Portland General Electric will build two solar projects in Eastern Oregon to meet growing demand from data center operators, the utility announced Tuesday.

PGE will spend approximately $540 million on a 125-megawatt solar facility and a 125-megawatt battery energy storage system in Sherman County. And in Morrow County, PGE will invest approximately $490 million in a 240-megawatt solar facility and a 125-megawatt battery system.

“We’re advancing critical infrastructure investments that will support economic development, both in Oregon and in Washington, and builds on a base of growing data center and high-tech customers,” PGE CEO Maria Pope said in a conference call on Tuesday.

The announcement came as PGE reported fourth-quarter and annual results. The utility is publicly traded under the stock symbol “POR.” PGE stock slipped 2.7 percent on Tuesday.

PGE also revealed a major acquisition, saying it would acquire PacifiCorp‘s Washington utility operations for $1.9 billion, in a deal financed in a partnership with Manulife Investment Management. PGE will manage the Washington utilities as a newly formed subsidiary regulated by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.

“In this time of unprecedented electricity demand, PGE’s commitment to the Pacific Northwest and our excellent service and energy infrastructure will benefit Central and Southeastern Washington,” Pope said.

Construction of the new solar projects will begin this year; they’re slated to come online by the end of 2027, Pope said. They are eligible for federal tax credits between 30 percent and 40 percent, she added.

PGE is also moving forward with last year’s request for proposals for new generation resources, and a short list will be submitted to the Oregon Public Utility Commission this week, said Joseph Trpik, PGE’s chief financial officer.

The Portland-based utility’s large customer group — such as industrial users, including data centers — is expected to grow by 10 percent annually through 2030, Pope said.

Utilities nationwide have come under public pressure as data centers’ voracious appetites for power have caused residential rates to soar. In a nod to rising prices, Pope said PGE’s tariff proposal includes a 25 percent price hike for data center customers, which is expected to “reduce residential and small business customer prices.”

Data centers now account for about 6 percent of PGE’s total customer load, Pope said.

PGE’s total load increased 3.8 percent in 2025, and 4.7 percent in weather-adjusted terms. The industrial load jumped 14 percent, while the residential load fell 1.8 percent.

Trpik attributed the load increase to “diverse and growing data center and high-tech customers.” Warm weather in the fourth quarter weakened overall demand, he said.

The Washington deal will add 140,000 customers around Yakima, Walla Walla and other communities in Central and Southeast Washington, PGE officials said.

“This acquisition is a great fit,” Pope said, calling the deal an “excellent opportunity to expand our service to Washington state and acquire generation, transmission and distribution assets we know very well.”

The acquisition must be approved by regulators in Oregon and Washington. The regulatory process should require 11 to 12 months, Pope said.

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California’s two largest utilities routinely drag their feet connecting solar panels to the electric grid, missing state-mandated deadlines as much as 73 percent of the time, according to a formal complaint submitted by solar advocates.

The complaint filed by a solar energy advocacy group urges the California Public Utilities Commission to hold utilities accountable when they fail to meet such deadlines. The commission is formally reviewing it.

The advocates have complained for years that such delays hinder California’s transition to renewables. State utility regulators are separately revisiting the process for connecting rooftop solar to the grid, including examining whether and how the utility commission should require utilities to comply with the timelines it established years ago.

But the commission has yet to reprimand utilities for regularly missing these deadlines.

“The rule is there, but the commission hasn’t chosen to enforce (it),” said Kevin Luo, policy and market development manager for the California Solar & Storage Association, which filed the complaint.

When Californians add solar panels to their rooftops, they begin a complex “interconnection” process led by the utilities to ensure the array is correctly installed and able to provide power for both the customer and the grid, which receives power the customer does not use. For each interconnection step, the utility is allotted a certain amount of time, ranging from five business days to 90 calendar days.

The timelines for several of the more extensive steps — including design, construction and installation — were clarified in a 2020 decision after solar panel owners complained that California’s major investor-owned utilities were blowing their deadlines.

The delays can have significant financial consequences for panel owners, widening the period after they have laid out money for solar cells but before they see a reduction in their power consumption or payments from selling excess solar power back to utilities.

Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric all report their compliance with these timelines on a quarterly basis. The reporting is for projects over 30 kilowatts, which are often for businesses, not residential homes, and account for most solar projects.

The data show that PG&E and Edison routinely exceed the allotted windows.

In the complaint, filed in late August, the California Solar & Storage Association noted the utilities take longer than permitted to connect customers between 19 percent and 73 percent of the time, depending on which stage of the process is examined.

For example, the utilities are given 10 business days to acknowledge someone’s request for interconnection — PG&E’s median time for this step was 20 days, with its longest being 245 days. One of the most crucial steps is a system impact study, which looks at how the addition of a customer’s solar array will affect the grid and identifies any potential issues with hookup. PG&E kept to its timeline 49 percent of the time, while Edison met its deadline 43 percent of the time, according to the complaint.

San Diego Gas & Electric typically meets its deadlines and wasn’t included in the solar association’s complaint about timeliness.

PG&E spokesperson Mike Gazda responded to the complaint by stating that “PG&E is a strong advocate for solar energy and has interconnected nearly 900,000 solar customers — more than any other U.S. utility — to support customers who have made the choice to go solar, strengthen California’s energy grid and reduce our state’s carbon footprint. We look forward to addressing the latest claims made by (the solar group) through the appropriate regulatory channels.”

Edison spokesperson Jeff Monford said the company takes “complaints seriously and (is) working with the California Public Utilities Commission to thoroughly address any issues related to our interconnection processes.”

Utilities have previously said that delays can be caused by permitting issues, unfamiliar new technologies, or other agencies needing to be involved.

So, what happens when they break the rules?

The utilities commission declined to lay out specific penalties when it clarified the timelines in 2020. It rejected a recommendation from a work group including industry representatives and consumer advocates to “clearly indicate that financial penalties” could happen if a utility fails to meet the timelines on 95 percent of projects.

“The commission must first determine whether timeline certainty is improving,” the decision said. Regulators could set out penalties in the future “if it determines such a construct would support timely interconnection.”

The commission declined to comment because the case is an “ongoing adjudicatory proceeding,” spokesperson Adam Cranfill said.

Without some kind of punishment, advocates argue, there’s not only no incentive for utilities to follow the rules but also a disincentive because of how the money flows.

“From their perspective, solar and storage is competition for them,” Luo said. “Having people with their own solar and storage reduces the need to continually expand the grid and build out transmission lines.”

California’s rooftop solar industry has been mired in controversy in recent years because of the state’s “net energy metering” program, which governs how much utilities are required to pay solar customers for extra energy their panels generate. The program is meant to incentivize adopting renewable energy and offset the significant cost of rooftop solar, but utilities argued it creates an unfair cost burden for those without solar who pay more for costs such as grid maintenance. As a result, the current iteration of the program pays out significantly less than prior versions.

Three environmental groups sued��over the change, and��the California Supreme Court ruled last month��that the lower courts should reexamine the case’s details instead of deferring to utility regulators.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published by��CalMatters��and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

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PROJECT: PGE Sherwood Line Training Center

LOCATION: 20680 S.W. Langer Farms Parkway, Sherwood

SIZE:��18,000 square feet

COST:���ܲԻ徱�������Dz����

START DATE: Nov. 1, 2020

ANTICIPATED END DATE: Nov. 1, 2021

OWNER/DEVELOPER: Portland General Electric

ARCHITECT: Livermore Architecture & Engineering

ENGINEER: PBS Engineering and Environmental

CONTRACTOR:��Reimers & Jolivette

OTHER ASSOCIATES: Cundiff Engineering

NUMBER OF WORKERS EMPLOYED: 20

SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT: For more than 20 years, Portland General Electric has used an outdoor yard for training new linemen. A new building being constructed at PGE’s property in Sherwood will provide a safe, indoor environment for training. With a 50-foot-high roof, the facility will be usable for training activities year-round. There will be three classrooms, offices, a break room, a conference room, locker rooms and a large training arena.

Among the constraints of the 4.3-acre site were: a new street right-of-way dedication, existing overhead power lines, and a steep slope at the north side. The existing outdoor line training area was completely redesigned to work with the new building layout and street dedication. The building is two steel-frame structures of vastly different heights. Livermore Architecture & Engineering designed an exterior with corrugated weathering steel panels, flat metal panels, and faux wood siding accents to relate the two volumes to each other. The resulting design helps to minimize the bulk of the arena wing, add visual interest, and relate the building to the surrounding training area. Touches such as the power pole columns at the front entry play homage to the work of linemen.

The interior arena space is specifically designed to allow for the erection and lowering of power poles inside the building. New trainees will be able to learn the proper techniques without contending with weather. A mezzanine level will give instructors an excellent vantage point to observe the activity. Clerestory windows will let in natural light for energy efficiency.

Project challenges included complex negotiations with the local municipality regarding the right-of-way dedication, site configuration relative to access points, stormwater management, management of various stakeholders’ interests in an important project for a large institution, and coordination with the pre-engineered metal building manufacturer to ensure that design requirements for this unique building type were met.

PBS Engineering and Environmental managed the design team and also provided civil engineering, geotechnical engineering, landscape architecture, and planning services.

Reimers & Jolivette was involved in the project from the beginning, which gave the design team valuable information on cost considerations and constructability issues. The participation of all team members through each project phase is resulting in a smooth construction process.

“Building Blocks” spotlights noteworthy projects either under construction or approaching the start of construction. To submit a project for consideration, please visit: djcoregon.com/building-blocks.

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A sustainable yet practical approach to development of a new agriculture complex at Chemeketa Community College has produced a building expected to have net-zero energy use.

The anchor of the northern edge of an 8-acre campus in Salem is the 15,000-square-foot classroom building. FFA Architecture + Interiors designed the building, Lango Hansen Landscape Architects oversaw the exterior landscaping, and Swinerton Builders completed construction recently.

The project team had high sustainability goals. A mass-plywood-panel structure was chosen, along with a natural air ventilation system, and photovoltaic panels. Chemeketa Community College and FFA worked with Energy Trust of Oregon to help offset costs via the nonprofit’s Path to Net Zero program.

FFA Associate Partner Edward Running said when he starts work on a new project, he first sees what financial resources are available.

“The inability to make (a) better building has been cost,” he said.

With assistance from Energy Trust of Oregon, a 45-kilowatt solar array was placed on the roof of an exterior walkway along the building’s south side. The canopy not only ensures the photovoltaic panels receive sunlight, Running said, but also shades classrooms and puts less pressure on the ventilation system.

At first, even with those features, the building would have had an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) number too high to be net-zero. That number is calculated by dividing the building’s total energy consumed in one year by the total gross floor area. The new classroom building would’ve been around 20 EUI, Running said.

By the time the project team realized it wouldn’t achieve net-zero energy, it was a little late in the process; the contractor had been selected, and construction documents were completed. Now, 20 EUI would’ve been significantly lower than the state’s requirement that public buildings perform at least 20 percent better than the building code. But the team was “so close to net zero … the cost wasn’t too much more,” Running said.

Chemeketa Community College Technical Development Manager Isaac Talley then sought a grant from Portland General Electric to bridge the gap.

“There’s always the pursuit of the practical, best possible option but (a) need to balance that with what will work and the budget,” Talley said.

The college also looks at what would be the “best bang for the buck and maintaining the best functionality through the life of the building,” he added.

In February, when the project was nearing substantial completion, Talley received word that the team would receive a $158,000 grant from PGE. That would put a 91-kilowatt solar array on the classroom building’s roof, and achieve net-zero energy use.

The total cost to reach that goal was around $9 million, Running and Talley estimated. That included concrete floors, insulation, window systems, an efficient mechanical system, and the original solar array.

The key to this project, Running said, was “not trying to do every single sustainability strategy under the sun.” Instead, the team honed in on a few – one was natural ventilation inside the building, and another was solar energy production outside.

Outdoor features of the complex will include gardens and farm demonstration fields. Now the college can say it’s “harvesting from the ground and harvesting from the sun,” Running said.

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Stayton-based Slayden Construction, a subsidiary of global firm MWH Constructors, has broken ground on a $13.9 million project to upgrade the Willow Lake Cogeneration Facility at Salem’s wastewater treatment plant.

The existing cogeneration system, in operation since 1988, “generates power from biogas produced as a byproduct of wastewater treatment processes,” according to the city’s website. However, the system “is at the end of its useful life and is undersized,” the city states.

A new cogeneration building will be constructed to house a Peterson-Caterpillar diesel generator for burning surplus methane and producing electricity. This new system will double the power output at Willow Lake to 1.2 megawatts. It’s expected to save the city up to $300,000 annually in energy costs.

“How the process typically works is they bring in raw sewage, clean it up and run it into the digesters,” Slayden project manager Ryan Imel said. “They’re just stomachs; they live off bacteria, and when it decomposes they start to off-gas methane. It’s a dirty, wet methane, and what they’ve found is with a little bit of effort you can treat that methane and burn it.”

Construction of the plant expansion won’t be technically difficult, Imel said.

“They use large diesel generators to burn that off-gas and make electricity for the plant,” he said. “And our project is to construct a new building for the (cogeneration) system and install a new diesel engine. That will double the output of the plant, and I believe the plant is set up to consume that power, so they power their own gear with that.”

The plant improvements also will reduce the amount of pollution released into the air by an estimated 5,000 metric tons annually.

While the construction method may be orthodox, scheduling and organization pose challenges, Imel said.

“It’s definitely a puzzle,” he said. “Because while we’re doing this, everything has to remain running. You cannot interrupt service. So a lot of that puzzle that has to be figured out before we dive in and start disconnecting things.”

Construction began earlier this month and is expected to finish by mid-summer 2020. As general contractor, Slayden will handle the entire project scope and self-perform demolition, civil, concrete, mechanical and piping work.

Project funding partners include the cities of Salem and Keizer as well as Portland General Electric and the Energy Trust of Oregon.

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Metro is moving toward approving a master plan for the Willamette Falls Riverwalk, even as the agency and its partners remain at an impasse with the landowner who controls the site.

The Riverwalk is intended to spur further development at the site overlooking the nation’s second-largest waterfall by volume.

The Metro Council heard an update on the master plan Nov. 21. The council agreed to release the plan for public comment.

Metro, along with Clackamas County, Oregon City and the state of Oregon, has identified $19 million to pay for the first phase of development at Willamette Falls. That includes $12.5 million in state lottery bonds allotted by the Legislature, $5 million in Metro bonds, $1.5 million in city, county and landowner contributions and approximately $8 million in private money expected to be raised by 2022.

In the master plan released by Metro, the partner agencies make it a priority to establish a public viewing area for the falls as soon as possible. Snohetta, a design firm based in Oslo, Norway, led the design process.

Access to the site from U.S. Route 99E remains in question. Alex Gilbertson, Metro’s senior parks planner, said the project agencies want to get a design-build firm under contract before determining the best way to provide access to the falls from the highway.

The government agencies and property owner George Heidgerken have offered different visions for the Willamette Falls Legacy Project. Heidgerken complained Metro and partner agencies want to build “a park” at the site. Heidgerken, a Tacoma-based developer who purchased the ex-Blue Heron paper mill site in 2014, said he’s interested in building a hotel, condos, restaurants and other amenities.

Heidgerken agreed to an easement with the government representatives in December 2014. A dispute arose earlier this year, and the government agencies went public with a letter on Sept. 22, 2017, saying Heidgerken would not sign an application for permits from the state and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers needed to move the project forward. Heidgerken also has not submitted a $200,000 payment that was due in January.

Heidgerken said he was in active discussions with Metro to resolve the impasse.

“Metro has gone way overboard,” he said. “They don’t have the authority they think they do in designing what they want.”

Heidgerken said he was optimistic the two sides would reach an agreement. “We’re at a crossroads with Metro right now, but I think we’ll get that straightened out,” he said.

Brian Moore, Metro’s project manager for Willamette Falls, said he could not discuss the ongoing real-estate negotiation with Heidgerken.

“The partners are very committed to moving the project forward and excited about the future,” Moore said.

Metro Council President Tom Hughes said the council had had no recent updates on the negotiations.

“We hope they have that worked out soon,” he said.

Heidgerken owns the entire 22-acre site, except for Portland General Electric‘s dam. PGE has provided the agencies an easement for the Riverwalk across the top of the dam.

Heidgerken said Willamette Falls could be a special project.

“These projects, if you do them right, they can be real winners,” he said. “And if you don’t, you wish you’d never seen them.”

The master plan is expected to be adopted at a Jan. 4, 2018 Metro Council meeting, and by the City Council of Oregon City shortly thereafter.

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One thousand new Portlanders each month. One million new residents by 2035.

Those are the official estimates. Now the region’s public officials must answer questions: Where will all these people live? How will they get to work? How will they get the services they need?

Right now, on a busy jobsite below a tangle of infrastructure where Interstate 405 meets Interstate 5 at the South Waterfront District, Portland General Electric is engaged in a major effort to support the massive growth expected. It involves complex methods and a tight timeline – a boring project in name only.

High power

PGE‘s power originates from a variety of sources. Wind turbines in the Columbia River Gorge, for instance, send power to plants, which transmit it to the edge of the city. There, the voltage is dropped to smaller amounts to serve smaller customers. Portland’s downtown and South Waterfront areas are currently fed power by a substation near OMSI on the east side of the river via underwater cables.

But four of PGE’s substations were built in the 1950s, and intended to last only 30 years. Also dating to the post-WWII era are four of the eight cross-river cables running from the Stephens Substation near OMSI to the west side of the Willamette River. But their age isn’t their only problem; water currents shifting the silts on the bottom of the river reduce stability and increase the chance of an outage. Maintenance on these cables – via SCUBA-wearing technicians – is also costly and difficult.

“It’s outdated equipment fed by aging lines to a real critical area, in terms of business activity, government, education, transportation,” PGE spokesman Stan Sittser said.

At $60 million, the Marquam Substation on Southwest Water Avenue will be Portland General Electric’s most expensive substation ever. It will be an open-air facility surrounded by a 12-foot wall. The equipment inside will be between 20 and 25 feet tall and visible from the street. The station will replace equipment that is 60 years old.

The project is, in a way, part of the Tilikum Crossing project completed last year. The span was built with transmission cables embedded inside, awaiting completion of the substation.

Two of the four 235-foot tunnels – or “feeder gateways” – have been bored to accommodate underground transmission lines, with work on the third ongoing. The tunnels are 48 inches wide and, when complete, will house the conduit and feeder cables that will hook to the PGE grid serving downtown.

At the site, there are two other major work areas – holes and the wall.

The holes and the wall

Electrical specialists Black & Veatch engineered the project prior to winning the $60 million bid. It’s their first time working with PGE.

Construction started in June, with work scheduled for completion in March 2018, and the substation expected to be online sometime in the second quarter of that year. PGE is considering another project component that would power Oregon Health and Science University; work on that would start immediately after construction at Marquam wraps.

The site has presented a few challenges so far, according to PGE project manager Ezra Richards. It formerly housed a Greyhound bus station and a hotel. In excavating the two pits, crews encountered soil contaminated by diesel from the gas station. That froze work for several days so testing could be performed and proper disposal of leaded materials could take place. Digging further down, crews ran into remnants from the old hotel, so they had to bring in an archaeologist to evaluate the materials.

“It turned out to be debris that could be disposed of,” Richards said.

With the pits dug, the task of tunneling 235 feet up the freeway hill could commence. Road realignments have buried a number of buildings and foundations along the former path of Sheridan Street, creating grist for Gonzalez Boring and Tunneling’s 48-inch drill bit.

“We’re now hitting foundations and drill piers and other concrete remnants, and that slowed the boring significantly as we’ve tried to go up,” Richards said.

The boring crew’s methods are surprisingly old school.

At 40 feet below ground, GPS technology is ineffective to position a bore. Instead, Gonzalez has been using a plumb bob and dead reckoning – no lasers or electronics. The first of the four bore holes came in just 3/4 of an inch off, and the second was just several inches off.

The head of the bore machine has a number of teeth. It literally cuts through soil and concrete and spins it out of the hole through an auger. Then an excavator is used to load it into a dump truck for removal. Earlier this month, workers were running into concrete pieces on hole three and were preparing to send a man up the hole to jackhammer the tunnel out and break that stuff up. The blockages were about 180 feet up the hole; the crewman would need oxygen pumped in.

“It’s kind of like deep sea diving,” Sittser said.

Vision zero

Safety is a buzzword across the entire construction industry, but due to the complexity and difficulty of this project, it’s a constant, overriding theme – as important as any of the other project goals, said Randy Franks, project manager for Black & Veatch.

“No one’s got hurt,” he said when asked how the project was going.

All site visitors – even journalists on a short visit – are required to take part in a 15-minute safety demonstration and sign a release form. There are daily safety meetings for all workers and weekly “tailgate” sessions with themed lessons. The only entrance to the jobsite, on Southwest Water Avenue, is kept chained during work hours; only authorized personnel are allowed in.

PGE requires visitors to wear the full gamut of personal protective equipment. Items include tough shoes with ankle support, but not necessarily steel-toe boots. Those can clip toes clean off when driven over by large equipment, explained Aubrey Hennigan, safety manager for Black and Veatch.

He tells workers to never walk past an unsafe situation, and to “make a difference today.” Every employee, from a laborer to a foreman, has the authority to stop work at the jobsite, Hennigan said. Being conscious of one’s surroundings is even more important on a crowded jobsite like the Marquam Substation, he said.

“There are pinch points everywhere,” he said. “If you’re at the edge of a track hoe, you’re going to explode before they know you’re under it.”

Rob Kirkland, safety director for Weitman Excavation, said the Vision Zero ethos – based on the plan to eliminate traffic fatalities – has spread to construction and is alive on this project.

“This is a change of mindset, a change of heart,” he said. “Zero – that’s the goal. We’re getting to zero.”

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Portland developers say they’re caught in a no-win situation over where to put transformers for the crop of towers rising throughout the Central City.

The seemingly low-wattage issue has become a live wire for developers, who find themselves caught in a circular debate involving three big, institutional players: the Portland Bureau of Transportation, the Bureau of Development Services and Portland General Electric.

The disagreements are causing lengthy delays and adding costs as all sides dig in with entrenched viewpoints, according to interviews.

For Cairn Pacific‘s forthcoming project to build 385 apartment units in blocks 294 and 295 in the Con-way area, it took more than a year for all sides to agree on locations for the project’s three transformers.

“There are all these dueling criteria,” said Thomas DiChiara, a Cairn Pacific principal. “It’s frustrating because you’ve got to make these decisions early on, and coincident with design review, and you can’t get the players to agree.”

In the end, Cairn Pacific agreed to locate one on the sidewalk along Quimby Street and two within buildings, requiring design modifications.

DiChiara said the city needs to clarify its policies regarding transformer locations.

“It has been a struggle recently getting a coherent policy out of the city with what’s allowed and what is not allowed,” he said. “Tell me where to put it and we’ll put it there.”

Multifamily developers working on infill projects in Central Portland said they face recurring issues with finding a workable location to install their transformers. Often, the city’s design review process discourages transformers from being installed in locations on or alongside a building that mar its aesthetic appeal or take ground-floor frontage, preferring they be installed underground. Portland General Electric wants transformers to be safe and accessible – ideally, above ground. And the Portland Bureau of Transportation wants them out of pedestrians’ way.

The transformer issue has been a topic of discussion among the city’s tight-knit community of multifamily developers.

“There’s a lack of collaboration with the design review, and unfortunately we get into a catch-22 where we’re trying to be respectful of PGE‘s safety and reliability goals, and there’s nothing we can do as a developer,” said Noel Johnson, vice president of Killian Pacific. The Vancouver, Washington, firm is at work on projects such as the Goat Blocks and Clay Creative in Southeast Portland.

Design Commission Chairman David Wark did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Design review typically asks for transformers to be placed underground, but that’s not always possible because of competing uses, such as sewer and water. Portland’s sidewalks are surprisingly packed underground, Johnson said.

“In some ways, the underground part of Portland is the most robust, well-designed part of Portland,” he said.

On one 100-unit Killian Pacific project that the developer took over from a previous developer, design review insisted a brick wall be built around a transformer – a solution that was not to PGE or Killian Pacific’s liking. PGE didn’t like the access challenges, and Killian Pacific wasn’t thrilled about the added cost.

The three groups have had lengthy discussions about the transformer location, but have yet to find a solution that works for each of them, Johnson said.

“I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do right now,” he said.

Deane Funk, spokesman for PGE, said the utility is primarily concerned with being able to access the transformers.

“Over the last many decades, we’ve accommodated requests to put them in the right of way as long as we have access,” he said. “We try to be as accommodating as we can, but we have our own standards.”

Developers said PBOT prefers underground transformers with concrete lids. But PGE doesn’t like the concrete lids, fearing their weight could pose an obstacle during an emergency.

A PBOT spokesman said the city agency is working to make its process more developer-friendly.

“We’re working with utilities to develop a new process and standards,” spokesman Dylan Rivera said. “So hopefully it’ll be more consistent and make the review process faster.”

PBOT is charged with implementing the city’s pedestrian design guidelines, which call for preserving the pedestrian through-zone and keeping it clear of obstacles, Rivera said. But he acknowledged developers’ concerns.

“There are opportunities for improvement,” he said.

At the Con-way site, Cairn Pacific used a lighter-weight, concrete-like lid. That seemed to be a workable solution for all concerned, DiChiara said.

“Keeping them in the sidewalk is the best solution, and focusing on getting a lid that everyone can live with,” he said. “It’s the best, worst option out there.”

Building the underground vaults costs about $150,000 – a significant added cost, DiChiara said.

For now, the three players are working with developers on a case-by-case basis. That’s adding up to uncertainty and delay for developers, like the one-year process it took for DiChiara’s project.

“We’ve had meeting and roundtables, and nothing ever seems to get solved,” DiChiara said. “It’s frustrating.”

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The design of a new six-story, mixed-use building planned for the Alphabet District isn’t approved yet, but SERA Architects principal Kurt Schultz said he appreciated input given by the Portland Design Commission at its meeting last week.

Urban Asset Advisors is developing the project at 1502 N.W. 19th Ave. Plans call for ground-floor retail space, 90 residential units, mechanized vehicle parking and a second-floor outdoor courtyard.

Most of the discussion at the meeting focused on use of the ground floor, Schultz said, including whether the main entry should be on Northwest 19th Avenue or Quimby Street, and where most of the retail activity should be concentrated.

“They wanted more retail from the corner stretching down 19th Avenue and possibly moving the lobby to Quimby, the quieter street, and maybe move the fitness room,” he said.

At the meeting, city planner Staci Monroe told the commission that staff had concerns about the use of Viroc, cement-bonded particle board, as the primary building material.

“About the composition material, Viroc, a cement/wood board, staff has concerns with quality in such large fields,” she said. “Stucco would be an appropriate alternative.”

Schultz said the commission settled on recommending that Viroc be used only in the second-floor courtyard and that metal panes be used for the ground-floor facades.

The courtyard will also include stormwater treatment, Schultz said.

The ground-floor units may be live/work spaces. Close to 50 parking spaces, most of them mechanized, will be provided inside the building. Parking for 120 bicycles will be located inside as well.

Amenities will include 4-foot-by-10-foot balconies for 16 units and Juliet balconies for 19 units.

The original proposal called for sliding glass doors to serve the Juliet balconies. Schultz said such doors would provide better waterproofing and more interior space for the smaller apartments.

However, Schultz said that when plans come back before the commission for a second design review on March 3, inward-opening French doors will serve the Juliet balconies – as preferred by commissioners.

Another point of discussion was the location of the building’s transformer. Schultz said the Portland Bureau of Transportation turned down a request for a curb extension that would have allowed the transformer to be put in a sidewalk vault.

After PBOT issued its decision, Portland General Electric agreed to allow installation of the transformer inside the building, Schultz said, but the design team is appealing to PBOT to reconsider its decision.

“We’ve asked for a design exception and are waiting for a final answer,” he said.

Commissioner Julie Livingston indicated that she favored use of the in-ground vault for the transformer.

“If the transformer relocates to the right-of-way, that space would be (used for) a fitness area,” she said.

Schultz said he hopes PBOT will reconsider.

“That would be an additional 12 (square) feet currently being dedicated to the transformer,” he said.

Overall, Schultz said the hearing was a positive experience and that he expects to make changes to reflect staff suggestions and the commissioners’ input.

“This was our first hearing and we were really pleased with the design commissioners’ advice, which followed pretty closely with the staff report,” he said.

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Three finalists are still in the running to design a public path through the former Blue Heron Paper Co. mill site in Oregon City.

The teams vying to design the riverfront path providing up-close views of Willamette Falls are: New York-based James Corner Field Operations with Portland-based PLACE and Seattle-based Miller Hull Partnership; Portland-based Mayer/Reed with Norwegian firm ����ø���ٳٲ� and Canadian firm DIALOG; and Portland-based Walker Macy with New York-based Thomas Balsley Associates.

Finalists will be interviewed next month, and a winning team should be selected by June, said Ellen Wyoming, natural resources engagement coordinator with project partner Metro. The design process is expected to kick off this summer and require 18 months, she said. This will include a significant amount of time gathering public input on the plans.

A path for pedestrians and bicyclists will be constructed along the Willamette River, adjacent to downtown Oregon City. The path will pass through the ex-Blue Heron site and Portland General Electric property to give the public access to nearby Willamette Falls for the first time in decades.

The project, estimated to cost $30 million, is a joint effort of Metro, the city of Oregon City, Clackamas County, the state of Oregon and site owner George Heidgerken. It has been hailed as the first step toward revitalization of the ex-industrial site; it has sat vacant since 2011, when the paper mill shut down.

About $10 million in funding has been secured from Metro and the state to complete the first phase of developing the path. The initial design phase budget is approximately $650,000.

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