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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2015)
2 • The Southwest Portland Post EDITORIAL October 2015 Urgent that Multnomah neighbors appear at City Council hearing on Nov. 19 OPEN FORUM By Martie Sucec Portland’s planning commission recently recommended the planning bureau’s 2035 Comprehensive Plan to city council for public hearings, then adoption. It’s the blueprint for growth, including building sites, height, and mass. Oregon planning law requires that processes be open to “widespread, active citizen involvement.” But 2035 planning hasn’t been receptive to many neighborhood associations, who mostly know and are strongly connected to their community’s social fabric, landscapes, and living patterns. Tireless neighborhood association efforts mostly struck out. Echoing Multnomah’s experience, one Southeast leader wrote, “[City] s t a ff h a v e n o t b e e n h e l p f u l i n understanding or explaining the issues to the [Planning and Sustainability Commission], and [its] leadership have as a result not been receptive to implementing the neighborhood’s requests.” Dozens of Multnomah Neighborhood Association amendments and document/information requests were ignored. These were copied to the mayor, planning-bureau director, planning- commission chair, city commissioners, state land-conservation-and- development department, Metro’s regional-planning director, others. As one city staffer put it, [neighborhoods] could have input, but planners didn’t have to listen. MNA leaders want changes in policies and zoning that adversely affect many Southwest neighborhoods. For Multnomah, the Plan designates the Village (now a linear “Main Street”) a “Neighborhood Center,” promoting dense development within a half-mile radius. MNA wants a linear “Neighborhood Corridor” designation, limiting dense development into adjacent streets. Multnomah’s half-mile radius falls within two even-denser “Town Centers” (West Portland/ Hillsdale) and two “Civic Corridors” (Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway/ Barbur Boulevard), allowing 10-story buildings within half-mile radiuses. New mixed-use zoning converts current “Commercial Storefront” (Village zone) to “Commercial Mixed- Use (CM).” Despite MNA’s lobbying for “CM1” (three-story, 35-foot-buildings), without a strong outcry, the Village will be zoned “CM2,” allowing 45-foot buildings. Within overlapping Town Centers/Civic Corridors, 55-foot buildings are inevitable. Multnomah’s half-mile radius encompasses almost the whole neighborhood: under current zoning 3,980 households can increase to 5,900. Under proposed zoning, build-out View facing west of Southwest Capitol Highway at 35th Avenue showing current scale and character of Multnomah Village, and the recent three-story building (right) that complements the core area. (Photo by Stewart Rounds, used by permission) increases 28 percent to about 7,560 households. Where will they go? Portland says it already has capacity for enough growth to protect the Urban Growth Boundary, so what’s driving this development-on-steroids, aside from profiteering? “Transit- supported development.” Because Southwest Capitol Highway, Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and Barbur Boulevard surround Multnomah, this policy is bluntly applied—despite Multnomah’s scale and character, healthy mix of single- and multi-family-housing options, and recent housing/business development. Barbur Boulevard and Beaverton- Hillsdale Highway have transit to Join us! For an Education Round Table with local leaders. well be … and well informed 6pm, Thursday, Oct. 8th Lake Oswego City Hall Bowman’s Hillsdale Pharmacy We want to hear from you! 6256 SW Capitol Hwy. 503-244-7582 Hosted by State Rep. Ann Lininger email: pharmacy@hillsdalerx.com •Blisters? We Can Help •Experienced Compounding Pharmacists Celebrating 4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509, Portland, OR 97206 Years in Business! Phone: (503) 244-6933; Fax: (866) 727-5336 general email: news@multnomahpost.com web address: www.swportlandpost.com 22 Editor & Publisher .........Don Snedecor Reporters/Writers ...........KC Cowan, Jack Rubinger .............. Erik Vidstrand Copy Editor ......................Rich Riegel Advertising Sales ...........Harry Blythe, Rich Riegel, Don Snedecor Graphic Design ..............Leslie Baird Design Printing ............................Oregon Lithoprint Circulation .......................Rick Hepper © 2015 by The Southwest Portland Post. All rights reserved. The opinions of the artists and authors contained herein are not necessarily shared by the publisher. Deadline for news and advertising is generally the 20th of the month prior to publication. Please call for current deadline information. Advertising rates are available upon request. The Post has a circulation of 7,000 in Multnomah Village and the surrounding neighborhood business districts including Burlingame, Capitol Hill, Garden Home, Glen Cullen, Hillsdale, South Portland, Raleigh Hills, West Portland and Vermont Hills. The Post is published on or about the 1st of every month. Subscriptions are $24 per year. Back issues are $2.50 each when available. All major credit cards accepted. The Post is printed on recycled newsprint using soy-based inks. www.mygnp.com support denser development. Narrow Capitol Highway does not. TriMet says it can’t boost capacity much in neighborhoods outside Central City/“inner” neighborhoods. Multnomah is treasured for small-town vibrancy, economic and social diversity, robust age mix, small businesses, “greenscape”— all imperiled by Plan-enabled mega- redevelopment and rationalized by “private-property rights” and/or the UGB. People living here now have property rights too, so should neighborhoods. This plan gives slash-and-burn-type- developers rights that will constantly trump ours. Land-use planning that truly balances economic values with livability and community values mostly eludes Portland, despite its rhetoric. The 2035 Comprehensive Plan will radically alter Multnomah. Let’s say NO to senseless demolition of affordable housing, higher-rise density, and relentless gentrification. To save Multnomah, please appear/ testify at the City Council hearing at 2 p.m. on Nov. 19 at City Hall to support a “Neighborhood-Corridor” designation and “CM1” zone in the Village. Martie Sucec lives in Multnomah. Sucec joined scores of other Southwest citizens who, in the mid-1990s, became immersed in a six-year process to help hammer out the Southwest Community Plan, part of the current Comprehensive Plan that remains in effect until adoption of the 2035 Plan. The Post welcomes reader response. Interested in writing a guest column? Contact Don Snedecor via email don@multnomahpost.com or call 503-244-6933 for guidelines. SUBSCRIPTION FORM We Deliver! Mail subscriptions are available at at the following rates: One year (12 monthly issues) ...................$24 Two years (24 monthly issues) .................$34 Three years (36 monthly issues) ..............$44 q This is a NEW subscription q This is an ADDRESS change q This is a RENEWAL q This is a GIFT subscription Call 503-244-6933 with credit or debit card. Or send check or money order to The Southwest Portland Post, 4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509, Portland, OR 97206 Name Address City/State/Zip