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As I’ve mentioned before, Portland is at a very interesting time in its planning history. We have great opportunities to shape the future of our city that may not be available again for decades. One of those opportunity areas is what’s referred to as the southeast quadrant of the Central City Plan.

This area is defined by the new Milwaukie light-rail corridor and its two station areas within the Central Eastside. In the past few days a group of stakeholders met to discuss alternative land uses and urban design concepts for the area, and what the implications would be for moving away from the existing industrial zoning, especially given the reality of new light rail service.

The first station on the eastside of the Willamette River is near the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), and there are clearly some real opportunities to build on the institutional uses that are there. But the bigger question is: Are there other, more innovative ways to develop here to take full advantage of the proximity to the waterfront and light rail’s capacity to move people, and use them to create a unique blend of buildings, public spaces and uses?

The other area is centered on the Clinton Street station.聽 It has some very big challenges, including being adjacent to the Union Pacific mainline and within close proximity to the iconic Ladd’s Addition neighborhood. But as with the OMSI area, there is also great opportunity to creatively address the conflicting city priorities of taking full advantage of the new transit capacity, while respecting the need to protect and enhance inner city 鈥渋ndustrial鈥� jobs. The quotation marks around the word industrial are the real issue here. What does it mean in this context, and how do we reconcile the competing objectives along with the other concerns of neighbors and property owners?

Stay tuned to this one: it should prove to be very interesting.