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The Broadway Corridor master plan is beginning to come into focus, but fundamental questions remain unsolved as the Portland Design Commission begins to evaluate the 32-acre proposal.

Prosper Portland‘s grand plan to remake the former U.S. Postal Service property into a mixed-used neighborhood with affordable and market-rate housing, retail and office space, parks and a bike-friendly Green Loop still needs substantial work, design commissioners said at a hearing Thursday.

Commissioners picked apart elements including buildings’ podium heights, the curb-less Green Loop on the North Park Blocks and the arrangement of buildings on developable blocks. Prosper Portland and ZGF Architects are requesting approval of the master plan as provided by the Central City 2035 Plan.

Phasing emerged as another key issue. Design commissioners said they want to ensure parks and other public infrastructure will be built alongside buildings, and are not left for later when a recession or budget issues could mean they never happen.

鈥淭here needs to be enough 鈥� solid information to make sure that the public benefits that have been promised as part of the process are delivered,鈥� Commissioner Zari Santner said.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation is conducting a traffic demand management study, and design commissioners are examining parking within the Broadway Corridor. Commissioner Jessica Molinar expressed concern that Northwest Kearney Street would be overburdened with cars entering and exiting from buildings on the street. Kearney and Irving are intended to serve as the main traffic arteries, with Johnson serving as a pedestrian-friendly retail atmosphere.

鈥淭his isn’t just typical design review guidelines,鈥� said Kurt Krueger, development review division manager for PBOT. 鈥淚t’s meaty stuff that this commission is not used to dealing with.鈥�

Krueger said it’s critical that the city lay the groundwork for the future, when different design commissioners and city staff will evaluate projects filling in the area.

鈥淲e want to set up a framework that whoever is sitting in these seats in 10 years can pick up and understand what we’re doing here in the next couple of months,鈥� he said.

Commissioners pushed back on some aspects of ZGF Architects’ proposal for Prosper Portland. They questioned the city’s preference for 100-foot-tall building podiums.

鈥淚’d say 100 feet is out of context for a podium in the Pearl (District), let alone a podium in Portland,鈥� Molinar said.

Santner urged the city not to treat the open space as an afterthought. She said she was 鈥渄isappointed鈥� the master plan doesn’t have a fully expressed design to bookend the Park Blocks.

鈥淭he open space in this development is the terminus of more than 24 blocks of open space from (Portland State University) on down,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here needs to be something very significant to signify the terminus. 鈥� I hope you pay attention to that.鈥�

The project must also meet the needs of Continuum Partners, the Denver-based development advisor that would have the inside track on developing key parcels. The firm’s CEO, Mark Falcone, did not promptly return messages seeking comment.

Prosper Portland and ZGF are scheduled to return before the Design Commission on April 16 for another hearing on the master plan.