Citizen Testimony and Government Machinations, the Promise and Peril of Portland's 2035 Plan

The Portland Planning & Sustainability Commission (PSC) is taking final testimony before its signs off on the 2035 Comprehensive Plan.  The first major revision of the city plan since 1980, this 900-page multi-faceted document is blessed with vision and detail.  Portland is expected to add 260,000 residents, with the most intense growth set for the Central City, where the number of residential units will double. 

City Council member Dan Saltzman, who oversees the Portland Housing Bureau, remarked that, “A big part of accommodating growth is to increase the height of all of our buildings." At the same time, “all height and floor-area-ratio bonuses should be tied to affordable housing. All of them." http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/06/portland_approves_major_20-yea.html

Much of the testimony to the PSC focused on policies to derive the right mix of housing, density, and affordability.  Density bonuses allow developers to transfer development rights from one site within the Central City to another to attain a community benefit.  In the past, 18 options items triggered density bonuses, but the new plan reduced this number to three:

1. Provision of Affordable Housing

2. Protecting Historic Buildings

3. Preserving Open Space

In the Pearl District, which is expected to add 6,000 households (50 percent more than the downtown), utilizing density transfers to protect historic buildings is a priority.  In 1983, a study by the American Institute of Architects identified 90 buildings and structures worthy of historic protection.  Approximately, one-third of those buildings have been lost, and there is a fear that intensifying development pressures are sterilizing the neighborhood's unique authenticity.  Historic structures offer a counterpoise to the new glass-sheathed towers, and the re-worked bonus transfer system seeks to secure the Pearl District's tie to the past and its electic, understated beauty.

Courtesy of Hallet Realty

The 2035 Comprehensive Plan allows bonus transfers for historic landmarks, buildings and structures in an historic district, or a building listed on Portland’s Historic Resource Inventory. The property owner can transfer development rights to a “receiving site” within the Central City.  Since 2001, Pearl District policy has advocated using bonuses to support "dense development on smaller parcels to create more variety and articulation in building design." (Pearl District Development Plan, 14)  The new plan is built on this foundation, as the North Pearl Sub-District is a prime “receiving” area for development bonuses in the Central City.

Since this area was previously a rail yard, it is devoid of historic structures and well-suited for high-density development.  By 2035, the North Pearl is expected to have a dynamic varied skyline that “contributes to the health, vibrancy, and livability of urban living.”  Buildings can reach 225 feet, and there are no height restrictions when a structure's floor plates above 100 feet are 12,500 square feet or less, and no façade above 100 feet is longer than 120 feet.

The 28-story Cosmopolitan, the tallest structure in the Pearl District, was constructed on this model.  Its svelte form and reflective sheath is distinctive, a “point tower” that embodies the aspirations of the developer to offer a unique product to the marketplace.  At the same time, a delicate balancing is required to harmonize a soaring modernist structure with its surroundings, and to create the active human scaled pedestrian experience that imbibes the Pearl District.

The Pearl District is also a prime “opportunity area” for transferring development rights to increase the supply of affordable housing.  To earn a bonus, developers can construct affordable housing on-site as part of a project, pay into a public benefit fund for the production and preservation of affordable housing, and fund work outside of the Central City. 

As an Urban Renewal District, 35 percent of the Pearl District’s housing is expected to be affordable.  The City Council raised that figure to 45 percent and allocated $67 million to be expended over the next decade to meet that goal.  Currently, 28 percent of the Pearl District's housing is considered affordable.  The number is inadequate, but the neighborhood provides a working model in a society where mixing subsidized and market housing is anathema. 

Unlike most suburbanites, I live across the street from subsidized housing, the Pearl Court.  It provides housing for residents earning 40 to 60 percent of median income, and the five-story building is a congruently fit in the neighborhood.  In fact, it was not until I took an architectural tour that I learned that Pearl Court did not offer market rate housing.  

Reaching the affordable housing goal set for the Pearl District will require coordinating the actions of the Bureau of Housing, the Portland Development Commission (PDC), and the PSC.  This is a difficult task.  I noted this in my testimony to the PSC, as the PDC’s latest plan for Centennial Mills, which removed the original requirements for open space and public activation, conflicts with the 2035 Comprehensive Plan's vision for the site.  

Notice the public green space under the asterisk at Centennial Mills

This disconnect also contradicts Chapter 1, Policy 1.19, which states: “Use area‐specific plans to provide additional detail or refinements applicable at a smaller geographic scale...within the policy framework provided by the overall Comprehensive Plan. The North Pearl District Plan, an Area‐Specific Plan adopted by ordinance, calls for creating “a network of access corridors, plazas, and urban open space features” on the Willamette waterfront.

When a PDC representative announced the new plan for Centennial Mills had removed the public open space requirment to the Pearl District Planning Committee, members were flummoxed. Not only did this decision contradict the North Pearl District Plan, it violates the 2035 Comprehensive Plan.

In the intricate give and take of city planning, trust is essential. The Pearl District was built on the good will and interaction of residents and developers. They fashioned a unique set of plans that guide the decision-making of the Pearl District Planning Committee.  Securing citizens support is not enough for the 2035 Comprehensive Plan to suceed, governing agencies must also be commited to implementing, as the plan reads, “Portland residents’ collective desires and values.”