91视频

Portland and Tigard are eyeing a series of affordable housing projects along the route of the planned Southwest Corridor light-rail line.

The projects are part of the Southwest Corridor Equitable Housing Strategy. The initiative aims to combat the rapid gentrification that has occurred in neighborhoods along previous MAX line extensions.

The Portland City Council is due to adopt on Thursday an implementation plan for the Equitable Housing Strategy. The council is scheduled to take up the matter at a 2 p.m. meeting.

The plan, posted online ahead of the council’s meeting, reveals a list of likely sites and Portland’s intention to join a memorandum of understanding with TriMet, Tigard, the Washington County Housing Authority and Metro to set priorities for the sites. Tigard has already adopted the plan.

Among the sites being considered for affordable housing developments are the Ross Island bridgehead, the Barbur Transit Center, Portland Community College’s Sylvania campus and the Tigard Transit Center. All are publicly owned. A few details about each:

• The Oregon Department of Transportation and the city of Portland are considering a major redevelopment of roadways on the west end of the Ross Island Bridge. The tangle of highway ramps and local streets has been identified as a traffic-circulation problem since at least 1978. A previous Metro report said cleanup of the area could yield about 2.8 acres of developable property. ODOT and the city own portions of the land underneath the bridgehead. The land could support 300-450 units of affordable housing, according to the housing strategy document.
• The Barbur Transit Center, owned by TriMet, could be redeveloped to include a light-rail station and a mixed-use building or buildings with housing. In that scenario, the transit center could support 100-200 housing units on a portion of the five-acre site.
• The PCC Board of Directors is weighing whether to support development of affordable housing on the Sylvania campus, within walking distance of a planned light-rail station on 53rd Avenue.
• The current Tigard Transit Center could be redeveloped if transit center functions were to move to a new light-rail station in downtown Tigard. The current center’s 0.8-acre site could hold up to 67 units.

Other privately owned properties could be purchased for the transit project but be deemed surplus after light rail construction is finished, making them available for redevelopment, the strategy document states.

All of the planned projects 鈥� the Southwest Corridor MAX line and the related housing strategy 鈥� could be tied to a Metro bond measure that would be put before voters in 2020.

The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability led development of the housing strategy. City officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The report to the City Council concludes, 鈥淭he opportunity to get ahead of the predictable cycle of gentrification and displacement is now. Our region is well positioned to learn from the past and provide a new model of equitable growth.鈥�