The D Word in Oz, Density Tests Portland

A recent study placed Metropolitan Portland 10^th in the nation for attracting new residents. What separates it from the other cities is its location, Portland is the only city outside the Sunbelt, and, its housing prices top the list.  This rapid uptick in growth and value has raised concerns that Portland’s vaunted livability is under siege by the influx of newcomers and outside investors.

Portland State University hosted a well-attended event, Has Portland Lost Its Way?  The premise was the planning system is flailing.  The new 2035 comprehensive plan is laden with incentives for developers and lacks heritage protection, urbanism expert Michael Mehaffy contends.  The gleaming Modernist towers punctuating the skyline personify the problem. Looming over parks and historic properties, their standardized mesh of glass and metal impairs the vernacular art good place making demands. "Instead of clear, predictable form-based codes that guide development to blend sensitively with the scale of its neighbors and to mitigate its impacts," Mehaffy finds, "the city imposes a subjective game of 'impress the design panelists' and 'who's the best renderer'—for drawings that are famously unlike the built result."http://www.planetizen.com/node/86508/has-portland-lost-its-way 

Flash Cube Architecture Deadens Urban Vista

He has a point.  The Cosmopolitan, the 28-story glass tower between Fields Park and Tanner Springs Park, functions like a giant roadway reflector on a cloudless summer day.  Its reflective glare deadens the Pearl District’s visual kalidescope while toasting the natural surroundings with shimmering waves of heat.  So much sunlight is reflected that people cast two shadows when walking through Tanner Springs Park.  Michelle Shaprio, chair of Friends of Tanner Springs, thinks a "a study of heat reflection from glass buildings" is in order. "We thought the temperature would be affected, and we were right."

Without sunglasses, viewing the building is to encounter a facsimile of the blinding light that turned Saul of Taursus into Paul the Apostle.  Interestingly, this interstellar brilliance is depicted in  an artistic rendering where high priced units in the building's upper levels are aglow like a Fourth of July sparkler.

Rather than build modernist towers in the downtown, Mehaffy wants development funneled into a “polycentric model.” Orenco Station exemplifies the type of transit-oriented-development that could better integrate with the landscape.   He also proposes investing in “walkable mixed-use nodes” in transit corridors, which allow residents in single family to keep “their ways of life relatively unaffected.” 

The audience, however, did not see the four-story mixed-use buildings rising on Division Street, as having a “relatively unaffected” impact on their lives. A woman with 17 years in the planning field drew applause when she advocated allowing existing structures to add up to two floors, but not permitting teardowns for higher density uses. She was all for building new apartments without parking, but not in her neighborhood.  A “just say no” chorus followed.  Citizens spoke out against “density dogma,” and some wondered if it would not be wise to limit growth rather than plan for it.

Encountering intense Florida style growth (Orlando, Jacksonville, and Tampa ranked higher than Portland in attracting new residents) for the first time, reaction not reason fueled many responses. This is not uncommon. In Winter Park, a toney suburb of Orlando, “No-Density” signs was the response to development pressures. Portland, however, is different from Orlando, which is awash in gated subdivisions and suffers the highest pedestrian death rate in the nation (followed by Tampa, and Jacksonville is almost as deadly).

Portland is eminently walkable and bicycling is common. Moreover, walkable urbanism is in high demand, and it commands top dollar. The question is whether Portlanders can adapt to more road congestion, higher densities, and rising costs and still enjoy the benefits of a quality park system, a range of transportation choices, and thriving neighborhoods where work, play, and culture are close at hand.

When dealing with rapid growth, it is easier to say no than work through the time-consuming process that can procure win-win agreements. Fortunately, Portland’s comprehensive plan is well conceived. The Cosmopolitan’s soulless facade is a reminder that there are flaws, but the 2035 plan has had significant citizen input and it will under go further scrutiny by the City Council. Most important, Portland has already staked out a path to sustainability and equity, and the new plan rests on the foundation that has produced one of the greenest cities in the nation. 

After residing in Orlando for a quarter of a century, I am dumbfounded by the benefits that good planning provides in Portland.  I live a rich life without an automobile in the Pearl District.  I rent my parking space for $200 a month, and rely on my feet, a bicycle, public transit, and an occasional zip car to traverse the city. I recently sold my car in Orlando, and am still giddy with the realization that I will never again have to strike a deal with a car salesman. Trading a ritual corporate shakedown for a vibrant public realm marks a definitive step in the pursuit of happiness, and I expect by 2035 many others will have experienced the same bliss.

The 2035 Plan https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/57352