The HAND Board has endorsed the Division Design Initiative, which describes itself like this:
The Division Design Initiative was developed in response to community concerns about rapid growth without meaningful opportunity for local stakeholders to be involved. [SE Division Street] in particular has experienced significant change in character and scale in a very short time with 16 large developments and over 1,000 new apartment units. While we absolutely want to encourage new housing in our neighborhood, we also care about design that fits local context and reducing unnecessary development impacts where possible. Community members have asked how they can have more design input and this initiative is one approach to creating conversations and tools to guide growth and change in proactive ways.
The Initiative proposes voluntary development guidelines that promote livability and compatibility of new developments on SE Division Street and Portland’s other major commercial streets.
Multiple local organizations support the Division Design Initiative, including business associations, other neighborhood associations, businesses, academic partners, and non-profits.
Although initially targeted to SE Division Street, the Initiative’s recommendations are sufficiently general to apply to many of Portland’s other commercial corridors. With the adoption of the Initiative by multiple groups around the city, the Initiative is being renamed as the “PDX Design Initiative”.