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Welcome back to my serial musings on all things development in the Central Eastside, South Waterfront and in between (e.g., the Tilikum Crossing). Since the last iteration of this column, work has taken place, nonstop, on the shiny new bridge, the OHSU Collaborative Life Sciences Building and private projects throughout the Central Eastside. Needless to say, the city’s economic development engine is up and running in these areas and creating new jobs, places and opportunities.

But what happens to the old jobs and places when faced with this new development? This is an issue that is near and dear to the heart of many existing Central Eastside industrial users. In prior columns, I have mentioned that the district’s users are concerned with a perceived lack of parking facilities to support the proposed increase in residential development.

However, there are broader issues at play than the transportation choices of apartment renters. At issue: What happens to industrial operations when non-industrial uses are immediately adjacent? This is one of the fundamental land use conflicts that zoning was created to address.

This issue is playing out in various forms throughout the district. Of greatest concern are some of the practices that industrial operations rely on the most, such as freight delivery and shipping.

The delivery of materials and shipping of products is central to almost any manufacturing or industrial outfit, and the Central Eastside is no exception. Many of the businesses rely on truck routes that connect the area to the Brooklyn rail yards and the surrounding freeways, allowing delivery of goods throughout the region. In contrast, new development will put pedestrians and cyclists in the same area, along with single-occupancy vehicles.

At a minimum, industrial users will need to be vigilant and increase their safety efforts associated with operating machinery such as forklifts and trailer trucks. The hypothetical worst-case scenario would be a business being forced to relocate because it could no longer operate in a profitable manner due to the measures required to ensure a safe environment that includes adjacent non-industrial users.

Fortunately, these issues are being considered by the various planners in Portland and beyond. The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is undertaking a review of the Comprehensive Plan designations in the Southeast Central City, which is mostly the Central Eastside. This process will determine the policy for which areas are intended to be retained as industrial versus being made available for other forms of development.

The city will then look to the zoning patterns and designations for the area, which will implement the new Comprehensive Plan policies. The resolution of this process is likely to be in 2016 at the earliest, and outcomes are unclear.

In the interim, the conflicts between traditional industry and new development are playing out in different ways. Recently, one of the premier developments in the Central Eastside was appealed to the City Council. The project, commonly known as the 鈥淕oat Blocks,鈥� includes a mix of retail, commercial and residential development on a multi-block swath of vacant land. The developer made sure to include discussions with the Central Eastside stakeholders as part of its project planning, and made many adjustments to the project to accommodate the interests of local neighborhood associations and the Central Eastside Industrial Council.

However, once the project was approved by the Portland Design Commission, some of the neighboring business owners became wary of potential impacts to their forklift usage and truck-loading operations, which use the same public streets serving the Goat Blocks.

So far, the Central Eastside has successfully incorporated many non-industrial uses such as offices and restaurants. But the residential, commercial and retail uses of this scale may be the first of its kind in this district. The City Council indicated recently that it would deny the industrial users’ appeal and allow the Goat Blocks development to move forward. This leaves the opportunity for new and traditional Central Eastside residents to begin establishing the ground rules for how the different uses can co-exist in such close proximity.

A good neighbor agreement between the developer of the Goat Blocks and the surrounding property owners is still moving toward finalization. Between the efforts of the property owners, business owners and the city, it stands a good chance that there will be a framework in place to guide new residents and existing business through the new reality after the construction phase ends and people start to move in to the district. Until then, property developers will need to continue to craft custom solutions to ensure compatibility among surrounding uses, and the success and creativity of such solutions will influence the viability of the district as a whole.

Damien Hall focuses on land use and real estate law as an attorney at Ball Janik LLP. Contact him at 503-944-6138 or [email protected].