Deep in the bowels of the city of Portland’s policymaking process, Committee 3.96 went to work.

The committee’s 25 members quietly reviewed decades-old city codes meant to give neighborhoods a voice in city budgeting and evaluations of land use. The group, formed last year by a City Council directive with members drawn mostly from local activism and nonprofit groups, had a task: examine the roles of the city’s influential neighborhood associations, and recommend changes.

Committee 3.96 began meeting in November 2018, working within the city’s Office of Community and Civic Life. Then on July 18, after months of study and debate, Committee 3.96 issued its recommendations. They landed with all the subtlety of a bomb.

A four-page document approved by the committee is filled with vague language on reducing disparities and delivering just and equitable outcomes, but the recommendations are unmistakable. Proposed changes would broadly reduce the role of neighborhood associations, putting them on equal footing with other groups engaged in affinity-based, business, community or issue advocacy.

Neighborhood associations fear the changes will sideline them, rendering them voiceless to influence the surge of infill construction that has reshaped urban neighborhoods. Yet many stakeholders say it is time for a change in 20th-century city codes that favor neighborhood associations and their largely older, wealthier and whiter demographic of homeowners.

The proposed changes raise a host of questions for future development, including whether neighborhood associations would retain the right to appeal Design Commission rulings to the City Council with the appeal fee of up to $5,000 waived.

“I’m not quite sure if it’s better or worse for development, in part because we have something that we’ve been working with for many, many years,” said Sam Rodriguez, senior managing director of multifamily developer Mill Creek Residential Trust. “You kind of know what you’re dealing with. If you don’t have (a neighborhood association) structure, what are you dealing with?”

Neighborhood associations such as the Pearl District and Overlook groups often have a sophisticated understanding of the city’s design guidelines, Rodriguez said.

“This could be more of a mob mentality,” he said. Other groups, he said, “are not necessarily going to have the structure of the neighborhood association.”

In some cases, splinter groups – such as the Pearl Neighbors for Integrity in Design – have sprung up to oppose developments. If those neighborhood groups are recognized alongside neighborhood associations, it could change the dynamic.

The committee’s recommendations, which were first reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive, were overseen by the office of Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who is in charge of the Office of Community and Civic Life.

A spokeswoman for Eudaly, Margaux Weeke, acknowledged the code recommendations had caused confusion. They are not intended to place limits on neighborhood associations, she said.

“This is not taking away neighborhood associations; this is not banning neighborhood associations,” she said. “They will absolutely continue to exist. It’s allowing other types of organizations to have a seat at the table. It’s about addition and multiplication, not subtraction and division.”

The changes are meant to empower groups such as Living Cully that are not among Portland’s 95 city-recognized neighborhood associations, Weeke said.

“Basically, the proposed changes say ‘neighborhood-based groups’ instead of ‘neighborhood associations,’ which is just to allow other types of groups to be officially recognized groups,” she said.

Some neighborhood association leaders were skeptical that the new code language wouldn’t sideline neighborhood associations.

“I don’t buy it,” said Stan Penkin, president of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association.

The committee’s report comes as city officials face demands to ease housing shortages. Neighborhood associations often campaign against proposed housing developments, and their demands for parking capacity can drive up project costs.

Rodriguez said neighborhood associations can be difficult to work with.

“They’re quite powerful and they’re less inclined to support development than not,” he said.

Penkin and other neighborhood association leaders said the groups deserve some of the criticism they receive for not-in-my-backyard politics.

“In some cases there’s a NIMBY aspect to it,” Penkin said. “I wouldn’t deny that. But on the other hand, (when) there’s a project coming to a neighborhood, the neighborhood having a say in it, we’ve got better projects and better buildings out of it from having a say.”

Committee 3.96’s report seems to raise more questions than it answers, leaving commissioners, neighborhood associations and developers wondering what the proposal actually entails.

“It’s a bunch of aspirational statements, statements of value, which are important, but there’s no process there,” Penkin said.

The code language will go before the City Council for consideration. A work session is tentatively scheduled for September.

It’s unclear whether Committee 3.96’s proposed changes have majority support on the council. A spokesman for Mayor Ted Wheeler stated that Wheeler has not taken a position.

“We are watching the process closely and will continue engaging with key stakeholders, including the Office of Community and Civic Life, to better understand the nuances of the proposal and learn more about possible outcomes should the code change go into effect,” Tim Becker, a spokesman for Wheeler, wrote in an email.

Commissioners Nick Fish and Amanda Fritz also have not taken positions on the changes, representatives said. Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The proposed changes caught many neighborhood associations by surprise.

“I just felt like it wasn’t a robust enough public process,” said Elizabeth Milner, a Sellwood-Moreland Improvement League board member.

Neighborhood association leaders said there’s value in the public accountability they provide. They often invite developers to meet with neighborhood residents in public forums. Neighborhood associations hold public meetings, take votes and publish meeting minutes and agendas. Non-officially recognized groups have no such transparency requirements.

Milner said the Sellwood neighborhood association has become younger and more diverse in recent years. The board president, Tyler Janzen, is a 27-year-old renter. Milner said she has mixed feelings about the proposed changes.

“I can understand a lot of the criticisms against the role neighborhood associations have played in Portland,” she said. “I would like to see the Office of Civic Life work with neighborhood associations as partners to craft the next chapter of civic involvement in Portland. I would like to see them engage the neighborhood associations rather than see them try to erase them systematically.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct fee to appeal Design Commission decisions to the City Council.

The post Potential shift in community involvement looms appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Plans to improve access to the Willamette River south of the Ross Island Bridge and provide better connectivity with the Sellwood and Brooklyn neighborhoods took another step forward following a recent open house hosted by the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

The bureau’s River Plan/ builds on the 1987 Willamette Greenway Plan and will update existing policies and regulations, prioritize future investments in the area and develop an implementation strategy.

In addition to strengthening connections to the nearby neighborhoods, the plan seeks to improve access to the river by exploring options for new docks and identifying opportunities for and existing obstacles to land-based and river-based recreation. Addressing fish and wildlife habitat, environmental restoration and floodplain management are key parts of the plan as well as an assessment of zoning code provisions that apply to riverfront communities and floating homes.

Debbie Bischoff, a BPS senior planner, noted that almost half of the land in the project area is devoted to parks, open spaces and natural resources while the remainder is single-family, multifamily and floating homes and some businesses. The developable area is mostly built out.

“An important consideration in planning work is to provide and expand public access via streets and trails to and along the riverfront and into the river,” she stated via email. “Another consideration is to protect and enhance natural resources for people, fish and wildlife.”

Some of the challenges involved in the South Reach project relate to completing the greenway trail system in places where development exists. Generally, public trail sections are built when a significant development or redevelopment project is reviewed for land use or building approval. Another challenge is striking a balance between protecting natural resources while promoting public access and recreation on land and in the river.

“For example, shallow water habitat areas are often desirable places for swimming,” Bischoff pointed out.

Following a visioning workshop and several other outreach events, the BPS held an open house Dec. 1 at Llewellyn Elementary School that allowed it to synthesize the feedback it has received from the community so far and provide the public with some initial concepts the bureau is considering for the plan, BPS planner Jeff Caudill stated via email.

“One important outcome of the project will be a South Reach Urban Design Concept and underlying ‘Big Ideas,’” he stated. “These concepts present a future vision for the area and highlight specific actions we may pursue as a part of the plan.”

Bischoff said the bureau has received a robust amount of feedback from community members, and some central themes include protecting and enhancing natural resources; improving the safety of trail users by establishing a speed limit for bicyclists and separating pedestrians from cyclists; and adding amenities such as benches, restrooms, water fountains, a dock and a boat launch. The multipurpose dock could be located near Oaks Amusement Park.

Others suggested expanding the river setback for new development and redevelopment adjacent to the river. Community members also recommended completing the riverfront trail system and extending the trail to Lake Oswego. In addition, the plan could include recreating the historic channel through Ross Island to reduce algal blooms.

An inventory and analysis of existing conditions began last winter, and visioning for the urban design concept will continue through the spring. The bureau plans to present a proposed draft in spring 2019 and gather recommendations during Planning and Sustainability Commission hearings. A recommended draft will be presented to the City Council for hearings and final action in early 2020, according to the project’s timeline.

The riverfront area in Dunthorpe, which is in unincorporated Multnomah County, is included in the project because the city and county have an agreement that Portland will conduct planning for the county’s unincorporated areas.

Elizabeth Milner, co-chairwoman of the Sellwood-Moreland Improvement League‘s Stewardship of Natural Amenities Committee, attended the initial visioning workshop and the Dec. 1 presentation. Neighborhood residents are excited for more access to the river, an improved public swimming area, enhanced boat access, and better signage to remind dog owners to clean up after their pets, she said.

“We have some committee members who are working to save some open space that is privately owned between Llewelyn Elementary and the (Wilhelm Portland Memorial) funeral home, and if that works out that could be a potential trailhead to Oaks Bottom because the current trailheads are pretty far apart,” she said.

With 305 acres of public parks, natural areas and open spaces, the South Reach is home to threatened and endangered species that include Chinook, coho and sockeye salmon and steelhead trout as well as Pacific lamprey and cutthroat trout, which are federal species of concern. It is the only section of the Willamette River in Portland that has floating home moorages, and Oaks Bottom is the only designated wildlife refuge in the Rose City. Oaks Amusement Park, which opened in 1905, is one of the oldest amusement parks operating in the country, according to the bureau’s “fun facts” about the area.

The post South Reach project aims to build connections appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.