Plan puts Interstate roofs on the rise

Committee worries public still unaware of zoning changes

By Lee van der Voo

The Portland Tribune, Feb 19, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (39 Reader comments)

It’s the next “it” neighborhood.

North Interstate Avenue – its funky signs, its 1950s character and its potential to house the next wave of Portland newcomers – is getting a face-lift.

But while a city effort to rezone the Interstate corridor is paving the way for much taller buildings and more people and businesses, some worry that few who live in nearby neighborhoods really understand the impact the new zoning will have – even while a last phase of tinkering on the changes are under way.

If the plan goes forward, new buildings will stand taller – possibly up to 10 stories – in existing residential neighborhoods, particularly on the east side of Interstate Avenue.

A final meeting to gauge public reaction to the new zoning plan takes place Thursday. By next month, it will begin its bureaucratic ascent through the Portland Planning Commission and the City Council, which ultimately will make some version of the zoning changes final.

In the current proposal, new zoning would allow more commercial activity on both sides of Interstate Avenue and call for high-density housing on top.

The idea is to fix outdated zoning that prevents more commercial development on the street and makes it hard for existing businesses to remodel.

The plan also aims to encourage more housing along the Interstate MAX Yellow Line, which has run along Interstate since its opening in 2004, testing a city policy that putting Portland’s growing population closer to the MAX will ease congestion.

If land is redeveloped under current rules, parcels within 1,000 feet of MAX stations could build up to 100 feet tall, or nine to 10 stories.

Farther than 1,000 feet from the MAX stations, high-density parcels would be limited to 75 feet, or six to seven stories. Planners still may choose to limit all heights in the area to 75 feet, an idea that has considerable public support.

But at least two members of the citizen advisory group that helped the city draft the new zoning plan are concerned that few residents have caught on.

“Between Killingsworth and Lombard, Interstate to the freeway, that is going to be a huge pocket of (new zoning for tall buildings) and they have no idea,” said AlexSandra, a vintage boutique owner who uses only her first name and serves on the citizen advisory group.

Though AlexSandra believes the group – which includes city planners and officials from the Portland Development Commission – has done all it can to spread the word, news in the neighborhood appears to be spreading slowly, even as planning nears an end.

“I think it’s a problem, and what I’ve tried to do about it is when people come into my shop, I ask them if they know about the zoning being planned. Usually they don’t, so I whip out two maps,” she said.

Those maps show just how dramatically zoning could change. While the new plan for Interstate is aimed at boosting commerce, pedestrian traffic, MAX ridership and housing density, the degree of change suggested for new construction in now-residential neighborhoods isn’t always obvious.

The proposed plan would make permanent a long-standing vision to put dense development between Interstate Avenue and Interstate 5 to the east, from Overlook to Columbia boulevards.

About half of that stretch – from Mason Street to Killingsworth Street – is already zoned for buildings up to 100 feet, under current standards.

But to the north, from Killingsworth Street to Columbia Boulevard, today’s zoning allows only single-family housing and smaller-scale apartments and rowhouses.

“I’m just getting to the point where I know what’s going on and it’s too late,” said Tabor Porter, also on the community advisory group.

Porter owns a home on Interstate Avenue and, over about a year of planning talks, slowly has learned to decipher zoning jargon. He worries not enough residents understand the proposed new zoning, or that it may cause people to lose privacy and value in their homes.

Porter soon may see new housing develop on a vacant lot next to his own home, a development that could be built very close to his house if the new zoning requirements go through.

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