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The Portland Design Commission voted 6-0 during a hearing on Thursday to approve plans for the Multnomah County Behavioral Health Resource Center, setting aside concerns from downtown business interests.

The project planned at 333 S.W. Park Ave. will combine a homeless shelter and transitional housing with services such as laundry, showers and restrooms.

Not all parties have welcomed the project, at a time when homelessness has become a top political issue and downtown businesses have had to deal with pandemic-related closures and destructive protests.

Jordan Schnitzer, president of Harsch Investment Properties, wrote a letter dated Nov. 4 asking the city to prohibit 鈥渢ents, ancillary items and street activity鈥� outside the site. Schnitzer expressed concern about activity 鈥渢hat will negatively impact the surrounding business district, tenants and staff surrounding the site.鈥�

Patricia Gardner, a local resident who said she represented neighboring property owners, said at Thursday’s hearing that the county had made little progress toward a 鈥済ood neighbor鈥� agreement.

Multnomah County project manager Brett Taute acknowledged the county had not initiated a good neighbor agreement for the downtown shelter, blaming pandemic-related delays. However, the county 鈥渞emains committed鈥� to reaching an agreement with neighbors, he added.

鈥淲e intend to continue that into next year,鈥� he said.

The Design Commission is limited in its ability to regulate what happens outside of a site, Chairwoman Julie Livingston said.

Project plans call for adaptive reuse of a four-story structure that was completed in 1905. Carleton Hart Architecture is designing the project, and Mortensen Construction will serve as general contractor. The building will essentially be gutted, and a seismic retrofit will be done.

The county acquired the property from developer Tom Cody for $4.34 million in 2019. The county also purchased an adjacent parking lot for $1.5 million.

Thursday marked the third time design commissioners had considered the project. Corey Morris, a senior associate at Carleton Hart, responded to earlier criticism by folding two proposed accessory buildings into one.

Commissioners avoided discussing political issues outside of their purview, instead delving deeply into an extended discussion of landscaping.

Commissioner Brian McCarter, a ZGF Architects principal and landscape architect, pushed to amend a condition proposed in the staff report that 鈥渁t least one evergreen huckleberry or highbush cranberry shall be planted in the stormwater planter for every two linear feet of stormwater planter, as measured along the sidewalk edges of the planter.鈥�

McCarter successfully lobbied to require two highbush cranberry viburnum shrubs per planter space.

Some commissioners fretted that the planters would be put to use as benches or restrooms.

鈥淭he planters 鈥� they’re pretty much at urinal height,鈥� Commissioner Don Vallaster said. 鈥淪o either make it taller or make it shorter.鈥�

None of the issues raised prevented a unanimous vote (Commissioner Jessica Molinar was absent).

With the viburnum coverage and planter height decided, Vallaster said he was satisfied.

鈥淲e’ve worked it pretty hard,鈥� he said. 鈥淔rom my perspective, I’m willing to give it a rest and move on to the next project.鈥�