inches in
diameter.
Carder said her research shows that
smaller trees are used because they have
a greater survival rate than larger ones.
“He is going above what is typically
required,” planting five more trees than
heneedsto,saidhearingsofficerKathy
Harnden.
The public comment period on the
replacement plan ended Nov. 26, and
then, Harnden was to write her deci-
sion, which is open for appeal for 14
days afterwards.
She said as of Nov. 20 no one had
contacted her about the issue, and she
expects the replacement trees could be
planted in February or March, depend-
ing on how things go.
Whitaker got a land division permit
from the city to ready the site for houses
in 2004, and trees including the Western
red cedar were approved for preserva-
tion, Harnden said.
Project manager Brian Keicher said
Whitaker removed the Western red
cedar in July 2011 because he thought
he was allowed to do so and an arbor-
ist’s report in July 2008 said wind had
damaged the evergreen beyond repair.
Whitaker considered it a hazard.
Whitaker and his associates did not
follow the correct channels, Harnden
said. “They needed to contact the city
Zidell presents South
Waterfront “concept” to
Design Commission
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
Photo courtesy of Marion County
to get approval to remove that tree,”
she said.
Next year, the land should be ready.
Keichersaidheexpectsonceadevel-
oper builds out the site, the homes will
go quickly.
“That’s a good neighborhood, close
in, lots of room, so I would imagine
by the fall of 2013, the first occupancy
could take place,” he said.
At the start of this month, there still is
time to appeal the tree replacement plan. If
anyone wishes to do so, they may contact the
Land Use Board of Appeals at 503-373-1265
or 550 Capitol St. NE, Suite 235, Salem,
OR 97301. There is a fee to appeal.
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(Continued on Page 5)
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