O’Bryant Square has languished for nearly four years, as the city of Portland has struggled to devise a workable, funded plan to redevelop the half-block plaza in downtown.

Now the city has put forward a proposal to redevelop the square that would rely in part on a $5 million federal grant. The city would contribute an additional $4.44 million to revitalize the park space between Southwest Park and Ninth avenues, and Washington and Harvey Milk streets.

The Portland Office of Management and Finance submitted a grant application to the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) on Jan. 28, requesting $5 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. The plan was forged by three city bureaus: Parks and Recreation, Transportation, and Planning and Sustainability.

The city would use the funding, if awarded, to demolish the structurally unsound 21,000-square-foot parking garage. Public engagement, design and construction to rebuild the half-acre park would follow, according to a copy of the , which was obtained through a public records request.

The $9.44 million project budget also calls for construction of Green Loop street improvements in the area; the Green Loop is set to connect to the Ankeny West food cart pod a couple of blocks north of O’Bryant Square. Portions of the Green Loop would wrap around the square on Southwest Ninth Avenue and on Southwest Harvey Milk Street, providing pedestrian and bicycle routes as well as public space.

The city also wants to use some of the federal funding to improve and make permanent Pride Plaza – an LGBTQ-friendly area in the West End. Pride Plaza sprang up during closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Portions of Southwest Harvey Milk Street were closed to vehicle traffic as the pandemic took hold in 2020, and nearby businesses erected outdoor seating.

City officials abruptly fenced off O’Bryant Square on March 5, 2018, citing structural deficiencies related to the underground SmartPark garage. The public plaza has since continued to deteriorate. It’s increasingly incongruous as more than a billion dollars in new development rises nearby, including the $600 million, 35-story Ritz-Carlton tower under construction diagonally across Washington Street, and the 25-story Eleven West building two blocks west.

Downtown business interests are eager to see the city move forward after years of inter-bureau wrangling and inaction.

“Obviously, O’Bryant Square itself, it’s very important that gets reopened,” said Matthew Goodman, vice president of Downtown Development Group, the developer of Eleven West. “It’s been far too long.”

Walt Bowen, CEO of BPM Real Estate, the developer of the Ritz-Carlton tower on Block 216, declined to answer questions. A spokesman, Pat Walsh, stated in an email: “A new park will greatly benefit the Green Loop.”

Development of O’Bryant Square would leave residual floor-area-ratio development rights that could be sold to a private developer, according to the city’s application. The city would dedicate any revenue from the sale of FAR to the project’s matching funds. The city estimates the project would create 205 jobs and help retain 84 jobs.

The grant process is competitive, an EDA spokesman said. Portland’s application will be evaluated by an investment review committee, and if successful, will advance to the agency’s assistant secretary for final approval.

Portland’s Hennebery Eddy Architects has done pro-bono design work to show what O’Bryant Square could become. The firm’s office in the Pittock Block overlooks the plaza.

“Hennebery Eddy is strongly in favor of moving the demolition and redesign of O’Bryant Square forward as soon as humanly possible,” Tim Eddy, president of the firm, stated in an email. “The square has been in a steady state of decline for more than three decades and is in a critical location in downtown relative to surrounding historic buildings, new development and the Green Loop.”

Design and development would begin this year, with construction scheduled to wrap up in July 2027, according to the grant proposal.

Some observers said they were frustrated by the lengthy delays.

“By the time O’Bryant Square is completely redeveloped, it will have probably been close to a decade at that point,” said Iain MacKenzie, who runs the Next Portland architecture and development blog. “Nonetheless, I think there’s a great vision there.”

Mark Ross, spokesman for Portland Parks and Recreation, stated that the lack of funding for garage demolition has held up the project.

“The proposed schedule reflects the complexity of the project and the remaining due diligence, design, resource development, engineering and engagement work required to support construction,” Ross stated. “Once funded, PP&R will work with city partners to expedite project delivery.”

Commissioner Carmen Rubio has allocated $3 million in parks system development charges to expand capacity at O’Bryant Square.

Portland should carefully consider engaging a landscape architect to turn the temporary improvements at Pride Plaza into a lasting public space, MacKenzie said.

“We very rarely do very high-quality public realm projects in Portland,” he said. “I’d love to see something that really did redevelop Harvey Milk and make those two, potentially three, blocks really a pedestrian-focused and inviting public realm that people would specifically go to, to visit.”

Food-cart advocate Keith Jones has been working to relocate carts to the area between O’Bryant Square and East Burnside Street. He sees the Green Loop improvements as part of the Cart Blocks concept, formerly known as the Culinary Corridor, connecting the Ankeny West pod to O’Bryant Square. The concept originated when more than 50 food carts were evicted from Block 216 to make way for the tower.

Jones is looking to possibly install shipping containers on Ankeny Street between Southeast Eighth and Park avenues that would host retail businesses. Another idea he’s floated is to station a double-decker bus at Burnside Street with service of coffee in the morning and alcohol at night.

“I’m looking at it as an opportunity to continue to extend resilient outdoor businesses toward O’Bryant Square and connecting it to Ankeny West,” he said.

The block has some flaws. Architects who have studied O’Bryant Square point to dead zones to the north and east: the blank walls of the Union Bank Building and a CenturyLink telecommunications building, and a small parking lot.

“If the grant’s successful, it’s an opportunity to start over with an urban park that has had a difficult, troubled history, and it’s an opportunity to enliven a part of downtown that is extremely challenging,” said Randy Gragg, executive director of the Portland Parks Foundation.

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Portland State University and its partners have named a new building in memory of a tragic chapter in the region’s history.

The seven-story structure in south downtown previously known as Fourth and Montgomery has been renamed the Vanport Building. The name recognizes Vanport (now north Portland), a largely Black city that flooded on May 30, 1948, resulting in many residents’ deaths.

The 175,000-square-foot Vanport Building is a cooperative project of PSU, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland Community College and the city of Portland.

Vanport was a haven for Black Portlanders who were kept out of other local neighborhoods during World War II. But after the war ended and the flood devastated the neighborhood, Vanport fell into disrepair.

“Vanport represents an important part of Oregon history that we must acknowledge and learn from,” OHSU President Danny Jacobs stated in a news release. “The Vanport Building offers us an opportunity to honor those who were harmed, while reaffirming our commitment to creating an anti-racist future for Portland.”

A noose was found at the construction site in May 2020. The discovery of the racist symbol led general contractor Andersen Construction to file a police report and conduct an internal investigation, but the perpetrator has not been identified.

The building, designed by SRG Partnership, opened in January. It is home to PSU’s College of Education, the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, Portland Community College’s dental hygiene and dental assisting programs and the city of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

A mural by Portland artist Alex Chiu and an exhibit by Bryan Potter Design, titled “The Spirit of Vanport,” occupy space near the building’s entrance.

“There’s a collective, deep sense of loss for what this city could have been had the flood not happened or, more importantly, if city leaders had rightly valued the community,” stated city Commissioner Carmen Rubio, who oversees the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. “We take a small step in honoring Vanport’s value, and in reminding ourselves to value all our communities every day, by choosing this name.”

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The Portland City Council on Thursday agreed to adopt changes to zoning rules that will exempt some affordable housing projects from lengthy Design Commission reviews.

The changes to the zoning rules – Design Overlay Zone Amendments (DOZA) – are meant to accelerate projects through the city’s approval process at a time when city leaders and affordable housing advocates say the city continues to face a housing shortage.

Several affordable housing advocates testified in support of the changes.

“We believe DOZA is poised to greatly improve the design review process and encourage more abundant and more affordable housing that Portland desperately needs,” said Johann Hannesson, a volunteer with Portland Neighbors Welcome, a group that advocates for easing restrictions on building housing.

Perhaps the most significant change is allowing affordable housing project teams to choose Type II or Type III design review. Type II reviews are handled by Bureau of Development Services staff, while Type III reviews go before the Design Commission, which often examines a project during several meetings – a process that can take months.

The new criteria would allow projects with at least 50 percent of units available to renters at or below 60 percent of median family income to choose a design review path.

“The more that we can do to create easy and straightforward paths for people who are trying to provide more of that affordable housing, the better,” said David Binnig, a North Portland resident.

The changes were brought to commissioners by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability as a package of eight zoning amendments. Commissioners on Thursday approved six of the amendments and withdrew two others.

One of the withdrawn amendments, Amendment 5, would have lowered the threshold for design review from 75 feet to 55 feet, except for projects meeting certain affordable housing criteria. Amendment 7 was also withdrawn; it would have required a ground-floor active use standard along a section of North Interstate Avenue.

Chandra Robinson, a member of the Design Commission and a principal at LEVER Architecture, criticized efforts to limit the scope of design review.

“The impact of a seven-story building … cannot be underestimated; it’s very great on a neighborhood,” she said, adding that she was speaking only for herself.  “Do you really want to see seven-story buildings spring up around Portland when the residents have not had the opportunity to come to a hearing and express their thoughts on how that building impacts the context, character and feel of their neighborhood?”

The Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association supported Amendment 7. Mark Wyman, a neighborhood association board member, said similar ground-floor active use requirements nearby had not deterred housing development.

“You can see with your own eyes that there’s plenty of new housing coming online, including 100 percent affordable housing,” he said.

Among the other amendments is one that adds optional design standards for main streets. Another tweaks the criteria of Design Commission membership, making natural resource management and sustainability expertise an option for five development-related positions (instead of reserving a separate position for each expertise).

Commissioners also approved Amendment 8, which directs BPS to create character statements for neighborhoods within the design overlay zone. Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty voted against Amendment 8, making it the only amendment to pass by a nonunanimous vote.

“My concern is: Whose character are we going to write into the standard?” Hardesty asked. “I am troubled by (Amendment 8) and not sure if I can support it today.”

Hardesty said she’s open to further conversations about the amendment.

Mayor Ted Wheeler spoke in support of Amendment 8.

“I want to make it clear that these character statements help our city manage how it grows, adding a hyper-local context,” he said.

Kristen Minor, chairwoman of the Planning Commission, said Amendment 8 would add some teeth to the city’s weak context standards.

“Design review cannot rely on zoning street classifications and weak standards alone,” she said. “Those standards are weak when it comes to context, and that’s what this amendment is about.”

The zoning amendments will return to the council on June 23 for a vote on the amended findings and a draft ordinance.

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The Portland City Council is poised to approve a package of deadline extensions that would give developers and construction firms more time to break ground on projects.

The move comes amid recognition that the pandemic has significantly slowed development review and permit processing at the Bureau of Development Services. Social-distancing rules and market conditions have also contributed to slowing projects, city officials said.

“As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a widespread impact on our city, including on the construction and development sectors of our economy, and on the development review process here at the city of Portland,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said during a meeting on Wednesday.

Commissioners considered eight amendments to Title 33, the city’s zoning code. The amendments would extend the expiration of land-use approvals to Jan. 1, 2024, for developments approved from July 1, 2017 to Dec. 31, 2020. Typically, approvals expire three years after a final land-use decision.

“Due to the pandemic, the processing of permits has slowed down, construction timelines have slowed, financing is harder to obtain, and there is just a generally uncertain market condition happening now,” said J.P. McNeil, a planner with the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty questioned whether the extension would lock Portland into decisions that didn’t take racial and climate justice into account.

“Are we tying ourselves into old plans that are not going to be adaptable to the new visions and the new priorities that the city of Portland is trying to move forward?” she asked.

Wheeler replied that the city should work to accommodate good-faith development plans that have been waylaid by the pandemic and resulting economic downturn.

“My guess is that even with the extension of these deadlines, some of these projects still aren’t going to happen as a result of the economic consequences of COVID,” he said. “But this is really to focus on our piece of this and making good on the partnership and the efforts that already have been made by these development projects under the rules as they existed at the time.”

Commissioners are also considering the extension of lower rates of required inclusionary housing outside the Central City and Gateway plan districts. The current rates for those outside areas are 8 percent of multifamily units capped for renters at 60 percent of median family income, or 15 percent at 80 percent of MFI. In the Central City and Gateway areas, those rates are 10 percent at 60 percent of MFI, and 20 percent at 80 percent of MFI.

The lower rates were originally set to expire at the end of 2018, and were previously extended to the end of this year. The proposed amendment would extend the lower rates three more years, until 2024, but Wheeler proposed a shorter timeline of one year. That aligns with an ongoing review of inclusionary housing policy, Wheeler said.

Another amendment would delay the effective date of new, higher system development charges to Aug. 1, as developers rushed to get projects in before the original July 1 deadline.

Commissioners are tentatively scheduled to vote on the proposed amendments on July 22.

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In 2016, the affordable housing crisis gripping Portland was creating a deep impact on Portsmouth Union Church and the surrounding community. The congregation dwindled as rent increases forced longtime members to move to the far outskirts of the suburbs, and church leaders fielded increasingly frequent calls from displaced North Portland residents looking for places to live.

For years up to that point, the church had been providing housing aid by allowing people to camp on its property, hosting warming shelters and offering assistance with rent and utility bills. According to Rev. Julia Nielsen, one of the church’s co-pastors, members realized their efforts were only putting a Band-Aid on the crisis and that something more needed to be done.

“My faith community realized that we have all this extra space on our land and we have all these folks that we’re not able to help in a systemic way,” she said. “What if we just provided housing for people instead?”

Members of the 125-year-old church, located since 1961 at 4775 N. Lombard St., decided to take bold action to combat the crisis by building as much affordable housing as possible on an unused half-acre portion of their property.

None of the members had any significant development experience, but the mayor had just declared a housing state of emergency the year prior, so they believed the development process would be easy at the city level. They quickly found out that was not the case.

“All of the red tape caught us by surprise,” Nielsen said. “What we experienced in fact was the city had done almost nothing to make it simple for faith communities in particular, but also community-based organizations and nonprofits in general, to have an easy path to doing that.”

The church submitted building permit applications for the project earlier this year after navigating a complicated process to build on its property – including lot line adjustments, a conditional use review, and creation of a ground lease to lease the land back to itself under a newly formed limited liability company. The plan is for ground to be broken this summer on the 20-unit building targeting veterans and displaced North Portland residents earning 30 percent area median income or less. Nielsen estimates that city regulatory hurdles set the project back nearly two years and $50,000.

“That’s time and money that would have allowed us to be housing the people – displaced neighbors and homeless veterans who are currently living either on the edge or on the streets,” she said.

Now, the city of Portland is seeking to amend its zoning code to make it easier for groups like Portsmouth Union Church to build affordable housing on their land. The Expanding Opportunities for Affordable Housing (EOAH) project seeks to capture the momentum of such groups’ desire to help fight the housing crisis by using surplus space on their properties for affordable housing.

Conditional use and zoning processes add costs and uncertainty to projects that are already struggling for funding, Planning and Sustainability Commission member Steph Routh told Portland City Council members earlier this month.

“This is about helping community-based organizations cut through some red tape in order to advance our shared goals,” Routh said, adding that EOAH “reads like a love letter to Portland from Portland.”

The proposed ordinance has been fine-tuned over a series of hearings before City Council this month. While it originally allowed for rezoned properties to be developed with market-rate housing, it has been updated to include regulated affordability at the behest of Commissioners Chloe Eudaly and Jo Ann Hardesty. The proposed ordinance is likely to be adopted when it next goes before City Council on June 10.

The EOAH project is being managed by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and funded by a 2018 Metro Planning and Community Development grant. Case studies were conducted for three properties of different sizes and in different locations. Carleton Hart Architecture provided design concepts for the sites, and The Nielsen Group provided financial expertise.

The city partnered with Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon to reach faith organizations, identify barriers to development and develop a system to connect property-owning institutions with developers that need access to affordable land.

“These amendments are truly a game-changer for us,” Jan Musgrove Elfers, president of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, said during a May 14 hearing. “I cannot overemphasize how vital an impact the amendments to remove barriers in this proposal will have for faith communities that are trying to build affordable housing on their properties.”

The proposal aims to facilitate development by amending city code for institutions with conditional uses in residential zones. Those nonprofits would be able to add housing to their properties without undergoing a new conditional use review when certain base zone standards are met. They would also be allowed to adjust conditional use site boundaries without bringing up a review.

Because conditional use code often requires institutions to maintain a minimum amount of parking even when they are close to transit, the proposed ordinance would allow housing to be built on up to 50 percent of that parking on sites near frequent transit. Some of the anticipated residential buildings may include institutional or community service space, so an increase in acceptable nonresidential floor area is also planned.

The proposed ordinance also would include rezoning and changing the comprehensive plan map designations to expand housing opportunities on 18 designated sites throughout the city. Those changes are being recommended to offer more flexible options for development and a wider range of uses for mission-based organizations that want to develop housing on their land.

Those organizations may hold the key to solving a heretofore major problem encountered by affordable housing developers – a lack of available land. There are about 1,300 institutions – including faith-based, fraternal, community service and education organizations – regulated as conditional uses in residential zones in Portland. They occupy a total of 1,400 acres of city land.

As faith institutions continue to suffer from declining membership, many have an abundance of property and a desire to use it to further their community outreach. The potential for building housing on that land makes perfect sense, Nielsen says, in part because faith-based institutions often have deep roots in neighborhoods with residents who might otherwise oppose new projects by nonprofit developers sometimes considered outsiders.

“Having a congregation that knows its neighbors, that knows its community and serves its needs positions us really well to be able to help when people are struggling,” she said. “Responding to an affordable housing crisis is right in our wheelhouse.”

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The Portland City Council on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for city bureaus to continue working with private landowners to develop one of the largest remaining unbuilt parcels in the city.

Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of adopting the Parkrose-Argay Development Study, which calls for creation of a public-private partnership to develop the 32-acre Rossi Farms site – around the intersection of Northeast 122nd Avenue and Shaver Street, where the Parkrose and Argay neighborhoods meet. A series of public workshops were held over the past year to determine a preferred alternative that provides views of Mount Hood to the east. Plans call for nearly 750 new apartments, as many as 138 new townhomes, a handful of cottages, commercial space and a new grocery store along 122nd Avenue.

“Thank you, Mr. Rossi, to you and your associates for helping making this a really grand vision,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said. “This could have gone in a very different direction, but you really gave the template to the community to be able to shape this.”

The resolution approved by the City Council directs the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability to now work with the Rossi, Garre and Giusto families as well as Prosper Portland to “gauge interest in a future private-public partnership for development of the 32-acre site.”

Other city commissioners were equally enthusiastic.

“This site is so full of exciting potential,” Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said.

The 32 acres span both sides of 122nd Avenue and are near Parkrose High School, Parkrose Middle School and Shaver Elementary School.

The historic Rossi Farms red barn sits on the site and is likely to be repurposed as event space or something similar after public input showed strong support for the structure’s retention and reuse.

A total of six preliminary concept plans were devised by a work group featuring representatives of city agencies, the East Portland Action Plan, the Parkrose School District, Scott | Edwards Architecture, Walker Macy, Lancaster Engineering and others.

The yearlong process identified the View Corridor alternative as the most to the community. A new street would run diagonally through the east side of the site and toward Mount Hood to preserve and frame views of the mountain. Green spaces on either side of that main street would have even better views.

North-south streets envisioned to support mixed-use development would be oriented with views of Mount St. Helens in mind and be offset from connections to streets to the north to discourage cut-through vehicle traffic.

Barry Manning, a senior planner with the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, told commissioners that preliminary planning showed plenty of investment opportunity in the Parkrose/Argay area, albeit at perhaps a lower level of return than the central city.

Consultant “Johnson Economics felt that there was a pretty significant opportunity to develop rental apartments on this site,” Manning said. “This area hasn’t seen much new investment activity. The pricing of rents in the area doesn’t support concrete-podium construction but would support wood-frame construction.”

If the concept plan were to be implemented, the property owners would need to agree on a more formal mechanism to make decisions together. This could take a range of forms, such as a written agreement, or creation of a more formal legal entity.

A suitable developer with experience developing master plans on a large site will also need to be brought on board, along with the required variety of contractors involved in such an enterprise.

Joe Rossi spoke Wednesday on behalf of his family, which has owned the property in question for more than four generations. The family intends to work with the city to bring the concept plan to reality, he said.

“I can’t say enough how much this exceeded my expectations,” Rossi said. “We’re going to go all the way through on this. The first step was the zoning we got; we had really good public input in the zoning process. This was the second step, and the third step will be for us to come and stay involved.”

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A unique ordinance requiring deconstruction of older houses in the city of Portland is likely to soon become more expansive.

The city in 2016 became the first in North America to enact legislation disallowing mechanical demolition of homes of a certain vintage. The Deconstruction of Buildings Law requires builders seeking a demolition permit for houses and duplexes built before 1917, or those designated as historic resources, to disassemble the structure using a licensed deconstruction contractor.

An amendment to the ordinance would broaden the law to encompass homes built in 1940 or earlier.

Currently, approximately one-third of all demolition permits are subject to deconstruction regulations. Officials anticipate that expanding the date threshold will double the number of home deconstructions performed annually in the city.

The ordinance was enacted with the stated purposes of maximizing the salvage of reusable building materials, lowering the amount of demolition waste in landfills, reducing carbon emissions from mechanical demolition equipment, and minimizing emissions of hazardous materials including asbestos and lead.

Expanding the law, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said during a City Council meeting on Wednesday, is in keeping with the city’s sustainability goals.

“Deconstruction nourishes our continuing initiative to build a circular economy, where we move away from a linear model of using something once and then throwing it out and having it go to the landfill, instead finding ways to creatively reuse materials,” he said.

The ordinance was phased in with incentives beginning in 2015, when the city provided owners with grant funding to help offset the cost of deconstruction. More than 200 houses in the city have since been dismantled, with 2.4 million pounds of materials salvaged for reuse instead of being burned or sent to a landfill.

Following Portland’s lead, cities including Milwaukee, Minneapolis, San Antonio and Vancouver, British Columbia, have either enacted similar ordinances modeled on Portland’s approach or installed grant programs and other incentives for deconstruction.

The change to the date threshold to 1941 was originally set forth in as a goal of the 2016 ordinance. Three years in, according to Bureau of Planning and Sustainability construction waste specialist Shawn Wood, the city’s infrastructure for supporting deconstruction has grown. There are now 12 city-licensed deconstruction contractors, along with three more in training. Also, at least two new salvage retail operations have opened.

“Because of the increased competition and innovation, the cost to deconstruct has come down over the past three years,” Wood testified before City Council. “During that same time period the cost to mechanically demolish has gone up.”

In 2016, Wood said, deconstruction costs were about $8,000 higher than those of mechanical demolition. Today, due in part to shrinking markets for wood as industrial fuel as well as new site and dust control requirements implemented by the Bureau of Development Services, the city estimates that deconstruction costs have dropped to anywhere from $3,000 higher than demolition to equal in cost.

Those figures are disputed by the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland, which opposes expanding the date threshold.

“We believe that the cost (of deconstruction) is significantly more expensive, and that cost hasn’t been appropriately represented by city staff,” said Ezra Hammer, HBA’s director of policy and government relations.

The city is miscalculating the true cost of deconstruction, according to Hammer. The city’s figures fail to take into account the carrying costs associated with a longer deconstruction timeline – up to 21 days longer than mechanical demolition, he said. With carrying costs of a standard lot in the city of Portland around $7,000, and a higher contractor fee for deconstruction, Hammer estimates the process to cost around $10,000 more than demolition.

Those costs, Hammer said, will be passed on to buyers and renters and exacerbate the city’s ongoing housing affordability crisis. Further, city staff is not supporting an exemption sought by the HBA that would allow demolition in cases where houses would be replaced by affordable projects. The city’s lack of support for the exemption will mean more public subsidies are needed to ensure affordable housing gets built, Hammer said.

“In many regards, the city speaks in a consistent voice with its desire to support affordable housing,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s not doing that here, and we feel that its failure to do so is a disconnect from its overall policy of advancing and supporting affordable housing.”

Applications for demolition permits have declined steadily since 2016, when 121 were received for pre-1916 houses. That number is projected to be 58 for 2019, along with 58 more anticipated for structures erected between 1917 and 1940. The proposed change of the date threshold would thus increase the total number of deconstructions to around 2016 levels.

According to Wood, it is an ideal time to increase the threshold. The businesses that have started in response to the deconstruction ordinance have expanded their capabilities with investments in staff, equipment and retail space, and are primed to take on more work. Doubling the number of permits presents little risk of overwhelming the city’s deconstruction infrastructure, he said.

“The industry has a firm footing, and has adapted in ways we couldn’t have imagined,” he said. “I have no reason to believe that won’t be the case going forward as the landscape changes.”

The ordinance proposal will receive a second reading before City Council next week and appears to have universal support. During a straw poll, Wheeler and commissioners Chloe Eudaly, Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish indicated they would vote yes. Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty took exception with what she argued would be insufficient fines for violations, which Fish suggested could easily be updated by the city’s Development Review Advisory Committee.

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A former surface parking lot on the Portland State University campus is quickly becoming a seven-story, 175,000-square-foot mixed-use building.

The 4th and Montgomery Building is rising on three-quarters of a block bounded by Southwest Montgomery and Harrison streets, and Fourth and Fifth avenues. SRG Partnership designed the approximately $104 million project, which is being built by construction manager/general contractor Andersen Construction. The building will be occupied by PSU‘s Graduate School of Education, the joint Oregon Health & Science University-PSU School of Public Health, Portland Community College dental programs, and Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

Crews broke ground in December 2018, and substantial completion is expected by November 2020, according to PSU. The building will have ground-level commercial space, classrooms, a dental clinic, and both academic and nonacademic offices.

SRG Partnership’s design matches the curved streetcar path that clips the block’s northeast corner. All sidewalks and access to the building will be generous and open.

To accommodate a significant grade change, designers used landscape walks, stairs, walls, benches and planters to define a central courtyard space while offering multiple access points.

Inside, the ground floor will feature retail spaces and a lobby. A central staircase will bring people to classrooms and offices for tenants on the second floor and above.

The design’s aim is for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating. Sustainable features include a green roof with 62 percent coverage, a rooftop solar array, a large stormwater planter and a dedicated outside air system with radiant heating and cooling.

In addition, the building will have a high-efficiency envelope and exterior metal-panel cladding with punched window openings and bird-safe exterior glazing.

Currently, construction crews are gaining speed after a slow start that included additional excavation after the discovery of waste underneath the parking lot.

“We had an old building that they had torn down, and they buried quite a few things that we had to dig through and dispose of in the right manner,” Andersen Construction superintendent Paul Rovianek said. “It was nothing really crazy – just some roofing material, some bricks and different things like that. It’s surprising they buried all of that, but we sent it off and put it in the right spot.”

The new building will feature seven stories of post-tensioned concrete decks and reinforced concrete columns constructed around double building cores housing elevators and stairwells. The first two levels will feature oversized spaces, with ceilings ranging from 20 to 25 feet on the ground level and 16 feet on the second floor. Ceilings on levels three through seven will be 12 feet.

Andersen’s subsidiary, Andersen Structures Inc., is performing all of the project’s concrete work, and the firm’s carpenters are constructing formwork, installing shoring systems and stripping old formwork as the project moves forward.

“We just have the typical guys right now for this stage of the project,” Rovianek said, noting that concrete was being poured for the third level. “We have concrete and (mechanical, electrical and plumbing workers); the electricians and plumbers are here full time and the fire sprinkler guys are just in and out putting in sleeves and blue bangers.”

Excavation work is also wrapping up with installation of a communications vault, while ironworkers from Local 29 and R2M2 Rebar and Stressing are laying down rebar for the concrete decks.

“It’s a lot of the usual suspects,” Rovianek said with a laugh.

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The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability‘s Better Housing by Design proposal to encourage development of more densely built apartments in certain areas encountered a somewhat mixed reception by the City Council on Wednesday.

Commissioners received about two hours of public testimony from residents, nonprofit advocates and development professionals on the proposal, which is essentially the multifamily companion to the Residential Infill Project that is meant to create more small dwellings in single-family zones.

Better Housing by Design applies to only 8 percent of the city by land area. Areas zoned for multi-dwelling residential (designated by the city as R1, R2, R3 and RH) are concentrated in East Portland, but also include the Alphabet and King’s Hill historic districts in Northwest Portland and sections along Southwest Barbur Boulevard.

The rezoning project would allow many more apartments on some parcels, which would benefit nonprofit affordable-housing developers.

“Better Housing by Design is a game changer for affordable housing developers,” said Julie Livingston, senior project manager for Home Forward. (Livingston also serves as the Portland Design Commission‘s chairwoman, but said she was representing Home Forward in her testimony).

Livingston gave the example of a 5-acre parcel Home Forward owns in East Portland. Under current R2 zoning, with inclusionary housing, the parcel could host up to 144 units. The proposed zoning would raise the development potential to 330 units, she said.

Better Housing by Design allows for more low-rise housing options, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability project manager Bill Cunningham said.

“The basic message is houses are out of reach for the majority of Portlanders now,” he said. “And knowing that we have a broad range of household types, we know we need a broader range of housing opportunities for people.”

He added, “Housing production hasn’t kept up with the growth in the number of households in Portland. So more people vying for not enough housing does drive prices up.”

Commissioners pushed back on some aspects of the proposal. Amanda Fritz said the city should encourage larger units.

“I want to make sure that we’re going to have family housing in Portland as well as affordable housing,” she said. “I don’t think the two should be mutually exclusive.”

Cunningham noted the program includes bonuses for three-bedroom homes at moderate income levels.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said the city should first release a report, expected later this year, on the racist history of Portland zoning.

“I’m very concerned that we are just solidifying the racially segregating housing policy first, and then we go talking about how we’re not going to displace people after we’ve already confirmed that the racist policy is fine and that we’re going to keep it status quo,” she said.

Representatives of numerous organizations testified in favor of the project, including a Portland Public Schools staffer who said stable housing contributes to learning.

Mayor Ted Wheeler continued the hearing until Nov. 6, when he said the City Council will hear more testimony on Better Housing by Design. Written testimony will be accepted until then.

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A plan to encourage more dense housing projects in certain zones across Portland is raising the ire of Historic Landmarks Commission members, who fear it will encourage demolitions and sideline their ability to regulate building height and size in historic districts.

Commission Chairwoman Kristen Minor is at work on a letter to the City Council ahead of the council’s Wednesday meeting, when the group is scheduled to take up the zoning policies – known as Better Housing by Design – for two hours of discussion. A vote could be held in November.

During a Historic Landmarks Commission meeting on Monday, Minor said the Planning and Sustainability Commission‘s agenda is creating a conflict.

“Some parties would not like this commission to have a say over a project’s bulk or height,” she said. “That’s one of the key measures of compatibility.”

Minor told her fellow commissioners that she was inclined to make their objections known.

“I for one believe we should go in guns blazing to City Council, but I appreciate your discussion on this,” she said.

The Historic Landmarks Commission members’ concerns underscore the tension between their role – “maintaining and enhancing Portland’s historic and architectural heritage,” according to the city’s website – and Portland’s greater policy push to build more housing units throughout the city. That is something Mayor Ted Wheeler and others have sought as a key solution to Portland’s housing crisis.

Better Housing by Design would give larger height bonuses for affordable housing in multi-dwelling zones. It would also provide greater heights for buildings with 50 percent or more units made affordable at 60 percent of area median income – a provision intended as an incentive for nonprofit affordable housing developers.

“This is of course related to the housing crisis, and wanting to make better use of housing opportunities when they arise,” said Bill Cunningham, a Bureau of Planning and Sustainability project manager.

The proposal would also allow the transfer of floor area ratio to historic districts, enabling greater building heights in exchange for seismic upgrades. Earlier attempts by city officials to encourage seismic retrofits have run into roadblocks.

The proposal also would establish “base” floor area ratios. In a draft letter to the City Council, the Historic Landmarks Commission protested that provision.

“Giving developers of projects extra bulk or height in historic districts creates less predictability and more opportunity for contentious hearings for projects in these districts,” the letter dated Sept. 9 states. “Increasing a new development’s height or bulk (beyond code ‘maximums,’ which are themselves not always approvable in every situation) will not always meet Historic Review approval criteria. The (commission) strongly opposes opportunities to ‘earn’ more bulk in these areas, even for deeply needed affordable housing.”

The letter also states that a provision to allow measurement from a low point below the sidewalk would encourage tuck-under garages.

Better Housing by Design would apply to multi-dwelling residential zones (R1, R2, R3 and RH in zoning jargon) outside the Central City. In practice, much of this property lies in East Portland. The proposal would also affect the Alphabet and King’s Hill historic districts in Northwest Portland.

Cunningham said there’s nothing in Better Housing by Design that would remove the Historic Landmarks Commission’s authority to govern building height and bulk in historic districts. Among the commission’s primary tasks is reviewing development proposals on properties within historic districts.

“That’s not changing at all through this proposal,” Cunningham said. “They would continue to have the discretion to change (designs) based on context.”

Nevertheless, Historic Landmarks Commission members fear the proposal would sideline their review authority. Minor pointed to another city planning project, Design Overlay Zone Amendments (DOZA), that would limit the Design Commission‘s discretion in certain neighborhoods.

“It’s kind of been this implicit threat that the Landmarks Commission would also lose purview,” Minor said. “It would be a vastly different thing for us to lose that. They are in the position of wanting more height and density just about anywhere,” she said, referring to the Design Commission. “Whereas for us, there are definitely situations in historic districts where the maximums allowed under the code would result in noncompatible projects.”

Minor said the Historic Landmarks Commission is on board with the city’s overall goals to increase housing density. But, she added, the Better Housing by Design proposal should do more to discourage demolitions.

“The code has definitely swung in the direction to build our way out of the housing crisis,” she said. “That’s certainly part of the picture – but we also have to sustain what we have.”

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