Hosford-Abernethy Neighborhood Development Association (HAND)
Community/ Board Meeting, Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 7:00 PM
St. Philip Neri Church Paulist Center
Land Use Meeting 6:35 pm (informal notes):
Updates on several projects in our neighborhood.
Val B. – attending to voice his concerns about: Hosford-Abernethy | 03-03-09 | SE Clinton Street – lot west of 2426 SE Clinton | Land Division – NOTICE | LU 08-182289 LDP Publish date: March 3, 2009 | Pull date: by 5PM on April 2, 2009
Val researched this project, there is actually a demo notice for the house now standing on the lot. The lot will be divided and at least one lot will now include a multi-family dwelling. Val’s concern is that the city’s notification is too vague. The notification only alerts to the sub-division but not about the house’s demo.
Frank: What is it you think we can do?
Val: We need to point out the incompleteness of the notification process. “Technically†it’s two projects, but in reality it’s one. Val thinks HAND needs to make a statement of how “transparency is needed†for notifications of neighbors.
Linda: Another training/meeting on Land Use notifications. Next Monday, March 24. She suggests we go to that meeting and show this notice as an example.
Val: Also of note, the plan is to demolish another “century†home – without any notification. The home will be replaced with another home (according to Portland Maps). How is that helping the city’s sustainability focus?
Frank: Also of issue, the weird plotting of land with no notification of neighbors.
It was requested that Val draft a letter for HAND to send to the city bringing this issue to light. Val agreed to do so.
General Meeting
Board Members Present: Chair alex Bassos, vice Chair Linda Nettekoven, Secretary Carolyn Brock, Treasur Matthew Masini, Frank Dufay, Lois Hankins, Amy Lewin, Lindsey McBride, Joseph Murphy, Sue Pearce, Jack spadaro, Marilee Tillstrom, Ethan timm. Also present: Land Use Chair Kina voelz
Board Members Absent: Liz Gatti, Dave Kaplan, Wendy Kunkel,
Meeting called to order by chair Alex Bassos @ 7:02 p.m.
Introductions
Crime Prevention Officer – Leo Yee:
Monthly crime stats handed out. Officer Yee says, Biggest (stat or jump in crime) is larceny, such as break-ins — from cars to bicycle theft, a couple shoplifts. A lot of it is from motor vehicles which was 53% of these reports, also vehicle theft is up 23%. Also wanted to stress during this timeframe there were no burglaries in HAND. Also of note, experience shows that when the economy goes bad, these are the type of crime stats that this officer sees increase. Linda requested a graphical/quarterly report of crime trends, etc. So we can have a broader indication of whether something is spiking. Jack, “how is the precinct realignment going?†Officer Yee, “The latest map splits the precinct down 39th Ave. in SE. For this side of 39th going to Central Precinct and the other side going to East Precinct.†Susan Pearce mentioned the precinct commander of Central Precinct is going to come to meet with other neighborhood leaders, next Thursday, March 19th. Someone asked about graffiti reports: an officer at central precinct handles these reports.
Announcements:
Alex: Sustainability meeting – 5th Tuesday of March 31 @ 6:30 p.m. (we have a couple potential projects in the mix, so inviting anyone interested in sustainability issues in the neighborhood please join!).
No Vacancy! – a collaborative project exploring the temporary use of empty spaces in the Central Eastside Industrial District
Presented by Emily Rice and Beth Somerfield – http://novacancyproject.wordpress.com/ – Urban Planning students for PSU.
Working on final project. Talking to people who own vacant space and people interested in vacant space. In terms of owners: vacant parking lot, empty storefront, etc. Users: Wide range of issues: single event/arts events.
Emily & Beth are asking HAND & Neighbors: What are the barriers? Exploring these to keep spaces active…and asking what kind of uses and what kind of spaces do you see happening there? Are there some spaces waiting for something to happen? If people have ideas, please grab a flyer, talk to us. Will be holding open houses for people to talk about these issues – these dates and times will be posted on their web site later this year. Also working on Central Eastside Industrial District. Frank: Have you talked to ODOT and the property they own down there? Answer: Yes. Email for more questions.
Chris: What kind of feedback have you received so far?
Answer: We’ve talked to a few owners, but what about liability, access, zoning, so those are the kinds of challenges we are seeking to find answers to. We are also gleaning information from other national groups who have been efforting similar projects. Overall the response has been positive. Evaluating what “temporary†use would be, etc.
Frank: Worked on the skateboard project several years ago, ODOT was very resistant to the idea, so please be aware of that when talking to them. It’s a great site and has great potential.
New Day School Update:
Jiiva Priya, Kathy Aulwes– Applying for development of the “Woodsmen of the World†building adjacent to the current school property. The long-term plan is to expand the school, expecting to add the maximum of 180 students in the future. At pre-application meeting they were told to go through a traffic study, so they are currently undergoing this. As a school, they hope to eliminate parking behind school building and expand park/play area at the school. PDOT is less enthusiastic about this plan, so that’s part of what they are exploring in their transportation study. PDOT is concerned with traffic impact early in the morning and late in the day along the street in front of the school (i.e. pick up and drop off times for school). Kina: also attended the pre-application meeting. Noted that the PDOT concerns were mostly about liability and child safety. Will Stevens, Project Manager for PDOT (not working on this project but speaking from experience): “Liability” is not a fair way to describe this concern. It’s really a safety issue, because you have such a concentrated issue of traffic with kids trying to get to their parents’ vehicle at pick up and drop off times. To minimize the concentrated point at pick up and drop off times to keep kids safe and being able to warehouse and queue a sudden influx of cars to a constrained area – PDOT is likely illustrating these concerns.
DISCUSSION: Kina: In order to support the school’s plan as a group, we would have to agree on the final design. In terms of car traffic on the site and as it relates to Clinton street. I think most of us will be willing to support the school by pushing back on the requirement PDOT is asking for. PDOT was pressing for a driveway to go from Clinton through the property into the vacant lot behind and on through to Division street. Kathy: As part of the study we counted number of students/families driving/biking to school. Lindsey: Do we have this information with officials about HAND’s plan for a pocket park at the vacant lot off of 19th Street and Division. Linda: did you note in your study that the times for pick up and drop off is more variable than a regular grade school? Kathy: Yes, we’ve found mostly kids dropped off between 8-9 and then later in the day, but we do have kids who vary earlier and later times, too. Kathy will get us a copy of the traffic study and get some response from HAND. Will: Suggests describing exactly how you would manage traffic in front of the school for drop off and pick up; he thinks that would help with their case.
Community Issues
Speed bumps on 20th and Hawthorne
Presented by: Will Stevens, Program Manager, Traffic Operations, Portland Office of Transportation (will.stevens@pdxtrans.org / 503-823-2267)
Will: Here to talk about traffic safety along SE 20th Ave. and the proposal from neighbor Jim Barrett noted as a leader of this citizen-driven effort to get these bumps on the street and what brought us to the point.
Jim: What prompted this was the development by Gerding Edelen (GE) and the property on SE 20th & Hawthorne. Neighbors asked the city to make mitigation measures at the intersection, instead GE & Neighbors all put up money to help develop mitigation efforts to make traffic safer near that intersection. Also given that the only parking at the new structure will be on SE 20th which will increase commercial & residential traffic at and near this intersection. So given money and viability of options, neighbors went to Will for recommendations.
Will: There are some potential neighborhood-wide implications. Initially he thought the intent was speed reduction, but learned that visibility was more the neighbors’ core concern. Market @ 20th – became the most concerning location. Given parking environment and the influx of current construction activity – both are giving some real examples of what kind of traffic this building will be seeing at completion. City can’t just go in and put paint and signs up because then it does become a liability issue. We have under $15,000 raised for this project, the city is not in the position to add to this funding (nowhere to be found). The days of making a project plan and then going after a budget – those days are over for the city. There are two options: First: a pedestrian refuge island in the intersection (that is about a $20-25,000 project). Second, a speed “tableâ€/raised/marked crossing. (cost estimated to be about $15,000). Both have advantages/disadvantages. City is considering possibly stopping the bumps at Harrison, because you have a very unusual island/curved feature already in the street that would make a good stopping point. The infrastructure that supports this idea/project is that traffic would be forced to slow which would increase the safety issues along this stretch/intersection. Personally he thinks the pedestrian-island is the better option, but the funding for this is where the question remains. It would depend on HAND and the neighborhood on whether they decided to go forward helping fund this project. Also, an option also is “no change.†But because money has been raised, don’t anticipate the city would walk away from this. But this would mean 5 speed bumps and a raised crosswalk at Market – the city would require that HAND endorse this option. With the other project, the city would not require an endorsement b/c a pedestrian refuge island because the impact is more focused and less impactful than a speed bump project. Currently this is all in the evaluation stage – considering both options outlined above. Next step: designs will be presented, talk more about the funding piece, neighbors leading this effort. Estimated date of presentation – Will says this will be before June.
Discussion: Chris: comment on experience of 20th – it feels like a higher traffic street because of the double lines, if you treated this with primarily a ped-island, this would mimic a higher density street and in turn not change/reduce speed along that street.
Ben: Asked to elaborate on the why of stopping speed bumps at Harrison. GED’s agreement, want to be sure they know that the majority of their money will be going to affect/improve traffic for their future residents and in turn would look more attractive to GED when it comes time to pay for this project.
Linda: Is there any possibility of doing a pedestrian extension combined with a green feature with BES? This could be tied in to Tabor to the River project.
Will: They are reluctant to partner, one reason is because of cost, but a green feature costs about $40,000 and other priorities.
Lindsey: Lives off of 20th closer to Division. Would encourage we consider the street as an “organic whole.†And that both ends will be affected by the new development/traffic.
Joseph: Not sure that by slowing things down will really improve pedestrian safety along 20th.
Portland Streetcar update:
Presented by Julie Gustafson, Portland Streetcar
Julie: There has been a slight change to the alignment map since their last visit to HAND. (Map handed out). With this alignment and the building of a transit bridge at OMSI it will be a full loop around the city. Eventual plan, pending budgets and car purchases, is to run the cars from Riverplace all the way over Broadway bridge to OMSI. So service would be doubled downtown and people would get from one side to the other. They eliminated 3 stops along Burnside, after investigating driveways, etc. and identifying what would be the least impactful for traffic. We are 70-percent completed with design. Some of the stations are now designed, too. Stop example shown for SE Grand & Stark. Will be doing pedestrian improvements along the project, curbs, etc. There are some stops with no room to improvement but are doing all they can to update corners that are affected by a stop.
Discussion: Ethan: Will streetcar be in same lane as cars?
Julie: Yes, most streetcars are. There will be a few dedicated right-of-ways along the new route but no lanes of travel will be affected. In 2015 Streetcar tracks will be moved due to the TriMet transit project expected for the eastside.
Chris: The section appears to have 10-foot travel lanes….doesn’t Division and weren’t they limited to transit/track traffic because of this?
Linda: Division actually has 9-foot lanes, which is why this was an issue on this street.
Julie: Travel lane size won’t change from what is present now. Waiting for feds to approve budget and move the money to help start this project, President has signed off on it, now just waiting for the funds from feds.
Ethan: Will budget include locally built cars?
Julie: $20 million coming from state of Oregon to buy Oregon-Made Streetcars – made by Oregon Iron Works in Oregon City. They will be the first brand new streetcars made in the U.S. in the last 55 years. They have proto-types and will celebrate this project later this Summer. Photos/images of streetcar construction and how it looks different to light-rail construction. Whole streets are not closed. The way we are planning to continue construction on the east side, we are doing 3-5 block increments, during that time sidewalks are open, access to driveways is kept, etc. Once construction starts, there will be updates on their website every three weeks. Drivers will know where to avoid during project construction. Handouts at back table and sign-in sheet to receive newsletters via email. Hoping to begin construction this Summer.
Kina: At the Buckman neighborhood meeting last week, what was discussed regarding meters and the cost estimate for that part of the project?
Julie: At the Buckman meeting, the first draft of the parking study has been released, and there will be some parking losses. But there is a requirement from BES, for every acre we pave we need to put in storm water mitigation. Design team said this was unacceptable, parking is important to these businesses, etc. So back to drawing board, went back to the stops, and reduced number of stops and put as many parking spots as possible into each space, and then whatever was left, they put in BES stormwater mitigation. They ended up more than an acre short of mitigation, and are currently in discussions with BES on how to settle this. As far as metered parking, I’m not sure what more was discussed.
Susan: As far as parking meters in this area to help fund downtown projects, that didn’t go over well. But there is some loss of parking. CEIC is concerned with any net loss of parking. So they are working on some mitigation efforts. They are meeting to discuss parking in this area. They have already identified some places but will be talking more. Buckman is concerned by loss of parking and also whether there will be metered parking.
Julie: This issue is big on the list on the design team, project team, etc. We know parking is a “hot-button†issue. There is a benefit, once the streetcar is in, people can commute better, but at the same time, there is the immediate affect for business to lose those spots in front of their store.
Chris: Need any ideas for stormwater locations to this project? I’m sure we have a few if you need any suggestions.
Susan: CEIC is already discussing this, and looking at maybe incorporating some of this mitigation effort into routes to the river and is definitely talking about this. Also, there is work to include a pedestrian/bike access along the streetcar “fly over†from MLK to OMSI.
Lindsey: What is the projected travel time from Hawthorne to Lloyd Center?
Julie: It will be pretty much the speed of a bus. But the benefits of streetcar is that it brings in a sense of permanence for developers/development.
Frank: Concerned about the time left in meeting to discuss this issue.
Julie: We will be having several open houses, the dates will be in the upcoming newsletter, but will be held in April.
Frank: Why are we calling this a Fed project? $127 million federal project
Julie: That is why it’s being called that.
Frank: Taxpayers are funding PDC, System development charges, etc. $27 million is from taxpayers. Have we identified in the budget how much taxpayers will be spending. We are laying off the city’s traffic calming officer, Will, in June, but we can pay for this?
Kina: When I look at this project, I am looking at these streets and asking, are those streets going to fundamentally change and improve for pedestrians and cyclists? I don’t think so. This money is going to the rails and cars, and ADA accessibility and curb extensions, but in terms of where this money is going to bike routes…Grand & MLK are nice streets and I don’t think this will be the same after this project. Lindsey brings up a good point. Will it make sense for me to use this? Is it? There are a lot of larger questions about how this gets integrated from a pedestrian/bike and a 20-minute neighborhood concept. And those are questions we need to ask especially if our money is going to this project.
Linda: What can be done to include this as a neighborhood discussion? (general discussion about including this at a future meeting)
Lindsey: I keep asking who is going to use this? Someone who works at Metro and lives in our neighborhood? Instead of 20-minute presentations, thinks we need to have dialogue and feedback on why this project is necessary.
Susan: We have limited time and have a lot more questions. When can we do this again?
Alex: Let’s continue this discussion at the sustainability meeting March 31.
Linda: what kinds of resources/people do we want to have at this meeting?
Marilee: We will be doing the curb extensions and won’t be preserving the street names.
Clearwire pole at 26th and Division (to replace a PGE pole)
Kara Campbell (not present)
Alex: Clearwire and pole location. They were expected to be here, but none came so there will be no discussion at this point until they are here.
Marty Eichenger, Fire and Earth Studio: At the intersection at 26th & Division. He has been notified by Clearwire that they want to relocated and replace the PGE Pole and extend it up. They chose Marty’s side of the street instead of the Clinton Condominium side (Developed by Randy Rappaport) because of the building’s height. Marty thinks the north side of the street is a far better location.
Ethan: If they are going to come, can they talk to us about the impact to the wireless fields/blankets.
Chris: About three years ago, city council convinced that instead of a cell tower installed, city has told them to put it on the pole. It’s so huge and made out of concrete, from an aesthetic point of view.
Jack: there’s an example on 30th & Harrison, they painted it brown and it is barely noticeable, due to topography, etc.
Linda: Do we know the size?
Marty: indicated this is an 85-foot tall pole, and on top of that it will be a rod that extends
Clinton Street Max Station – TriMet
Linda: Neighbors concerned about this project and train noise are currently unavailable, so she gave an update. There will be consultants in town April 6-8 to talk about our project and the WES, they will be discussing quiet zone and other issues. They will be doing applications and doing public zone demonstrations, etc. So we will have some feedback for our April meeting on these issues. Also working with neighbors in the Pearl on how they set up the “quiet zone.†Mayor’s office is discussing this issue. Linda spoke with Sue Keil, head of PDOT who says this is on the list as a priority for updates. Hopes that discussing this light rail project is possible at our meeting March 31. Also, considering working with some PSU students to talk about urban design and addressing this project. Met with the students, Kina & Ethan also voiced interest in working on this project. Also sent out messages to HAND Board to help design/discuss this class.
Kina: Did you think this would be worth our while?
Linda: We do have some experience working with this group of people, it seemed like it was broken down in a useful way, but it would be up to us to focus this group. This is a chance to get more eyes on the project. HAND Neighbor who works in parks suggested looking for park spots, etc. Also discussed if this project would help in getting a library in this neighborhood. What will be the effect in our neighborhood with this light rail arriving.
Ethan: used both overhead and underneath crossings and it makes you realize that these will be gone. Having students potentially looking at these issues, it helps get a fresh look and other things to consider.
Lindsey: There will be profound changes, likely from Division, 11th & 12th, that whole area looking SW. To do any of this stuff, in the end this area will change profoundly.
Linda: Also, stimulus PKG on Budget for PDOT. Also: Up in the state legislature is Senate Bill: 907 Changes city to allow option for design review in neighborhood.
Division Street April 1, date set for first Citizen Advisory Committee, Carvlin Hall, St. Philip Neri @ 6:30pm (open to the public and the first Wednesday of the month for the next few months) to meet to talk about the next stages/steps. Chose consultant and will be releasing later this week.
Chris (served on interview committee): Team chosen is an exciting team, and will be looking at project in an expansive way by looking at elements more broadly.
Linda: RAC is already on board to help lining up art options, etc.
Clean Up Update:
Marilee: The HAND Neighborhood Cleanup will be Saturday, May 2 at the Cleveland High School Parking lot. Sign up to volunteer. Also, we will be sending out a postcard which will have information on the clean up and our May meeting. Also, we have water bottles, stainless steel from New Seasons (“made in china/responsiblyâ€).
Pedestrian Safety Issue – Sue Pearce
– Sent an email in regards to transit bill – our state legislator Jules Kopel Bailey is in support, but also wants to be sure it supports low, greenhouse gas emissions. Hoping we can add this issue to our Sustainability meeting next week. There are some other measures of issue – but this came out of her meeting with the Willamette Pedestrian committee.
Also, several events coming up on the Esplanade: Susan will write a letter confirming notification was received and that it appears the event meets those guidelines. One of these occurs this weekend. She has already coordinated a meeting with the Central Precinct commander on how the precinct changes will affect us as a neighborhood.
Also, Susan will be out of town and not attending next month’s meeting. There are three meetings that she will miss and would like a HAND representative there. Linda will go to URAC. Other two are rail related meetings. One is Thursday, April 16 in Carvlin Hall regarding the Light Rail Citizens’ Advisory Committee– Frank will be able to attend this. The other is the Eastside Streetcar Loop – April 22 @ 2pm, at Lloyd tower, second floor conference room. Frank & Ethan will be attending.
• Meeting Minutes & Approval of February & January
Frank moved to approve the minutes for Jan. & Feb. Linda seconded the motion. (Lois and Jack abstained, otherwise unanimous approval.)
Meeting Adjourned: 9:02 p.m.
Submitted by: Amy Lewin, Note-taker and Carolyn Brock, Secretary