Community
Advisory Committee
ponders light rail
alignment, station
issues – Page 3
Blind walker
asks motorists to be
more aware of their
surroundings
– Page 5
EarthTalk: If Neil
Gorsuch is confirmed
as Supreme Court
justice, how will that
affect our environment?
– Page 2
The Southwest Portland Post
Volume No. 25 Issue No. 6
www.swportlandpost.com
Portland, Oregon
Complimentary
April 2017
New subdivision would have dramatic impact on Hayhurst neighborhood
By Jack Rubinger
The Southwest Portland Post
A March 8 land use hearing was
attended by more than 50 friends and
families from the Hayhurst area to
discuss a proposed development that
would have a dramatic impact on the
neighborhood.
Speakers included Susan King,
Brynna Hurwitz, and Randi Sachs.
Everett Custom Homes is the developer.
The hearing was conducted because
it’s required for a Type III development.
This is controversial because the
property has a 15 percent slope to be
filled with 18 feet of dirt in a potential
landslide zone and there are protected
wetlands there.
Neighbors, many of who have lived in
the area for 20-plus years, aren’t happy.
“Our Southwest neighborhoods
continue to battle greedy developers,”
said one neighbor. “With so many folks
moving to Portland and the urban
growth boundary, developers are
swallowing up any old lots they can
find within city limits and building large
homes on them, with little consideration
for the environment or the community.”
According to the same neighbor,
this development, on Southwest
48th Avenue, proposes 11 homes on
one lot, all out of price range for the
neighborhood. It proposes paving
what is now a “safe route to school” for
Hayhurst Elementary School children
and removing more than 90 trees.
More than 320 people have signed a
petition protesting the development.
The area near Pendleton Woods is
former dairy land. It is rural and filled
with trees, seeps and springs.
There is a gravel road and Southwest
48th Avenue is an unimproved street
with no sidewalks, many potholes and
an intersection with Cameron Street
with low visibility.
It’s also a “safe route to school” so
there are lots of pedestrians on 48th
Avenue from Cameron through the
site to Iowa Street, where Hayhurst
Elementary School stands.
(Continued on Page 7)
A picture of the proposed Pendleton Woods development in Hayhurst.
(Photo courtesy of Randi Sachs)
New city renter ordinance provides assistance for evicted tenants
MULTNOMAH NOTEBOOK
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
The March 14 meeting of the
Multnomah Neighborhood
Association was full of detailed reports
from each of the various committees.
Parks are looking at a 5 percent
budget cut, local transportation issues
continue to progress, and safety
remains a top priority for the area.
When they were finished, vice
chair Leslie Hammond discussed
the “Portland Renter Additional
Protections” ordinance. It was
approved recently by the city council
and became effective Feb. 2.
“The ordinance covers a few
protections for tenants,” Hammond
said. “Landlords may terminate a
rental agreement without a cause
with a written notice no less than
90 days before the termination date
designated in the lease.”
Hammond explained that the
landlord must pay the evicted tenant
“relocation assistance” in various
sums depending on the size of the
unit.
“For example, $2,900 must be paid
for single-room occupancy, $3,300 for
a one-bedroom dwelling, or $4,200 for
a two-bedroom.”
Several exemptions apply: week-to-
week tenancies; landlords who only
have one rental unit; rentals within the
landlord’s principal residence; or long-
term rentals of the principal residence
of not more than three years.
Reducing homelessness and
increasing affordable housing were
the number one priorities on both of
the council’s agendas.
Residential infill project discussed
Land use co-chair Houston Markley
mentioned a Jan. 26 Portland Tribune
article about affordable home lobbying
efforts by various groups.
“We need to end the exclusionary
gated communities without gates
in Portland,” Madeline Kovacs, the
program director for Portland for
Everyone, was quoted.
“Kovacs was referring in particular
to various neighborhoods fighting
infill housing projects, including
Multnomah,” Markley explained.
“Portland for Everyone is a land-use
watchdog organization that works to
restrict the urban growth boundaries
where new development can occur,”
Jim Peterson, the land use co-chair
said.
Kovacs is planning to spend the
coming year working to ensure the
residential infill project concept plan,
approved by city council last year,
allowing new multifamily housing
projects in existing single-family
neighborhoods.
According to United Neighborhoods
for Reform, the Residential Infill Project
Stakeholder Advisory Committee was
appointed by city staff.
“UNR is a grass roots neighborhoods
organization,” wrote Barbara Strunk,
the group’s representative on the
committee.
“UNR group was created because
of concerns about the number of
demolitions of viable, relatively
affordable houses and replacement
with much larger, very expensive
houses,” Strunk wrote to The Post.
(Continued on Page 6)
Subscribe to The Post and help us keep the presses rolling! Form on Page 2.
The Southwest Portland Post
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
One of eight projects in and around Southwest Carson Street and 46th Avenue.
According to Houston Markley, the crumbling street is becoming worse with the
number of construction trucks coming and going since last year.
(Post photo by Erik Vidstrand)