The Southwest Portland Post., August 01, 2017, Image 1

Multnomah
Days street fair
to include parade,
vendors, music,
and art sale
– Page 8
Should future
light rail line
run along Barbur
Boulevard or
Interstate 5?
– Page 4
EarthTalk:
Should Yellowstone
Park grizzly
bears be on the
endangered species
list? – Page 7
The Southwest Portland Post
Volume No. 25 Issue No. 10
www.swportlandpost.com
Portland, Oregon
Complimentary
August 2017
Neighbors who live in Capitol Highway’s Basin 3 face stormwater flooding
MULTNOMAH NOTEBOOK
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
Portland’s bureaus of Transportation
and Environmental Services are
working in coordination on street
and stormwater improvements on
Southwest Capitol Highway to ensure
successful outcomes for residents and
people who use the thoroughfare.
According to Becky Tillson,
Environmental Services is looking
for opportunities to improve drainage
issues in neighborhoods within four
basins in the project area. These basins
are located along Capitol Highway
between Taylors Ferry Road and
Garden Home Road.
Projects, which are in the early
design stage, include features
such as stormwater facilities,
green streets, ditch enhancements,
and underground infrastructure.
Stormwater moves through this
patchwork of infrastructure towards
creeks in Tyron Creek and Fanno
Creek watersheds.
“Environmental Services has started
a new planning initiative to address
stormwater problems,” said Tillson.
“The Stormwater System Plan will
provide a citywide strategy that will
define improvements to Portland’s
stormwater system.”
These include protecting public and
environmental health.
“The Capitol Highway project
is an opportunity to test the tools
developed in the plan and identify
the most appropriate solutions for
stormwater challenges,” Tillson said.
But neighbors who live in the Basin
3 zone are not content. This zone lies
along Capitol Highway beginning at
Alice Street, includes Dolph Court,
and ends at Spring Garden Street.
“There has been new construction
in the area causing even more
flooding than ever before,” said
Angela Clark, a resident in the Basin
3 zone. She attended the Multnomah
Extreme flooding this past spring prompted local residents in Capitol Highway's
Basin 3 zone to form an ad hoc committee and confront the city.
(Photo courtesy of Beverly Shields)
Neighborhood Association meeting
in July.
“We formed a neighborhood group
and presented at the March SWNI
Watershed Committee meeting,”
Clark said. “A lot of water is collected
in Basin 3.”
(Continued on Page 3)
Multnomah Village on track to see new apartments, more development
An empty lot at the corner of Southwest 36th Avenue and Troy Street is slated for a
four-story apartment building with retail and offices. (Photo by Erik Vidstrand)
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
According to Multnomah
Neighborhood Association land-use
chair Jim Peterson, and the city, several
commercial properties in the heart
of Multnomah Village are for sale.
Potential developers have already
submitted early assistance requests to
the Bureau of Development Services.
One potential project is located at
Southwest 36th Avenue and Troy
Street. A proposed four-story mixed-
use building would be built on the
sloping vacant lot which is adjacent
to the pet store. The first two stories
would be retail and offices and the
top two stories will have four to eight
apartments.
Quilici Architecture & Design,
Inc. has requested early assistance
for a project at 6825 SW 45th Ave.,
a new 65-unit apartment building
with underground parking. This is
located right across the street from
the Southwest Community Center at
Gabriel Park.
The biggest potential project,
located at 7628 SW 32nd Ave., is
located between Lucky Labrador
Public House and Village Hut. The
applicant proposes demolishing the
old filling station and garage, with
the gas station attendant mural,
and replacing it with a four-story
mixed-use building. It would include
ground floor retail, parking, and
approximately 40-50 apartment units.
Local neighborhood leaders are
already dubbing it “The Tower II” in
connection with the larger apartment
building a block away. That complex
will have 72 apartments and three
retail stores. Many, at least those
living in its shadow, have simply
called it “The Tower”.
“The project is designed for a CS
(Commercial Storefront) zone and
community design standards,” states
the city’s website.
“I talked to a reporter from the Daily
Journal of Commerce,” Multnomah
chair Martie Sucec said, “and he said
that the project is a feasibility study
by Urban Assets Advisors. What more
needs to be said?”
Urban Assets is leasing out the 72-
unit complex which many have said
does not fit the quaint scale of the
Village. One neighbor called it the
“Death Star.” But others, including
business owners, are in favor of
development as they believe it will
attract more customers.
Ed Lilly, the current gas station
property owner, has held this property
for over 25 years and is now ready to
sell and move on. When asked if the
historic gas station could be saved,
Lilly said it’s up to the new owners.
Converting it into a viable retail
space such as a café or pub would
face numerous hurdles and costs,
according to city bureaus. After
a property is sold, new plans for
development must bring all the
buildings up to code.
The Village Hut, next door, will be
left untouched; owner J. Harris isn’t
going anywhere.
The property has had its share of
retailers in the past. Judy Tormey,
owner of Multnomah Antiques,
remembers when Keith’s Auto Service
was located at the filling station
site before moving to property now
occupied by the French Quarter.
Tormey said she is anticipating
the day when Neighborhood House
begins construction on its four-story,
low income senior housing building
right next to her 40-year-old business.
“I worry about my china and
crystal breaking from construction
vibrations,” she said.
(Continued on Page 6)
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