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As an architect with 30 years of experience, Don Vallaster has presented more than a few projects to the Portland Design Commission over the years.

Now he’s sitting on the other side of the table as the newest member of the panel tasked with helping shape the city’s skyline.

Vallaster was nominated to the design commission by City Commissioner Dan Saltzman. He was approved by City Council on Aug. 5 and attended his first meeting Aug. 20. He joins fellow architect Julie Livingston; Tad Savinar, who represents the area of urban design; David Wark, who represents the Regional Arts and Culture Council; at-large representative Jeffrey Simpson; and Ben Kaiser, the land development representative who this week was reappointed to serve on the commission for another four years.

Even with the addition of Vallaster, though, the design commission is still short a member. Keeping the panel’s seats full has been a problem in the past, and filling the position now occupied by Vallaster took longer than originally anticipated, according to Matt Gumm, senior policy adviser for Dan Saltzman, the city commissioner who oversees the Bureau of Development Services and its related commissions, including the design panel.

City Commissioner Amanda Fritz was in charge of the bureau this past May, when Livingston and Vallaster were recommended to her as candidates to fill two empty seats on the panel. Fritz approved adding Livingston, but she rejected Vallaster.

鈥淚’m holding that (second) vacancy because I really wanted someone from an under-represented community to round out our commission membership,鈥� Fritz said at the time.

Vallaster’s name resurfaced for the empty seat, though, when Mayor Charlie Hales appointed Saltzman to oversee the Bureau of Development Services.

鈥淲hen Commissioner Saltzman was assigned the bureau, he told the mayor the design commission had multiple vacancies and getting a quorum was a challenge,鈥� Gumm said. 鈥淪o he asked the bureau, 鈥榃ho do you have that would do this challenging volunteer job?’鈥�

After carefully considering applications, Grumm said, Vallaster’s name rose to the top of the pile again.

鈥淗e has great experience, has done a lot of professional work and has been before the commission many times,鈥� Grumm said. 鈥淚t’s got to be a careful process and we need to make the process work and come to decisions in a good way.鈥�

Vallaster said he hopes to bring more sensitivity from a development perspective to the commission, whose members serve on a voluntary basis with no financial compensation. One of the ways he hopes to achieve that is by limiting those notoriously long design commission meetings, which have been known to stretch five hours or more, to a more reasonable duration.

鈥淭hat’s what made me most nervous about accepting the position,鈥� said Vallaster, who is a founding member of Vallaster Corl Architects. 鈥淚 have to commit more time than I have, but I’ll see if I can make it work.鈥�

He also would like to find a way to allow projects to move through the entire approve process more quickly

鈥淚 would love to see it speeded up if that’s possible to do,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat would be good for development and good for the city, for both sides of the equation.鈥�