1. Correction!! Board Meeting Date
The RCPNA Board Meeting Scheduled for Tues Nov. 15th (not Nov. 1st). At the Oct. 25th General Membership meeting Chairwoman Tamara DeRidder mistakenly announced the wrong date for the Board’s November meeting. The adopted schedule identifies Tues. Nov. 15th as the next Board meeting date.
2. Residential Infill Project Update
Residential Infill Project scheduled for Portland City Council starting at 2:00 pm Thurs. Nov. 9th and 16th. The Concept Report to the City Council was recently published by Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) after they processed comments from the initial proposal in June. On Oct. 20th our Land Use & Transportation Committee (LU & TC) reviewed the new Concept Report and has made recommendations to be heard at the Nov. 15th Board meeting. These Board recommendations are to be forwarded to the City Council for their Nov. 16th hearing.
Key Changes in the Concept Report and LU & TC recommendations include:
- “Concept 1. Limit the size of houses while maintaining flexibility.” Support & recommend a 3,000 square foot house size limit.
- “Concept 2. Lower the house roof line.” Support & recommend using the average of the ground’s high and low points for bottom point of measurement.
- “Concept 4. Allow more housing types in select areas and limit their scale to the size of the house allowed.” Support & recommend allowing “Single residential dwelling” to this list.
- “Concept 5. Establish a Housing Opportunity Overlay Zone in select areas.” Support subject to reducing overlay from 1/4 mile (5-block area) to 1,000 feet (3-block area) as a “pilot program”. This overlay is proposed to extend from centers, corridors with frequent bus service, and high capacity transit.
- “Concept 7 <new section>. Provide flexibility for retaining existing houses.” Support with the deletion of ‘parking exemptions’ as an incentive for higher density.
- “Concept 8. Rezone historically narrow lots to R2.5 in select areas.” Support subject to limit area to the amended Overlay area of 1,000 foot (3 block area)
- “Concept 9. Citywide improvements to the R2.5 zone.” Support retaining primary structure and single dwelling construction.
- “Concept 10. Revise parking rules for houses on narrow lots.” Oppose. Support retaining off-street parking requirements.
The LU & TC Transmittal Memorandum on this topic provides further details & compares responses to the Board August recommendations.
3. 2045 Comprehensive Plan
Portland Early Implementation Package for the 2045 Comprehensive Plan final City Council hearing Nov. 17th at 2:00 pm. Revised recommendations, based on previous testimony, are to be published prior to this hearing. This package impacts RCPNA with proposed rezoning of 60th Ave. Station area properties, Transportation Systems Plan proposes a bikeway on NE Sandy Blvd.(impacts parking and travel lanes), and fails to address the need for ‘adequate parking'< See Letter>. The letter by Chairwoman Tamara DeRidder on the latter was supported by the LU & TC Oct. 20th and is being forwarded to the Nov. 15th Board meeting.
4. November 10th Deadline for Articles and Discount Ad Space
Due to the holiday season we have moved the deadline for our January RCPNA Newsletter up to Nov. 10th. Have something you want to write about for the neighborhood? We want to hear from you!! Please contact our Newsletter Editor Suzanne at editor@rcpna.com for more information.
Also our Annual Advertising Discount will be ending on Nov 10th as well. This is card-sized adds in each of our four newsletters from only $100 (a great deal!). Interested? Please contact our Local Business Committee Chairwoman Deborah Field at deborah@paperjampdx.com