Author Archives: Steve Elder

Here’s the DIY process to battle demolition

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News

By Steve Elder, CNA Media Team

It started when neighbors of a house on 35th Avenue got notice that a development group had applied to demolish the house.

A permit is issued in 35 days if no one appeals. There is a $1,318 filing fee to apply for delay unless a neighborhood association seeks a waiver. Concordia Neighborhood Association Board members unanimously went along, and a neighbor, Tricia, signed as appellant to seek the delay.

You must closely follow the rules to successfully pursue a demolition delay. Start by reading the appeal application carefully. Read the guide by Restore Oregon and Portland Bureau of Development Services. Attend a hearing or listen to an online recording of a previous hearing.

There are four requirements for a successful delay appeal, which must be met or the appeal will be denied without a hearing.

  1. Notify all permit applicants by certified mail. Ask for a meeting. Keep copies for the appeal.
  2. Show the property’s significance. This was tricky. The target looked ordinary but was affordable by first time homebuyers.
  3. Describe a plan to save the house. The target was ready for occupancy – maybe remodel the kitchen or add an auxiliary dwelling unit.
  4. Show you can afford to buy the house. The sale to the developer was not recorded, so Tricia had to guess the price. She used the tax value plus an estimate for a kitchen remodel and ADU. Tricia is an investor and showed she could borrow against of the value of her property on short notice for enough to buy and improve the target house.

If your written appeal meets the four criteria, a hearing date is set. In this case, the hearings officer was polite, but very firm. Your hearings officer may only consider the four core issues, and courtroom procedure is followed. In this case, the developer didn’t object, so Tricia’s evidence was accepted by default.

She won the delay, so no permit could be issued for 60 days. The ostensible purpose of the delay is to let parties seek an alternative to demolition, but the developer isn’t required to negotiate.

Editor’s note: This is the first in a CNews series of stories about local housing challenges and solutions. If you have ideas for future installments, send them to CNewsEditor@Concordia.org.

We should not get rid of cars so quickly

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Opinion

Is the city of Portland, abetted by developer-friendly activists, trying to abolish private automobiles? It certainly looks that way when you consider a report by mayor Charlie Hales’ planning department, a group styling itself Portland for Everyone and several informal groups.

A picture in a June pamphlet published by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability for the Residential Infill Project features a row of four “skinny” houses with driveways, two with cars. A second version of the picture shows the same houses with the cars and driveways photoshopped out.

The city doesn’t just make off-street parking vanish. The report allows no “front-loaded” garages at all.

Portland for Everyone is pretty much in accord with the city’s call for smaller houses, lower roofs and mostly shorter setbacks. It would go further to outlaw off-street parking. Its website urges us to “end stealth parking subsidies,” that off-street parking runs up the cost of housing and “tilts the scale toward automobile usage and away from forms of transportation that work better in cities.” Works better for whom?

Some of us have arthritis, or groceries or young children to carry. We don’t want to drive around the block to find a place to park.

Clearly the trend is away from cars. Presently in Portland there is less than one car per household. Perhaps in the future all will walk, ride a bicycle or use public transportation.

There are alternatives that address many of the points of the anti-car people. I have gotten permits for and presently am building a residence that addresses many issues raised:

  • Do away with garages. Most people use their garages for storage rather than car shelter. I got an “exception” to my permit for a parking space in front of the house. Answering the charge that garage doors are ugly, my house will have a front window and no garage.
  • Make driveways permeable, not concrete slabs. I am using an open concrete lattice.
  • Group driveways for adjacent houses. A driveway has only to be nine feet wide. Adjacent houses could share a driveway that branches off to each neighboring house.
  • Alleys that abut 15 percent of Portland lots. Cleaning and using them for car access would make neighborhoods more livable.

Bicyclists, walkers and bus riders have rights. They may be the wave of the future. But it shouldn’t be all at once.

We shouldn’t just slam the car door on private transportation.

Opinions expressed by these writers do not necessarily reflect the views of Concordia Neighborhood Association. Deadline is the 10th of the month prior to publication. Please contact CNewsEditor@ConcordiaPDX.org earlier to discuss space limitations.

Two breweries of Concordia

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Local Businesses

If the Concordia neighborhood were a city-state it would go a long way to being self-sustaining.  You can get fresh made bread and pastries from Miss Zumsteins, grass-fed meat butchered at Old Salt, and ice cream made on premises at Roses.   And that’s just on NE 42nd Avenue.

Concordia has two breweries, McMenamins Kennedy School in the east and Great Notion Brewing on the west side of the neighborhood.  McMenamins is part of a bigger operation offering a theater, lodging, bars and restaurants.  Great Notion sticks to what it does best.

The McMenamins group has embellished Portland and beyond by buying and refurbishing semi-historic properties and repurposing them into dining and entertainment venues.  The McMenamins brewery at the Kennedy School opened as part of the rejuvenation of the 1915 neighborhood school in 1997.

The brewery is in what used to be the little girls’ room of the old school, and features artwork depicting the history of beer making as well as the antics of schoolgirls.  The brewery operation was upgraded in 2011 with the addition of glycol-jacketed fermentation tanks.  The brewers produce typical McMenamins standard and seasonal beers, along with rotating selections such as King’s Landing IPA, Oatmeal Porter and Concordia Pale Ale.  Kennedy School is located on NE 33rd, a block north of Killingsworth.

The recently opened Great Notion Brewing has a claim to the tough independent settlers of northwest Oregon.  The name comes from the second novel by Oregon writer Ken Kesey, the author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

The brewery is in the former location of Mash Tun, around the corner from Pine State Biscuits on NE Alberta and NE 22nd Ave. Great Notion took over the space on the New Year’s day this year, It’s a are kid-friendly establishment – an opening celebration Great Notion held in February was like a birthday party – the place was full of grade schoolers and their parents.  They even had a balloon man.

In early March the new management rolled out the newest Great Notion offerings.  They range from Double Stack, a breakfast stout “aged on a ridiculous amount of Vermont maple syrup and locally roasted coffee beans,” to El Chapo, described as “dark and dangerous.” This Mexican-inspired Stout is aged on pasilla & anejo peppers, cinnamon, chocolate and vanilla beans.

In addition to its variety of beers and sours, Great Notion’s imaginative kitchen turns out starters, salads and sandwiches for every appetite, including vegan and gluten free options.

A February story in the Willamette Weekly ranked 73 Portland IPAs.  Two of the top five spots – Ripe and Juice Jr. –went to Great Notion.

Steve Elder is a member of the CNA Board and Media Team