91视频

Design reviews of Portland building proposals were down sharply last year amid the pandemic and destructive anti-police protests. Those conditions continue to depress new projects, design commissioners told the City Council on Thursday.

鈥淥ur workload won’t return to what it was before COVID-19 until the protests end, and the plywood comes down and investor confidence returns,鈥� Design Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said.

The leading indicator of Design Commission cases 鈥� design advice requests 鈥� fell to nine in 2020, from 30 in 2019. The dramatic reduction in design advice requests 鈥渕ay represent a cratering of the near-term pipeline,鈥� the commission stated in its report.

Type II staff approvals, generally for smaller projects, dropped to 74 last year from 100 in 2019.

鈥淭hings dried up in the fall, and it’s been really quiet since the fall,鈥� Livingston said. 鈥淥ur hope is now projects are starting to trickle in again. But we really need a lot more investor confidence for things to return to how they were pre-COVID.鈥�

Livingston’s remarks came during the annual State of the City report. The Design Commission did not make a report to the City Council last year amid the pandemic.

Type III land-use approvals rose from 19 in 2019 to 21 last year. Those cases often involve the largest projects and may be a lagging indicator of new proposals.

The Design Commission’s report noted: 鈥淭he number of Type III approvals in 2020 improved slightly over the year prior, but whereas 2018 and 2019 saw many multi-block proposals, high-rise mixed-use towers, hotels and large institutional projects, 2020 proposals were substantially less ambitious than much of what we’ve seen over the past decade.

鈥淲ith a few notable exceptions that were carryovers from the prior year, 2020 was largely about modestly scaled residential development, surgical renovations to existing buildings and reducing the scope of large projects.鈥�

The Design Commission gave two Design Excellence awards 鈥� one each for 2019 and 2020.

The 2019 award went to De Paul Treatment Center in Gateway, and designer Holst Architecture. Mayor Ted Wheeler praised the project, which he compared to a 鈥渇ive-star hotel.鈥�

The 2020 award went to the Northbound 30 Collective, a collection of townhomes near Forest Park. The project was developed by Noel Johnson of Cairn Pacific, and designed by Jones Architecture and Waechter Architecture.

Design commissioners also highlighted three projects that they said showed exemplary performance in relation to design guidelines. The projects were Pepsi Blocks (since renamed Pop Blocks) for its use of context, Oregon Square blocks 90 and 103 for its relation to the public realm, and Lincoln High School for its attention to quality and permanence in materials and design.

The annual report also gave design commissioners an opportunity to defend the review process against complaints that it adds little benefit for the time and expense it requires of project teams.

鈥淲e’ve been doing this for more than 40 years,鈥� Livingston said. 鈥淭his is an institution in Portland that makes Portland the really great place that it is. I so often have conversations with critics of design review who say, 鈥楶ortland’s great. We don’t need this; just don’t do this anymore.’ But the reason Portland is great is because we do do this.鈥�

The process gives developers assurance that all projects subject to design review will be held to quality standards, said Sam Rodriguez, a developer with Mill Creek Residential Trust who serves on the Design Commission.

鈥淚t’s a process that as a developer, we appreciate the fact that the building next door is going to be just as good as my building and the building next to it and so forth, and then it creates that fabric that we all want to live in and want to be a part of,鈥� he said.

City Council members said they appreciate the Design Commission’s role.

鈥淚t is clear in your work that you believe beautiful design should be available and accessible to everyone,鈥� Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said.