91视频

Pearl District residents gathered en masse at a Portland Design Commission meeting Thursday to protest plans for a 23-story hotel tower that would reach 250 feet in height, the maximum allowed after a new code was adopted in 2018 by the City Council.

Hyatt Place, designed by Otak, Inc. and developed by Seattle-based Vibrant Cities, is a mixed-use project that would feature 11 floors of hotel rooms and 11 floors of apartments, with some affordable housing units included. A restaurant and caf茅 are planned to sit on the ground floor.

The building would rise from a quarter-block property at Northwest 12^th Avenue and Flanders Street.

The proposal has already undergone two design advice sessions with the commission. On Thursday, the project team sought a land-use review, at which point the building could move forward with development.

Several dozen members of the public, most of them led by Pearl Neighbors for Integrity in Design (PNID), came to voice their opposition to the project, citing concerns about the sheer size of the project and the traffic it might create.

鈥淭here needs to be some serious carving of the massing,鈥� said David Dysert, who was representing the Pearl District Neighborhood Association. He said that the volume of the building wouldn’t match the area, and that with the new code in place, any new building is going to set a precedent.

PNID President Patricia Cliff said the organization is not opposed to new development in the Pearl District, but finds the size of the project inappropriate for the south side of the neighborhood. Perhaps most worrisome, she said, is a complete lack of parking provided.

While more than 20 people signed up to provide public testimony, nearly all of them ceded their time to Carrie Richter, a land-use lawyer representing PNID.

Richter said the lack of parking, combined with a 12-foot loading zone and a quarter-block site, makes for a dangerous situation. She cited a nearby Hampton Inn with a hundred-foot loading zone and an 80-percent block space, which she said was deemed insufficient by transportation experts.

With no vehicle parking, the building should be 鈥済round zero鈥� for cyclist-supportive housing, but falls short in this regard as well, Richter said. She said the spaces for bicycle parking are too small, the entrance to the parking is awkward and the building lacks outdoor temporary parking.

鈥淏icycling is a complete afterthought in this building,鈥� Richter said. 鈥淭his is not celebrating the bicycle by any stretch of the imagination.鈥�

For their part, commissioners discussed more nuanced aspects of the project, and didn’t address the most pressing concerns presented by the opposition related to height and traffic.

Commissioner Brian McCarter was one of several who took issue with black bands that separate the base of the building from the tower, saying that design works better with shorter buildings. He also criticized the building’s mass on the small parcel.

鈥淚t’s got a lot of issues for me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can’t overlook the scale and massing problems.鈥�

Commissioner Jessica Molinar took issue with using metal panels as cladding material, although other commissioners expressed approval. Molinar said she didn’t find the material suitable for the size and location of the building, and said it would make more sense on Burnside Street.

鈥淭he metal does not work in the context,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think part of that is the scale.鈥�

As far as the neighborhood is concerned, most commissioners didn’t find the building to be out of place, saying the Pearl District is already eclectic in its makeup.

鈥淭here are so many different kinds of buildings in the Pearl that I don’t think, contextually, this is out of whack,鈥� Commissioner Zari Santner said. 鈥淚 like the idea of variety and diversity of style.鈥�

Based on public opposition, the design team decided to postpone the vote for a future meeting, at which point they will provide counterarguments to opponents of the project.