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Designers for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry campus development are still wrestling with basic questions relating to transportation circulation and open spaces on the Southeast Portland site.

Plans for OMSI‘s 18.5-acre property went before the Portland Design Commission for advice during a meeting on Thursday. OMSI is seeking approval for the master plan under Central City 2035 plan rules.

Many of the questions facing OMSI’s proposed redevelopment concern how it relates to its surroundings, including a bicycle artery, the city’s Green Loop concept, the Willamette River to the west and Union Pacific railroad tracks to the east.

The Green Loop would go through OMSI’s site, but the precise alignment is undetermined.

OMSI proposes to reroute Water Avenue to the east, and use old Water Avenue as a 鈥減edestrian-oriented main street鈥� through the site. Also planned is a loop road throughout the campus to connect developable properties.

OMSI’s plans include a bridge over the Union Pacific railroad tracks to connect the campus to Southeast Portland neighborhoods. The bridge would be built by the city of Portland.

鈥淲e believe such a bridge can become an iconic, identifying development for the district,鈥� said Allison Rouse, a project manager for ZGF Architects.

Old Water Avenue would have a two-way cycle track to accommodate bicyclists. Planners discussed how to slow bicyclists a bit in keeping with a family-friendly mixed-use street, but not so much that cyclists abandon the route for the Eastbank Esplanade.

Designers with ZGF and Mayer/Reed are working with Gerding Edlen, the master developer selected by OMSI in July 2018 after a competitive bidding process. An early master plan for the site was laid out by Snohetta, an international design firm.

The campus encompasses seven developable parcels ranging in size from 0.69 acres to 4.49 acres. Maximum building heights with bonuses reach 250 feet.

Commissioner Jessica Molinar expressed concern that the loop road could feel like an alleyway if it doesn’t have enough active uses.

鈥淚t really depends on what’s going to happen there, which is architecture,鈥� she said.

Commissioner Zari Santner asked if old Water Avenue should be a woonerf 鈥� a Dutch-style shared street that places less emphasis on auto traffic.

鈥淭he focus is really for people,鈥� she said.

OMSI’s designers said there are practical obstacles to such a design.

鈥淲e very much would like it to look like a woonerf, Zari, but we have had some conversation with (the Portland Bureau of Transportation) about the difficulties of that,鈥� said Carol Mayer-Reed, a principal at Mayer/Reed Inc.

Santner also said the campus needs to better relate to the river.

鈥淭he whole district, the plan, is inward-looking,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s not really embracing the river.鈥�

Both city and private planners have expressed some frustration regarding the vagueness of the Green Loop 鈥� a linear-park concept through the Central City. There are two options for the Green Loop’s alignment, and it must meet other segments of the loop north and south of OMSI’s campus.

鈥淭here’s two routes it could follow, and it’s really not up to OMSI to decide which it should follow,鈥� said Ben Nielsen, a senior planner at the Bureau of Development Services. 鈥淚t’s a continuing conversation at this point.鈥�

Nielsen acknowledged the Green Loop could be better defined.

鈥淚t’s not as codified yet as it should be to be a real thing, but it’s in process,鈥� he said.

The OMSI master plan is scheduled to return before the Design Commission in August for more advice.