91视频

In the midst of a building boom, aspects of Portland’s development review procedures are being questioned by City Commissioner Amanda Fritz and neighborhood groups that have appealed project approvals issued recently.

Fritz, who oversees the city’s Bureau of Development Services, recently challenged its Land Use Services Division to 鈥渞aise the bar鈥� for project reviews based on criteria such as neighborhood compatibility, environmental factors and quality design. The directive comes as the division has hired more staffers and streamlined procedures to respond to increased demand for services.

In a memo to the division dated Feb. 5, Fritz mostly discussed discretionary reviews where city approval is based more on subjective guidelines than code adherence.

鈥淚 don’t support the philosophy of cramming in density at all costs,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淵ou do not need to 鈥榞et to yes’ with every project. A no, especially up-front in the process, can also be good customer service.鈥�

As the BDS rebuilds itself and hires more staffers, Fritz said she’d like to make clear her expectations for city planners to carefully consider neighborhood concerns during the land use review process. She cited that the City Council last year overturned planners’ approvals of two proposed developments. More recently, neighborhood groups have appealed to the City Council the approvals of two more planned projects.

鈥淟and Use Services staff also serve neighbors as customers, as well as the applicant,鈥� Fritz wrote.

BDS officials are taking Fritz’s comments to heart and figuring out ways to ensure that proposed projects are held to a higher standard, said Rebecca Esau, Land Use Services Division manager.

鈥淲e’re having discussions here on what does that mean to raise the bar,鈥� she said.

It will be important for city planners to remember how many neighborhoods in Portland have been reshaped by post-recession development, Esau said.

鈥淣ear and dear to (Fritz’s) heart are the neighborhoods and neighborhood concerns,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ow we’re back to this big boom so neighborhoods are seeing change. We’re hearing an outcry of concern about infill development and compatibility.鈥�

Earlier this month, neighbors of Seattle-based Security Properties‘ Block 136 mixed-use project in the Pearl District and Kehoe Northwest Properties‘ Tess O’Brien Apartments in Northwest Portland filed separate appeals of the Portland Design Commission‘s approvals. Both appeals to the City Council claim that the proposed projects are incompatible with the surrounding neighborhoods, and cite flawed city procedures in gathering public feedback on the plans.

Ron Walters, who lives near the proposed Tess O’Brien Apartments project site and is involved in the appeal of the project, said Fritz’s memo resonated with him.

鈥淎 customer service mentality is good, but not if you’re trying to be part of a fair and judicious process,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he public are customers too. I think her memo is great. It’s spot-on. It tells me there’s a flaw in the process.鈥�

The memo addresses many of the issues that Walters said he wrote to Fritz about late last year after becoming frustrated with the design review process for the Tess O’Brien Apartments. Concerns he raised included that the Design Commission continued to review the project after voting to deny the proposal, and that the neighborhood association wasn’t given enough notice ahead of subsequent hearings to craft an official response.

鈥淢y argument is this is not how the process works, and that’s what I heard Amanda say,鈥� Walters said.

The Northwest District Association, which filed the appeal of the Tess O’Brien project approval, raised concerns about procedural errors during the design review process. But the NWDA’s main concern is compatibility, said Gustavo Cruz, its board president. The two proposed six-story apartment buildings, at 1953 N.W. Overton St. and 1950 N.W. Pettygrove St., won’t fit in with the existing shorter structures in the neighborhood, he said.

鈥淭he main issue has to do with the massing and scale of the project given its location,鈥� Cruz said. 鈥淚t looks a bit out of place.鈥�

Cruz lauded Fritz’s reminder to city planners of the importance of considering neighborhood compatibility. He agreed that planners shouldn’t shy away from turning down projects that don’t suit the neighborhood.

鈥淎s long as zoning allows, developers are going to build as much as they can while the market is hot,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd sometimes it doesn’t fit in with the neighborhood. That customer service mentality can go too far sometimes, and that’s what Amanda Fritz was talking about, and I appreciated that and so did other members of our board.鈥�

Developer Marty Kehoe, owner of Kehoe Northwest Properties, said he was baffled by the NWDA’s claim that the project is incompatible with the neighborhood. After four hearings with the Design Commission, Kehoe said he’s confident that the development will relate to nearby structures, including several that are just as tall.

鈥淲e’ve designed a building that’s very compatible with its surroundings, and it represents the classic-style apartment buildings,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he process was lengthy and exhaustive and very expensive for us, but we came out the other end of the process with a consensus that the buildings are very good looking and fit into the neighborhood. It blends in very well. It’s not oversized.鈥�

Kehoe has concerns with Fritz’s memo and her directive for city planners to apply subjective criteria to land use reviews.

鈥淚f the city has a clear and concise code and criteria for developers to follow, we will follow it,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he code needs to remove subjectivity and ambiguity. As long as the city code has clarity and it’s not up to interpretation 鈥� then us developers are fine.鈥�