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The Portland Design Commission on Thursday told the developers and designers behind the Koti Apartments 聽鈥� also known as the Block 290 project 鈥� they are on the right track toward final approval.

The hearing served as a work session and no vote was taken, but it did give LRS Architects the chance to unveil its revised project designs to commissioners.

The site at 1421 N.W. 20th Ave. must meet Con-way Master Plan standards as well as design guidelines. The master plan calls for any development on the site to include a public square.

Exactly what is considered a square and how that square has to be configured had, until recently, confounded two architecture firms and project owner Guardian Real Estate.

In May the team presented the design panel with a concept in which the apartment building nearly surrounded the interior space with public-access walkways. At that time, commission members said they felt the design gave the impression of a private courtyard rather than a public square.

In revisions presented Thursday, the team removed part of an elevation at Northwest Pettygrove and moved the elevation on Northwest 21st Avenue toward Northwest Quimby. The change, according to the project team, provides better public access to the square from both Northwest Pettygrove to the south and the corner of Northwest 21st Avenue and Northwest Pettygrove.

The improved access came at a price, though. The design now encroaches 15 feet into a future pedestrian walkway and neighborhood park. However, the trade-off didn’t bother Commission Chairman David Wark.

鈥淚 think we have been very fair to everyone, hearing from neighborhood association (and) people from the neighborhood, and working through all those parties’ concerns,鈥� Wark said.

Wark and commissioners Don Vallaster and Andrew Clarke previously formed a subcommittee to work with the developers and neighbors. The goal was to come to a comprise that would give the neighborhood a public square that it considered useful while also meeting guidelines and leaving developers with a financially viable design.

鈥淚t’s a set of reasonable tradeoffs, trying to get a public space integrated with development,鈥� Wark said. 鈥淚 think it meets the intent of the master plan.鈥�

Not everyone at the Thursday meeting agreed. Three neighbors voiced their continued opposition to the project.

鈥淭his simply does not meet the standards or guidelines of the master plan,鈥� Ron Walters, the former president of the Northwest District Association, said. 鈥淚 have been adamantly opposed to any encroachment in public area, and the community has been adamant about that.鈥�

Despite neighbors’ concerns, commission members were largely supportive of the new design direction, although they indicated they felt there were still some details 鈥� such as specifics about the square and aesthetic issues related to the structure 鈥� that still need to be ironed out and finalized.

鈥淭o get my vote, this (square) has to be a place of wonder,鈥� Commission Vice Chairman Tad Savinar said. 鈥淚t has to be a square for northwest Portland where everybody wants to go. Make this square fantastic.鈥�

The Koti Apartments project will return to the commission on July 6.