The Washington Park South Entry Project in Portland is nearing completion thanks to secured money.

Vibrant Communities Commissioner Dan Ryan recently allocated $300,000 worth of Park System Development Charge (SDC) funds to help complete the new Washington Park South Entry Project. That brings the development fee portion of funding to a total of $5.8 million and ensures the project will be completed this year.

“In addition to creating an iconic gateway to Washington Park, this project also increases bicycle and pedestrian access, and treats a significant amount of stormwater at the same time,” Ryan stated in a press release.

“The south entry is one of the few ways vehicles can enter Washington Park and access its attractions and cultural venues. For years, park visitors traveling by car have faced challenging traffic, confusing wayfinding, and badly defined bike routes,” Portland Parks & Recreation stated in the release. “The new entrance will improve the experiences of both park visitors and the world-renowned cultural institutions that call Washington Park home.”

The project is led by Portland Parks & Recreation and includes design consultant Knot Studio for landscape architecture and site design, KPFF for civil engineering and Faison Construction for construction of the project.

Construction began in February 2023 and is expected to be complete later this year.

The project’s completion will be celebrated with a grand reopening of the south entrance. The updated entry was envisioned in the 2018 Washington Park Master Plan, a guiding document for the park’s development.

Funding

Park SDCs are one-time fees assessed on new development. They are not General Fund tax dollars. The funds may only be used to improve and expand park features and capacity.

Other funding to round out the $10.7 million project comes from Washington Park paid parking revenue, a Percent for Green grant through the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services, Portland Parks & Recreation ADA Transition Plan funding, and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

About the Washington Park South Entry Project

Working with Washington Park-based cultural institutions and other project stakeholders, Portland Parks & Recreation identified three primary goals for the Washington Park South Entry project.

Stormwater management

As part of existing conditional use requirements for the Oregon Zoo and Washington Park, the project was required to provide for a minimum of 1 acre of stormwater mitigation. To satisfy this requirement, the final design of the south entry centers around the creation of a stormwater garden. The stormwater garden will have new landscaping and cascading weirs incorporating steel and stone.

Grand entry

Washington Park houses a variety of different cultural sites and recreational activities. The park is home to the Oregon Zoo, World Forestry Center, Hoyt Arboretum, International Rose Test Garden, Portland Japanese Garden, Portland Water Bureau reservoirs, memorials, playgrounds, an archery range and miles of trails. To develop the south entry into more of a grand entry, Parks is adding new signage, monuments, improved landscape, lighting and site furnishings.

Improve pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular access

Improving access to the park for the growing number of visitors arriving by bicycle and on foot is critical. Directly south of the Highway 26 off-ramp, the 4-T trail ends and sends people over the highway towards SW Knight Boulevard. Additionally, during large events like ZooLights, overflow parking creates increased demand in this area. To better accommodate bicycle and pedestrian traffic, Parks has installed a six-foot-wide sidewalk that parallels both sides of Canyon Boulevard leading into the park. The project will now shift to adding bicycle lanes that parallel the new sidewalks.

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Creston Park, at 4454 S.E. Powell Blvd., is set to gain a new public skate park, Portland Parks & Recreation announced today.

Every household in the city should be within two miles of a skate park, according to a Portland Parks & Recreation study providing guidance for level of service. Sixty-five percent of city households are not – the largest percentage gap for the 13 types of assets in the study, according to PP&R.

In December 2022, Commissioner Carmen Rubio announced allocation of $5 million in system development charges for the skate park. Following research and comparison of several prospective Southeast Portland locations (including Powell Park and Glenwood Park), Creston Park emerged as the best option.

Creston Park currently includes an outdoor pool that is open in summertime, a recently renovated playground, tennis courts, a large lawn, a picnic area, a restroom building, and a parking lot. The most logical location for the skate park, according to PP&R, is the tennis court area east of the swimming pool. The tennis courts are in poor condition, the bureau stated, and that site could hold a sizable skate park.

The project will now enter the design phase, with construction of the skate park anticipated to start in 2025 and a grand opening possible in spring 2026.

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Portland Parks Commissioner Carmen Rubio has approved new Parks System Development Charge (SDC) funding to go to several park projects across the area.

Improvements to Kelley Point Park, a playground at East Portland’s Midland Park, a skatepark in Southeast Portland, land acquisitions and other park improvements now are in the works and in various stages of planning. These projects are slated for funding in the city’s 2023-24 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2023.

Parks SDCs are one-time fees assessed on new development in Portland, not General Fund tax dollars. By law, SDCs may only be used for improvements that will expand the capacity of the park system.

These projects are now on the Portland Parks & Recreation Capital Improvement Project list. The project list includes:

• $1 million in SDC funding for a Portland community garden in Southwest Portland;
• an additional $3 million in SDC funds – now totaling $4 million – to expand current picnic and trail amenities and provide greater access to Kelley Point Park in North Portland;
• $2.5 million in SDC funds to build a playground at Midland Park at Southeast 122nd Avenue and Morrison Street next to the Multnomah County Midland Library;
• $5 million in SDCs to fund a new skatepark in Southeast Portland; and
• $4 million in SDCs to complete a site master plan and pay for design and construction for portions of the Wilkes Creek Headwaters property, a 20-acre undeveloped hybrid park at Northeast Fremont Street and 154th Avenue.

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The first step toward reopening O’Bryant Square — demolition of the current structure — is moving forward. Transportation Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty has signed off on an emergency procurement letter to move forward with demolition.

The O’Bryant Square Plaza and Garage first opened in 1972 and was named for Hugh Donaldson O’Bryant, Portland’s first mayor. The garage provided about 100 parking spaces during that time. In 2018, a retaining wall in the southwest corner of the garage was found to be structurally deficient. A portion of the deficient wall had been reused from a building on the site that was built around 1915. Leaks into the garage were also discovered.

These safety concerns prompted the closure of the garage and plaza above it in 2018. A fence has closed off O’Bryant Square to the public ever since.

With an agreement now in place, demolition is expected to start in early 2023 with estimated completion during summer 2023. This will include the removal of all hardscape and structures, filling the structure with dirt, and then covering the surface with a new layer of grass.

Portland Parks and Recreation will begin work in early 2023 to program the new space in the near term, while designing a permanent new park long-term. Portland Parks and Recreation and the Portland Parks Foundation are collaborating with the Center for Public Interest Design, along with the Harvard Loeb Fellowship, to convene a community outreach effort March 7-11. Portland Parks Foundation Executive Director Randy Gragg said the event will bring various stakeholders to think about how the park can best serve those around it.

The demolition is a chance to restart, Gragg added, stating that the park was designed for a particular era.

“In its early days, it was an important public space,” Gragg said. “Lots of things happened there.”

As Pioneer Courthouse Square was built, the energy at O’Bryant got sucked away, Gragg added.

The park will be programmed first by Portland Parks and Recreation and designed later. An architect is not selected for the project at this time.

“We are very pleased to see that Portland Parks is moving forward with demolition of O’Bryant Square in early January,” Tim Eddy, president of Hennebery Eddy Architects, stated in an email. “Hennebery Eddy’s office space has overlooked the Square since 1992 – we have seen the good and the not-so-good aspects of the Square for the past 30 years.”

In 2018, Hennebery Eddy convened a focus group of local property owners, architects, landscape architects, city officials and interested parties to chart a path toward reopening the square, in some form, as soon as possible.

“While we haven’t reviewed the demolition plans we are excited to hear that this is the direction the project is headed,” Eddy said. “In short, completing this work is essential to the health of downtown and it can’t happen soon enough.”

An agreement for demolition is expected soon with Northwest Infrastructure LLC (NWI). The estimated cost of the agreement is $4.5 million.

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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 design commissioners on Thursday suggested significant revisions to two South Waterfront towers proposed by a Dallas-based developer.

The proposal represents the latest iteration for Southwest Portland blocks owned by Prometheus Real Estate Group. Alamo Manhattan won design approval in August 2017 for two multifamily buildings, but did not move ahead at that time.

Five buildings are proposed on four riverfront blocks between Southwest Lane and Lowell streets. The parcels north of the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant have long sat vacant. The new buildings would bring 1,232 residential units, 20,000 square feet of retail space and more than 700 parking spots, along with new streets and river access.

In December 2019, the developer withdrew its application and resubmitted the proposal under a new land-use case based on a 2017 subdivision of the property. The maneuver makes the Alamo Manhattan proposal subject to the city’s inclusionary housing requirements for affordable units. However, the move frees the Dallas developer from meeting requirements that are part of Central City 2035 zoning updates, including those for bird-safe glazing, eco-roofs and low-carbon building performance.

Avoiding the requirements is likely to save Alamo Manhattan substantial money, because the premium for bird-safe glazing on only one large building can run several hundred thousand dollars. An eco-roof likewise is a costly requirement for space that brings building owners no revenue.

The development would fill in a section of the South Waterfront Greenway that is currently broken. Alamo Manhattan has been unable to reach agreement with city officials regarding funding to build a high-quality greenway in the area.

“We’re excited to have this stretch of the greenway come into development,” said Brett Horner, planning manager for Portland Parks and Recreation. “We were unable to reach agreement with them on public assistance for enhanced greenway. We would really like to see an enhanced greenway that would more closely match the built greenway to the north.

“All the bureaus worked together, and we were represented by Prosper Portland for some potential public involvement, particularly in the greenway. Those talks did not end result in any agreement,” Horner said.

The design is from the Dallas office of WDG Architecture, and Dallas landscape architect Linda Tycher and Associates. The Design Commission dealt with 250-foot-tall towers proposed on blocks 41 and 44. Plans call for a largely light-colored design on Block 41 and a reddish-brown metallic treatment on Block 44 to the south.

Commissioners and Bureau of Development Services staffers praised the glassy, river-facing design for Block 44, which would feature a small notch mid-building. They had serious concerns, however, about the L-shaped tower. The staff report even suggested revisiting the building’s footprint, which would be a major step.

For both buildings, commissioners suggested simplifying the façade treatments for a consistent design language.

The land-use case is one of the most complex the Design Commission has faced in recent years, with multiple buildings on multiple blocks, river access, transportation issues and the greenway all playing a role.

In response to earlier criticism, the design team moved the buildings back from the greenway. Linda Tycher and Associates’ landscape design fills in a required 2,500 square feet of space largely with shrubbery. Commissioners said the space needs to provide a greater public benefit.

“It’s just kind of a leftover space that nobody wants anyway,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said.

Chairwoman Julie Livingston agreed.

“The 2,500 square feet needs to make a place,” she said. “It is all about having space for the public to occupy.”

The current design, Livingston added, “is negative space for the building. It seems more about providing privacy for residents of the building.”

Designs for the interior blocks are scheduled to be reviewed on March 12. After that, at least one more review hearing will have to be scheduled before the Design Commission can issue approval.

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When temperatures soar, city dwellers feel the impact more than anyone else. The heat island effect can cause a city core to become as much as 20 degrees hotter than rural areas.

“More and more, it’s definitely an issue,” said James Hencke, a landscape architect and urban designer at David Evans and Associates. “The news is concerning about environmental issues. Those of us in planning and urban design, it is something (we) hear about.”

A variety of factors influence the extent of the heat island effect. Vivek Shandas, a professor in urban studies and planning at Portland State University who has studied the phenomenon since 2005, has found that temperatures around the city can vary by as much as 20 degrees, depending on tree canopy, surface types and colors of buildings.

“We have done empirical assessments when the airport is reporting 100 degrees and been able to capture temperatures (in other parts of Portland) ranging from 90 to 112,” he said.

The intersection of Southeast 82nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard, for example, tends to be one of the hottest areas in town, Shandas said. The worst heat islands tend to form in places with a lot of concrete, a high number of big buildings and few large trees, he added.

The people designing city infrastructure and buildings are responding by making adjustments to the kinds of materials they use.

“It’s something we think about,” Ric Battaglia, a project architect at Bora Architects, said. “For the most part, we try to meet or exceed LEED heat island standards.”

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards are guidelines intended to minimize buildings’ impacts on microclimates as well as human and wildlife habitats. The goal is to prevent buildings (especially their roofs) from absorbing heat. When a building absorbs heat during the day, it radiates that heat out at night, increasing temperatures during cooler evening hours.

There are a couple of ways the roof of a building can meet LEED standards. At least 75 percent of the roof can be covered with reflective material, or at least 50 percent of the roof can be covered with vegetative material. If a combination of reflective material and vegetation are used, a total of 50 percent of the roof must be covered.

Architects also are changing building materials used on structures to keep cities cooler. For example, insulating materials can be used on exteriors and exterior shades can be installed over windows – all with the goal of reducing how much heat a building absorbs.

Buildings aren’t the only structures sending city temperatures climbing, though. Sidewalks and streets have long been identified as heat-absorbing culprits in cities.

“We can use different materials to make more reflective sidewalks,” Battaglia said.

Some cities have experimented with painting their streets with reflective materials. Los Angeles, for example, recently covering black asphalt with a material called CoolSeal. Hencke is among those tracking how the material functions a real-world situation.

“It’s fascinating,” he said. “That material is so white, I am curious about glare. It will be interesting to see how that works.”

Many methods of reducing heat have proven benefits, Hencke said.

“Heat island effect is one of the many issues we try to include in doing good planning,” he said. “Greening the city is one of the best ways.”

Greenery is one area where Portland excels. The city has 220,000 trees along streets and 1.2 million trees in parks, according to Jenn Cairo, an urban forester with Portland Parks and Recreation‘s urban forestry division. That number doesn’t include trees on private property.

Managing Portland’s urban forest gives Cairo an opportunity to help regulate temperatures throughout the city.

“It can determine where the priority for planting for trees is,” Cairo said. “How much shade is in that part of town? How much higher are the heat issues there? Trees are one of the most straightforward ways to mitigate heat.”

In the realm of building projects, mitigation of heat can be an important factor when seeking a building permit, Cairo said. In areas with a lot of asphalt and concrete, trees make a measurable difference in temperatures, she said.

Concerns about climate change and increasing occurrences of heat waves are expected to place a growing emphasis on how urban planning and design can be tapped to help keep cities cool.

“Ten-plus years ago … it was on people’s minds,” Hencke said. “Now, it feels like we have reached a point where city councils are demanding action. The planners were advocates, but the call to action wasn’t well received just 10 years ago.”

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Northeast Portland has a shortage of parks, but two more are expected to be built by fall 2017. One, Luuwit View Park, will open on 16 acres between Northeast Fremont and Shaver streets.

The new park, in the Argay neighborhood, will serve about 1,000 people, said Mark Ross, a spokesman for Portland Parks and Recreation. Money from system development charges will pay for the $8.4 million project, he said.

Only two of five people in Northeast Portland have easy access to a park or green space, Ross said, so the park will be a welcome addition, especially since it will be next to Shaver Elementary School.

“With this vast expanse and acres of parks, I don’t know how those kids are going to be able to concentrate,” Ross said.

The park got its name from its views of Mount St. Helens, which the Native American people of the Upper Cowlitz called Luuwit. Cary Watters, a Tlingit tribe member who was on the naming committee, stated that the name honors the Native tradition.

“The fact that this park honors the traditional way in which our people named places is a huge step forward in healing, not only for the Native community, but for the land and the at-large community,” she said.

The new park will be completely accessible and include expansive lawns, a playground, a youth soccer field, an area for teens and a “fog garden” – essentially a misty play area for children. The teen area will be covered and include a climbing structure, a full-size basketball court, pingpong tables, a skate park and group seating areas. Other features planned for the park include picnic areas, a covered shelter with a restroom, paths for pedestrians and bicyclists, community gardens, a fenced area for dogs to be off leash and parking. A multiuse paved trail will circle the entire park with public art and bilingual interpretive signs.

Ground was broken recently on Luuwit View Park; meanwhile, construction of the new four-acre Gateway Discovery Park is under way off of Northeast Halsey Street between 104th and 106th avenues. That project is expected to wrap up around the same time.

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A 19-story mixed-use building is planned for 1455 S.W. Broadway; however, its design isn’t quite ready yet, according to the Portland Design Commission. The project is set to return before the commission on April 21.

Plans for the building, designed by GBD Architects for Generations Columbia Property LLC, call for 180 hotel rooms on six floors and 175,000 square feet of open office space on 10 floors. The ground floor is expected to hold a restaurant, a lobby and retail space. A below-grade garage will provide parking for 210 motor vehicles and 132 bicycles. Plans also call for a glass curtain wall with terra cotta and composite metal panels incorporated.

One main topic of discussion during Thursday’s Design Commission meeting was how the three-quarters-block development’s floor-to-area ratio will be increased through bonus allowances. Two methods were discussed. One would be for the owner to make a $1 million donation to be divided between the city’s affordable housing fund and Portland Parks & Recreation. The second method would be to designate about 30 percent of the total units as affordable housing, which was preferred by staff and the commission.

If money were to go to the parks bureau, it would be used for master planning for improvements to the South Park Blocks. Commissioner Tad Savinar said he would like to see just one of the adjacent South Park Blocks be improved in the near future as an example of what is to come.

But Brett Horner, planning and design manager for Portland Parks & Recreation, said improvements and needed maintenance of all 12 South Park Blocks should be planned at the same time and that the process could take up to two years. He said implementation would then be done in phases.

Kurt Creager, director of the Portland Housing Bureau, said he would rather see affordable housing added to the project rather than a contribution to the affordable housing fund.

“It’s better for us to get the units than to get the money,” he said. “And there could be potential for the city to invest in a later date.”

Michael Marcus, GBD’s lead designer for the new building, told commissioners that one existing building on the property would be salvaged and that 30,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil would be removed at a cost to the developer of more than $3.4 million.

Since the project’s previous review in November, Marcus said the lobby entrance was expanded to two stories high, hearkening back to the city’s old theater district days. The second floor will include a lounge and conference space.

Marcus said he couldn’t reveal the name of the hotel yet, but said it will have a “branded entry” in red.

GBD principal Phil Beyl told the commission that the project will have “significant economic benefits” to the city and create more than 1,700 new jobs, including 250 temporary construction jobs.

Plans call for project completion in June 2020.

During the public comment period, several citizens concerned about possible increased traffic voiced objections to the planned loading dock’s location on Southwest Clay Street.

“With all the cars on Clay and the loading docks, it will stop traffic,” Marian McNamara said. “A more logical place for the loading dock is on Columbia (Street).”

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Portland’s Forest Park has many entry points, but no main entrance. Portland Parks & Recreation wants to change that and create a distinctive entrance with amenities – if it can ultimately cover the $15 million price tag.

Parks & Recreation officials recently issued a request for proposals for the entryway, according to planning and design manager Lauren McGuire.

“This will be an architecturally-led project with a really strong landscape architecture firm partner, and there’s also a cost consultant element to it,” she said.

The parks department is working on three campaigns in the park, including habitat restoration and invasive species removal in addition to repair of signage, trails, bridges and culverts.

But the $15 million would go only toward a new entrance, which would include parking for 20 motor vehicles and bikes, restrooms, a walkway that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, maintenance facilities and eventually an overlook and possibly even an amphitheater.

The build-out would be a long-term effort, under the direction of project manager Britta Herwig. Public outreach will begin after a design team is picked, McGuire said. The deadline to respond to the RFP is April 1. Interested parties can contact Herwig at 503-823-5476 or britta.herwig@portlandoregon.gov.

The new entry will be located south of U.S. Route 30 where it converges with St. Helens Road and Kittredge Street, McGuire said.

“We are ultimately looking for a designer to design an iconic architectural gateway to improve access and circulation, and provide a major entry into the park which, right now, we don’t have,” she said.

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