Minutes of Eliot Neighborhood Association Land Use and Transportation Committee 2015-05-11

DRAFT- not yet approved

Committee members present: Allan Rudwick (chair), Clint Lundmark, Paul Van Orden (briefly).
Others: Mary Batson, Jim, Montserrat Arribillaga, Alise Munson, Rich Newlands + Andrew Sullivan (PBoT), Kristin Slavin + team (Path Architecture), one or two others.  Sign in sheet in the future?

Eliot Land Use and Transportation Committee Minutes
May 11, 2015 6:30 pm
St Philip Deacon Episcopal Church
120 NE Knott Street

6:35p.m. – meeting started

Rodney Greenway
A long discussion of the Rodney greenway happened.  I wrote this draft letter:

There is a high level of support for all elements of the project except for the diagonal diverter at Ivy and Rodney, and I recommend that these proposed improvements be made final.
Other topics included: a desire for left-turn signals from Fremont to MLK, Jr Blvd (not in the scope of this project), speed bumps on NE Fremont and a lower speed limit (25 from 30) on Fremont west of MLK. There was a comment that the straight arrow on the ground at NE Cook Street just east of Williams would be removed.
The diverter at Ivy and Rodney will be the subject of the rest of this letter. As a result of project timelines, the diagonal test diverter was installed before predicted traffic problems materialized. As a result, the neighbors that live near the diverter do not believe that the diverter is needed. A petition that was circulated of neighbors around the diverter showed an overwhelming dislike of the diverter. It was mentioned that at the April open house meeting on the project there were 32 comments in favor and 12 opposed to the diverter.
After a lengthy discussion on Monday, May 11^th, it seems that there could be another test period with the temporary diverter removed. The purpose of this would be get actual measurements of how much traffic is being reduced as a result of the diverter. In the course of the second test period, assuming the diverter gains support of at least 1/3 of neighbors within 500 feet of the diverter, I would suggest installing a permanent diverter similar to the design proposed by PBOT.
There was not a quorum of the Land Use committee to make an official recommendation but it seemed that the conflicted viewpoints were understood at the meeting.

Since that discussion, another proposal was sent to us and that will be discussed at the June 8th LUTC.

Kaiser Wood Tower (Fremont and Williams, SE Corner)
Kristin is the project lead on this project although Ben Kaiser owns the land.  She described how this project (14 condos all with direct elevator access above ground floor retail) was going to be a mostly wood and glass construction project.  Each unit would be roughly 1400 square feet and would be split by east and west halves of the building.  The proposal included 22 parking spaces in an underground robotic parking configuration.  The project seems to be smaller than the massing studies showed, which seemed to make some of the nearby neighbors feel a bit more at ease, although 8 stories seemed to be concerning to some.  This will the first mass-timber building above 6 stories built in Oregon, maybe the US although similar taller projects have been constructed in Canada and the technology has been tested before.  The units were configured as 1-bedroom but 2 more rooms could be sectioned off depending on what the customers want.

Meeting ends 8.30 pm