This year is already shaping up to be one of the busiest for post-recession development in Portland, according to city planners, and the glut of proposed projects is overwhelming the land use and design review processes.

The hectic pace of development has spawned a series of efforts to streamline the city’s land use procedures so that officials can respond to increased demand for project reviews more efficiently, said Rebecca Esau, manager of the Portland Bureau of Development Services’ Land Use Services Division.

All department facets are being affected, Esau said. That is why six staffers were added this past fall, and a proposal exists to hire eight more in the coming fiscal year, she said. Also, more clerical staffers have joined BDS to help with administrative tasks and free up planners to focus on project reviews. Meanwhile, officials are considering whether to hire interns through Portland State University’s urban planning program to help with the workload, Esau said.

“Everybody is really busy,” she said. “We’re in the process of hiring for a whole number of positions.”

City planners are not the only ones who have been slammed. Increased development has also affected the Portland Design Commission. The seven-member volunteer committee of design and development professionals is tasked with reviewing major developments within city design districts. Commissioners typically meet twice a month, but have stepped up to do so three times to keep pace with the number of requests for design advice or design review approval.

City staffers and design commissioners are working to accelerate notoriously long hearings. For instance, a timer may be used to limit project team presentations and public testimony. At a Design Commission meeting earlier this month, city planner Tim Heron proposed starting the hearings earlier than 1:30 p.m.

“The goal behind that would be to set (a) six-hour time limit,” he told the commission.

Currently, meetings often drag on late into the evening, challenging city staffers to give design teams accurate times for when their scheduled hearing will start or when the public will have opportunity to testify on a proposed project, Heron said.

“We need to be more predictable,” he said. “It’s better for the commissioners, it’s better for the public, it’s better for staff.”

Heron said he doesn’t foresee the volume of cases coming before the Design Commission slowing any time soon and suggested members further discuss ways to streamline hearings when they convene for a retreat next month. Commission Chairman David Wark and Vice Chairman Ben Kaiser plan to also meet with Esau this week to address ways to make commission meetings more efficient.

Esau said a big concern is burnout among the commissioners, who dedicate a significant amount of unpaid time to review project designs.

“We’re creating a bit more structure than we had before,” she said. “We’re working with the commission and staff on hearings management. We know these hearings have been going late into the night and we really need to get moving to get through the volume of work that’s coming in.”

The significant time required to serve on the Design Commission may be why it’s been a struggle to fill a vacancy created when Jane Hansen left last September, Wark said. City staffers are also seeking applicants to replace Commissioner Guenevere Millius. Her term ended in December, but she is continuing to serve on the commission because it’s already short one person.

Many of the potential candidates that Wark said he and other commissioners have approached are leaders at architecture, development and urban planning firms already stretched professionally by Portland’s building boom.

“I think a lot of people are very wary of the time commitment,” he said.

Wark said he’s suggested cutting out redundancy in planner and project team presentations to the commission and worked to focus hearing deliberations. But this can be tricky with complex projects, such as superblock developments, he said.

“There are some enormous projects,” he said. “Just the scale of the project might require its own (design advice request) or hearing. The owners are under enormous pressure to get their projects through. Our task is to expedite the process while still maintaining the same level of quality of Portland’s built environment.”

Other cities with a design review process don’t offer the design advice request hearings that are typical for the Portland Design Commission. Wark said he’d never suggest cutting out that chance for design teams to gauge where the commission stands on initial project plans.

“It is a process that is more fair than just coming in with your complete (design),” Wark said. “You do have an opportunity for early feedback and (to) set the course or reset the course of your design.”

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Hennebery Eddy Architects principal David Wark on Jan. 15 became the new chairman of the Portland Design Commission.

Commissioners appointed Wark, previously the commission’s vice chairman, to replace Guenevere Millius, owner and founder of Portland-based marketing and planning firm Parachute Strategies. Also, Commissioner Ben Kaiser was appointed to replace Wark as the vice chairman. Kaiser is the owner and principal of Portland-based PATH Architecture.

Millius’ term ended in December, but she is continuing to serve on the commission because it’s already short one person.

The Portland Bureau of Development Services is seeking to fill a commission vacancy created when Jane Hansen left in September 2014. Candidates should have experience in design, engineering, financing or development of buildings. The commission must also include one representative from the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Those interested in applying to serve on the commission can contact city planner Tim Heron at 503-823-7726 or tim.heron@portlandoregon.gov.

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An 11-story, mixed-use building proposed for the corner of Northwest Ninth Avenue and Couch Street would feature floor-to-ceiling windows, matte silver zinc vertical and horizontal siding panels, perforated metal balconies and sliding sunshades in gradient colors.

Chris Jones, a project designer with Portland-based Vallaster Corl Architects, on Thursday asked the Portland Design Commission for preliminary design advice on Couch Nine.

The high-rise would feature one-, two- and three-bedroom units and studios (145 total) and approximately 7,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. The plans also call for 80 underground parking spaces.

The commissioners considered the overall design excellent, and they liked the materials the firm proposed using. However, each commissioner expressed dissatisfaction with the west-facing facade, which would feature recessed balconies in a grid pattern. Each west-facing balcony would have a moving sunshade – between four and five feet wide – able to slide along the length of the railing.

“The other elevations are fixed, and this creates a dark hole,” Commissioner Tad Savinar said. “It feels unconnected to the elegance of the other sides.”

Commission Chairwoman Guenevere Millius said that the west facade gave her some “ill-defined heartburn,” but liked the rest of the design.

“It’s a good thing that the other sides are that good,” Commissioner David Wark said. “You have something to work on.”

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After several meetings and design tweaks, Las Vegas-based Fore Property Co. on Thursday got the go-ahead from the Portland Design Commission to add 250 apartments to the northwest riverfront.

The commissioners voted 5-1 to approve SERA Architects‘ design for the Riverscape Lot 8 development. Commissioner Tad Savinar cast the lone dissenting vote.

The $40 million development of two six-story buildings will be constructed slightly east of Northwest Front Avenue, north of the Fremont Bridge, on what is now a vacant lot. Building A will be aligned with Front Avenue and have a mix of studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments. Building B will have the same mix, but be u-shaped with a north-facing central courtyard. Tenants of both buildings will have access to yoga, fitness and commons rooms in Building B and adjacent to its central courtyard.

Both buildings’ designs call for a series of tiered steps on the upper floors along the north edge, with the top three floors sequentially set back to create large, open terraces for those units.

In addition to 200 underground parking spaces for tenants, a street-like parking area between the two buildings will allow for two loading areas and six parallel parking spaces.

“That was the biggest change of all – to revise the street-level parking area to look like a street,” said Kurt Schultz, a SERA principal. “We also introduced street-level unit entry on all sides of the parking lot.”

There are two spaces for retail in Building A, including one for a boat rental business. During Thursday’s hearing, the commissioners asked Schultz if his firm had been able to secure river access for the boat rental company. Schultz said he hadn’t gotten permission from the sheriff’s office, but said he was hopeful he would be able to do so.

“It’s a sad state of affairs when a boat rental place can’t get into the water,” Commissioner Ben Kaiser said. “For some reason they won’t let people touch the Willamette (River) in Portland.”

The development completes a missing portion of the Greenway Trail along the river on the property’s north and east sides, including installation of trail lighting, landscaping and seating.

SERA had designed a rooftop movie-watching area for Building B, but was forced to ax those plans when the Bureau of Development Services determined that it would violate city code because it would be a “changing image sign.” Commission Chairwoman Guenevere Millius found that regrettable.

“I really wish I could watch a movie on that roof,” she said.

Savinar said his main reason for dissenting was that the two buildings were so similar in design.

“I think this is a lost opportunity,” he said. “I have a real difficulty when we have multiple buildings that look the same.”

All in all, the commissioners commended SERA on its effort to make what Millius called “increasingly finer-grain adjustments” that they had requested during several design advice meetings.

“You’ve taken it to a level beyond our expected response,” Commissioner Jeff Simpson said.

Tess O’Brien Apartments: changes needed

Also on Thursday, FFA Architecture and Interiors principal Troy Ainsworth and associate Karl Refi presented to the Portland Design Commission their plans for a multifamily development – the Tess O’Brien Apartments – in Northwest Portland.

The firm sought design approval for two six-story apartment buildings, one facing Northwest Pettygrove Street and the other facing Northwest Overton Street, with a shared courtyard connecting them. The Pettygrove building would have 52 studios and the Overton building would have 74.

The buildings would be functionally independent of one another, but share access to the central courtyard. Additionally, tenants from both buildings would have access to the commons room in the Overton building and the fitness center in the Petttygrove building.

Refi explained that the firm intentionally designed the two buildings to look the same at the request of developer, Martin Kehoe. Savinar took issue with the plan.

“This district … is the most diverse in Portland,” he said. “It seems like you would want to continue this diversity in the design and actually play with it.”

Commissioner Ben Kaiser agreed, adding that because one building faces north and the other south, identical designs aren’t prudent in regard to heating and cooling.

The commissioners disapproved of several design factors, including substantial fiber cement lap siding, uncovered bicycle storage in the courtyard area, first-floor units facing streets, and the overall plainness of the shared center courtyard.

When going through the critique process, several commissioners pointed out that the architects’ presentation did not match the plans presented in the staff report.

“Seventy-five percent of the facade is HardiePlank (siding), and that needs to change,” Simpson said. “The drawing on the screen (of the courtyard area) is not in our packet, and I tend to think that’s deliberate, because there’s nothing in that drawing that we’d want to see.”

Ainsworth told the commission that the developer requested a vote during Thursday’s meeting. The commission voted unanimously to deny the staff report as written because of the many discrepancies between the presentation and the report.

Portland planner Tim Heron scheduled a second design review hearing, with the revised staff report, for Nov. 20.

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Portland Design Commission members would like to see more oomph in SERA Architects‘ design for a planned 203-room hotel in the South Waterfront District.

Commissioners on Thursday told the design team for the estimated $46 million Hyatt House hotel project at 2098 S.W. River Parkway that they would like to see further refinement to the six-story building’s ground floor, main entrances, courtyard and wall-mounted water feature. Instead of voting on potential design approval, commissioners asked the team to return with modifications at a hearing on Oct. 23.

Design Commission Chairwoman Guenevere Millius said it would be nice to see the envelope pushed a bit more.

“We see a lot of similar architecture and a lot of similar moves,” she said. “You’re seeing this commission pushing a bit more on projects that are hitting all the marks. We’re pushing for some fine detail. I know that can be challenging when you’re working for a corporate client. They strive to have a sameness about their buildings wherever you go. I sympathize with running a corporate program in front of the Design Commission.”

The Hyatt House design team was back before the Design Commission on Thursday after a hearing in early September. Modifications included additional canopies, a more prominent glass facade at the southwest corner and a wall fountain next to the garage entrance on Southwest Moody Avenue. Plans also call for ground-floor corner retail spaces, below-grade stacked parking for 48 cars and a second-story courtyard deck with eco-roofs.

Many of the changes to the design involved emphasizing the entrances with canopies and adding interest to the facade, such as pumping up a glass curtain wall “shadow box” on the southwest corner, SERA Architects associate Gary Golla told the commission.

“We felt like we needed a stronger element on the corner,” he said. “It creates a different type of framing on the corner.”

This is also why a simple trellis system next to the garage entry was enhanced with the addition of a fountain for water to trickle into terraced planters that step down from the second-story deck to the sidewalk, said Carol Mayer-Reed, a partner at Mayer/Reed, the project’s landscape architect.

“We’re getting this layering of water and green coming out that will create this articulation on the wall,” she said.

Commissioner Ben Kaiser pointed out that the fountain would draw a lot of attention to the garage door and away from other parts of the building.

“The energy of that is pushing it toward the garage door,” he said. “All of a sudden this northeast corner has lost all that energy and the eye goes to the garage door.”

The water feature planters look too much like steps going up the wall, Commissioner David Wark said.

“I kept thinking about wanting to climb them,” he said. “Is that an attractive nuisance?”

The water feature could be more dramatic and feel less like an extension of the building, Commissioner Tad Savinar said.

“It’s in the same tones as the rest of the building, so it feels heavy to me,” he told the design team. “You described it as a ‘moment.’ I think that’s exactly what should happen, instead of stretching the architecture across the building.”

Despite changes to the design, commissioners said they were left wanting more.

“For me, the southwest corner is kind of the starting point,” Wark said. “If you were to look at that shadow box as the Hyatt identity, it’s the most public and visible corner. From that the identity can be very strong, stronger than it is now.”

More could be done to draw visitors into the proposed hotel, Savinar said.

“I would like the building to welcome me as a guest,” he said. “I just think there should be something racy and attractive that says, ‘Welcome home,’ as opposed to a graphic entry.”

Kaiser told the design team he hoped to see some unique flair in the building plans the next time the project comes before the commission.

“I hope the architecture doesn’t end up completely calm,” he said. “In these moves, hopefully you don’t go safe and quiet.”

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The proposed location for a plaza on the site of the planned $235 million headquarters hotel received a lukewarm response from the Portland Design Commission during a design advice hearing on Thursday.

Commissioners discouraged the project team from placing a plaza at the corner of Northeast Holladay Street and heavily trafficked Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, near the Oregon Convention Center. Instead, they recommended a more creative approach to meeting a city requirement to provide public open space and access through the superblock site.

“I feel like putting the plaza on MLK did a lot of favors for other things, except the plaza itself,” Design Commission Chairwoman Guenevere Millius said. “By itself and for the hotel, it’s a tough condition because it’s up against MLK. Instead of trying to chomp all that (plaza) space together, how can you wrap that space around the building and create favorable space for the hotel?”

At Thursday’s hearing, commissioners did not discuss the design of the anticipated 19- to 21-story, 600-room, 450,000-square-foot Hyatt Hotels Corp. building. Their feedback focused on the hotel site, bounded by Northeast Holladay Street, Multnomah Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Second Avenue.

The project’s developer, Minneapolis-based Mortenson Development, and designers Elness Swenson Graham Architects, also of Minneapolis, Portland-based Ankrom Moisan Architects and Portland-based landscape architecture firm Mayer/Reed sought Design Commission advice on their preferred plaza location.

“We hope as a conclusion to this that we get consensus on the plaza location,” Mortenson Development Vice President Tom Lander told the commission.

The design team identified five options for placement of an approximately 4,000-square-foot plaza, but focused its presentation to commissioners on the proposed location at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Holladay Street. Placement at that intersection would help connect the hotel to the adjacent Convention Center MAX station, one of the busier light rail stops outside downtown, Ankrom Moisan senior associate Carolyn Forsyth said. It also would tie into an existing plaza across Holladay Street in front of the convention center, she said.

“The design team quickly realized how important that corner is,” Forsyth said.

The hotel lobby, restaurant and bar would be located adjacent to the plaza, Elness Swenson Graham Architects design principal Trace Jacques said.

“I see a lot of opportunity for seamless experience between the indoor and outdoor environments,” he said. “There’s just a multitude of opportunities to enhance the pedestrian experience.”

Mayer/Reed partner Carol Mayer-Reed told the commission she is also working on a project to improve the convention center plaza. She recommended building additional plaza space across Holladay Street at the headquarters hotel site to further enhance an area visited by many people from outside Portland.

“We’ve studied other options and they frankly don’t work as well,” Mayer-Reed said. “Linking this plaza to the surrounding neighborhood – this is a really great place to do that. The plaza in this location allows more generous space. It’s really a gracious way to welcome guests to our city.”

She acknowledged that the convention center plaza is not used frequently because of heavy traffic on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Design commissioners expressed worries that a headquarters hotel plaza across the street would suffer from the same problem.

“I’m just not sure MLK is the right place for a big public plaza,” Commissioner David Wark said.

Commissioner Tad Savinar said he needed to know more about the plaza design before offering advice to the project team.

“I can’t tell you where to put it because I don’t know what it is,” he said.

Millius encouraged the design team to think beyond building a plaza to break up the superblock development at the pedestrian level.

“That’s the programming challenge for you,” she said. “It’s not where do I fit this (plaza); it’s how do I make this space great.”

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Portland’s design review process should be expanded or revised to better respond to surging development in the city, according to a Portland Design Commission report.

The notes the number of applications for developments currently seeking city design review approval has eclipsed the volume seen in the mid-2000s. As a result, the seven-member Design Commission has returned to the era of more than six-hour bi-monthly meetings and has been scheduling additional hearings to help move projects through the pipeline.

Design Commission Chairwoman Guenevere Millius last week gave the report to the Portland City Council. In the report, design commissioners request that the City Council consider a number of measures to better respond to the concerns of the Portland residents living in rapidly changing neighborhoods.

This includes updating Portland’s Community Design Standards. In many of Portland’s design districts, developers use the design standards to design their projects and avoid design review. The standards were developed in the 1980s and don’t adequately address today’s developments, commissioners said.

“We grow increasingly concerned about poor quality projects that have proliferated by following the prescribed Community Design Standard path,” the report said. “We strongly believe it is time to, at minimum, review and revise Community Design Standards to reflect the changed nature of the neighborhoods to which they apply.”

Commissioners suggested expanding design districts or offering a trigger that would require design review anywhere in the city, such as projects on main corridors or other areas where design oversight would be beneficial.

“It is worth considering whether enough of our city enjoys the benefits of design review,” the report said.

As design review is expanded into new areas, the report said a second design commission should be formed or one assigned to each quadrant of the city.

Based on neighborhood feedback during design commission meetings, commissioners advocated in the report for the elimination of split-zoned blocks because of the stark contrast created between single family homes and apartment complexes.

“Portland needs to address areas where split-zoned blocks exist, and work toward creating a more comfortable fit between new, denser development and the existing fabric of neighborhoods,” the report said.

Even through few of the city’s design districts require parking on new developments, it’s often a frequent concern brought up during public testimony at Design Commission hearings.

“Neighbors and neighborhood associations continue to visit us in droves and with parking counts in new projects ranking high among their concerns, and they are frustrated that we can’t talk about parking,” the report said. “Often, the parking issue looms so large for them, that issues with the architecture – the stuff we can talk about – [are] nearly ignored.”

Design commissioners requested that Portland Bureau of Transportation officials develop a long-term approach to transportation development for an increasingly dense city. The issue should also be addressed in a new city comprehensive plan that is being developed, they said.

“Excellent architecture deserves excellent transportation systems,” the report said.

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With a substantial backlog of projects awaiting Portland Design Commission approval, some industry professionals say the city’s design review process needs to be streamlined.

Most importantly, they say, it needs to happen quicker. Too often, by the time a project goes before the Design Commission, it’s so far along that extensive revisions can be a significant setback, said Paddy Tillett, a ZGF Architects principal and Portland Urban Design Panel member.

“These reviews are happening much too late in the process,” he said. “If design review happens too late, it becomes a critique of what has been designed rather than how to create a good design.”

Tillett and other Urban Design Panel members believe it’s important that the city have a public design review process to shape development, but worry that it’s becoming too cumbersome. The panel members, including representatives of the American Institute of Architects, the American Planning Association and the American Society of Landscape Architects, want to alleviate this by becoming intermediary advisers in the process.

A City Club of Portland Friday Forum – “” – on Friday will address the issue. Current and former Design Commission members will address ways to improve design review and better involve the public. Speakers will include Design Commission Chairwoman Guenevere Millius, president of Parachute Strategies; and past design commissioners Michael McCulloch, a Portland architect, and John Russell, founder of Russell Development Co. Randy Gragg, director of the University of Oregon’s John Yeon Center for Architectural Studies, will moderate the discussion.

“It occurred to me that this is a matter of civic importance that we understand what the Design Commission does and why it is important,” Tillett said. “Design review is something a lot of people outside of the design community don’t know about, yet they have opinions … about how our city looks.”

The Urban Design Panel, meanwhile, aims to enhance the quality of Portland’s urban environment and support efforts by city staffers and the Design Commission to raise design awareness, he said.

Panel members recently of them becoming voluntary resources for architects seeking early feedback on designs. This would help identify problems that could potentially drag out the city design review process, said Bob Boileau, a Myhre Group Architects principal and Urban Design Panel member.

“We’re going to get plans sooner (than the Design Commission),” he said. “If there’s anything we can do to speed up the process, (we will).”

Millius said she is appreciative of the panel’s willingness to offer early feedback on designs, but also aware of potential pitfalls. She is worried that architects will assume that a positive critique from the Urban Design Panel will spell an equally favorable response from the Design Commission. Another drawback is that seeking out feedback from the Urban Design Panel is voluntary.

“Are only the really talented (teams) going to bring their projects to the Urban Design Panel?” Millius asked. “You just hope that teams that need the most help would seek it.”

City staffers report being busier than ever handling requests for design approval, leading to a backlog, she said. Design commissioners also have been asked to review increasingly large and complex projects featuring new materials or construction methods.

“We have much more developed design guidelines and much more things to consider,” Millius said. “We’re engaged in a sort of deeper conversation for better or worse.”

Urban Design Panel member John Spencer, of Spencer Consultants, served on the Design Commission in the 1990s. He said the current commission could save time by limiting their critiques to how a project can meet city design guidelines.

“Now the (design advice request) process has gotten more and more detailed,” he said. “You have to ask yourself: Are we getting better projects than we were? It’s certainly taking more time and money.”

The Design Commission recently started using a timer to limit architects’ presentations to 20 minutes, and that has already helped accelerate reviews, Millius said. She also tries to focus the discussion if it veers off topic.

The idea is to ensure that meetings don’t drag on so long that commissioners aren’t able to offer valuable feedback.

“It’s hard to maintain your focus and your ability to care about anybody’s feelings except your own to go home,” Millius said. “We’re constantly thinking about how we can we deliver the same quality review with less time.”

Following the City Club discussion, the Urban Design Panel plans to host a workshop with past and present Design Commission members to discuss possible next steps toward process refinement.

“We hope that as a consequence of that City Club conversation we may have a meeting subsequently about how (design commissioners) might change their process to respond to the circumstances they have today,” Tillett said.

If you go

What: “Portland Architecture: How Good is Good Enough?”

When: Friday, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. (doors open at 11:30 a.m.)

Where: The Sentinel hotel, 614 S.W. 11th Ave., Portland

More information: 503-228-7231, or

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