Readers of this column will know that the NE Quadrant phase of the Central City Plan update recently finished. The resulting Plan was approved by City Council. This plan is “advisory” and may be changed of modified subsequently. Concern about possible changes that would upset the compromises agreed to by the stakeholder committee resulted in a request that the committee be notified of any prospective changes and re-engaged to review and comment before they are adopted. It isn’t clear Council will be bound by that request, but here is hoping it will be.

Continue reading One Down, One to Go

The State requires the City to adopt and update a comprehensive land use plan for a 25 year future period.  Multiple plans are embedded within this process, including transportation plans,  district plans, and Portland’s Central City Plan.  The City is in the midst of updates to both the Central City and Comprehensive (city-wide) Plans.  Portions of Eliot are in the Central City and are covered by that Plan update, as has been described in this column for the past two years.  The Central City update is proceeding in four stages corresponding to different quadrants of the central city.  Eliot is in the Northeast Quadrant, which is the first part of the central city plan to be updated.  That update is now complete after two years of meetings, in which Eliot was well represented.  The final plan will go to City Council for review and approval in October, with the other central city quadrants to follow.

Continue reading City Planning Update: One Down

One of the hot button issues in the NE Quadrant Plan process was bike and pedestrian safety, particularly along Broadway near I-5.  In response to a spate of recent vehicle/bike accidents and pressure from multiple parties, including Eliot, City staff have agreed to try and speed the adoption of some of the proposals in the Plan.  One of these was to limit access to North Wheeler from Broadway as that has been a contributor to bike accident statistics.  To do so the City erected temporary wooden barriers with “no right turn” signs.

Continue reading Own Worst Enemies

The NE Quadrant planning process is part of the Central City Plan, which is part of the longer term Comprehensive Plan.  Each of these plans are required by State law and need to be updated every 20 to 25 years.  Now that the transportation component of the Quadrant plan is ending, the land use component will wrap up over the summer.  This will only cover Eliot land use issues in Lower Albina and along Broadway.  The rest of Eliot (and the City) will be covered in the Comp Plan, due in two years.

Continue reading Land Use 101

Lori Simpson and I have represented Eliot in a joint State/City effort to plan the NE quadrant of the as part of the larger Central City Plan.  The Central City includes all of downtown as well as the Southeast Industrial area and our quadrant that is the area from the river east to 15th, south of Broadway to I-84, including Lower Albina and part of Eliot west of Williams south of Russell.  The process is near its end after 15 months of meetings.  This link provides access to the formal proceedings, which are well worth reviewing: http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cfm?c=53257.

Continue reading NE Quadrant Update

The NE Quadrant Plan has two primary purposes; to evaluate options to enhance I-5 performance (meaning expand) between I-84 and I-405, and to update the Central City Plan (including revising zoning as necessary). This is a lot of work for both City and State staff and for the Citizen Advisors (CAC) from each of the neighborhood association and other stakeholders. As a result, the process has frequent meetings of separate “transportation” and “land use” subcommittees of the CAC that discuss options in-between roughly monthly CAC meetings and quarterly public Open Houses.

Continue reading NE Quadrant Planning Update