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Fremont Place won preliminary approval after design changes satisfied earlier objections from Pearl District residents and the Portland City Council.

The council voted 4-0 Thursday to reject an appeal from the Pearl District Neighborhood Association of prior Design Commission approval.

In response to earlier council opposition, TVA Architects and the developer, Lincoln Property Co. of Dallas, reworked the design of the 275-unit mixed-use building. The redesign pushes back the building fa莽ade an additional 15 feet from the seawall, to 32 feet, 9 inches away.

The additional space allows for a wider (now 20 feet) Willamette River Greenway between the building and the river. The revised design reduces bike parking from 206 spaces to 140. It does not change the number of residential units.

The 17-story building reaches 175 feet in height, includes 305,936 square feet and uses 84 percent of the allowable floor area ratio. Designers worked to preserve neighbors’ views as much as possible, said Tim Wybenga, principal at TVA Architects.

鈥淎lthough the council has made it quite clear that views are not a consideration, they were a design factor,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd so a lot of the massing of this building and the way it’s pushed has to do with consideration of views and sight lines of Pearl District neighbors.鈥�

Fremont Place will not include any affordable apartments; the project entered into the city’s approval process before inclusionary housing rules took effect.

Commissioners praised the redesign.

鈥淭he revised plan feels less cramped,鈥� Nick Fish said. 鈥淚t’s more open, more airy.鈥�

The changes 鈥渉ave satisfactorily addressed the concerns of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association,鈥� said Stanley Penkin, president of the group.

鈥淭he applicant has made significant improvements to the greenway, which now better serves the neighborhood and the city,鈥� he said.

Commissioners, responding to criticism from one Pearl District resident, defended their role providing a final check on the Design Commission’s decisions.

鈥淚 don’t think this is the right forum to constantly second-guess the Design Commission,鈥� Fish said. 鈥淏ut in the rare instances we’ve done that, I actually think those conversations were quite principled.鈥�

Fish suggested the City Council should raise the bar for appeals of Design Commission decisions. The council could change city rules to choose which appeals to take up, much like the U.S. Supreme Court does, instead of automatically taking each appeal, he said.

Commissioner Amanda Fritz objected to that idea.

鈥淚f we narrow who gets to appeal, or how those appeals happen, that means that some people are left out, and the whole process here in Portland is about having people have their say to their elected officials,鈥� Fritz said.

Thursday’s vote was preliminary; a final vote is scheduled for May 31. Commissioner Dan Saltzman was absent from Thursday’s hearing.