Category Archives: Land Use & Transportation

By Rich Burton | LUTC Chair

In November 2024, Portlanders will vote for three representatives in each district, expanding the City Commission to 12 members. The districts are North / Northeast, East, Southeast, and West. There are three proposed maps for district boundaries and the Concordia neighborhood designation is in the North / Northeast district in all three proposals.

This is a result of Ballot Measure 26-228, which was approved in November 2022. Ballot Measure 26-228 directed the City of Portland to implement these three changes by January 1st, 2025:

• Establish four geographic districts, with three city council members elected to represent each district, expanding the city council to a total of 12 members
• Allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference, using ranked choice voting
• Establish a city council that focuses on setting policy and engaging with community, transitioning day-to-day oversight of bureaus to a mayor elected citywide and a professional city administrator

The Independent District Commission (IDC); tasked with implementing these changes, has been conducting in-person meetings and collecting feedback on the district proposals.

A meeting was held on July 13th in the North / Northeast district at Self Enhancement Inc., a nonprofit aimed at serving underserved youth. At the meeting, North / Northeast Portland community leaders urged to boost engagement efforts and hear all voices to improve equity. Community leaders testified on how the districting process might impact Black Portlanders. Speakers mentioned communities of color and renters as key voices that should be heard when determining the four geographic voting districts. Renters, they said, have traditionally not had a voice on the City Commission and urged the IDC to consider access issues so engagement is truly inclusive. Watch a video of their testimony here.

Feedback gleaned from these community engagements will be used in development of the district plan. Learn more at Portland.gov/transition/districtcommission.

Rich Burton is the Chair of the Land Use and Transportation committee and serves as Member at Large #4 for the Concordia Neighborhood Association board. He is interested in building community.

By Rich Burton | LUTC Committee Chair

Residents of Concordia and other inner NE neighborhoods might have noticed new construction that reflects Portland zoning changes known as Residential Infill Project (RIP). If you see two, four, six or eight-unit structures popping up where you once saw one home, that likely is the result of RIP.

RIP took effect in August 2021 and its second iteration, RIP2, took effect in June 2022. Both measures were intended to address housing shortages and affordability by allowing more density and flexibility on plots that previously allowed only single-family homes. People who aren’t familiar with zoning rules (particularly during the COVID pandemic) might be surprised to learn some of the specific impacts of RIP and RIP2:

• With the changes introduced, a developer could opt to put four to eight units on a lot on your street, depending on the lot size and their ability to divide the lot.
• No on-site parking is required for these new multi-household units.
• Required setback s; minimum distances from the property line to the structure, have been reduced to 10 feet.

Proponents hailed RIP as a way to bring much-needed affordable housing to Portland, but the effort also had critics. Andre Baugh, a Planning and Sustainability and Commission (PSC) member at the time, objected with concerns about displacing low-income and minority residents. Others worried about traffic congestion, strain on infrastructure and lack of true affordability. Check out this YouTube video of Baugh addressing the PSC in 2018.

Anticipating the impact of RIP/ RIP2, the Laurelhurst and Eastmoreland neighborhoods worked to be designated as historic districts, which reduced their being affected.

Here are a few links to learn more about this topic:

• Overview of RIP
• RIP reports and plans for specific areas 
• Resources for homeowners to protect against predatory behaviors.

For more information, email the CNA LUTC (Land Use and Transportation Committee) at landuse@concordiapdx. org or share your thoughts with us at the LUTC meeting held the 3rd Wednesday of each month, 7-8:30 PM at the Kennedy School Community Room.

Rich Burton is the Chair of the Land Use and Transportation committee and serves as Member at Large #4 for the Concordia Neighborhood Association board. He is interested in building community.

By Kepper Petzing | LUTC Member

The Land Use and Transportation Committee (LUTC) of the Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA) has been reestablished after being inactive for about a year.

The purpose of the committee, chaired by Rich Burton, is to get together, discuss and take actions on issues that affect land use and transportation within the Concordia neighborhood. These issues include zoning and comprehensive plan maps, construction and development, demolition, bicycle and pedestrian issues, speed limit, greenhouse gas emissions, and sustainability, among others.

This is the first installment of a new monthly column for Concordia News. Below is an overview of the issues that are currently being discussed at the LUTC meetings.

New speed safety cameras

Approximate locations

1. Eastbound: 2800 NE Columbia Blvd.
2. Westbound: 3000 NE Columbia Blvd. The cameras are installed and functioning. They are preceded with a sign that reads “Traffic Laws Photo Enforced,” a speed limit sign, and a speed reader board displaying the driver’s current rate of speed. Speeding tickets are automatically generated.

New bridges under construction

1. 33rd Ave. over Lombard St. Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is now hoping for an Aug. 25 opening date, subject to delays. Check the PBOT website for updates (plus find cool details about construction).
2. 42nd Ave Bridge over NE Lombard PBOT is constructing a new earthquake-ready bridge that will also provide better access for freight, walking and biking. Construction will begin shortly after the 33rd bridge opens. Check the PBOT website for updates updates.

Safety concerns

1. Intersection at 36th Ave. and Lombard St. LUTC supports neighbors’ concerns about safety at this intersection – especially with left hand turns on to and off of 36th Ave. We are recommending this intersection allow right hand turns only from Lombard or from 36th. Because Lombard is a highway (U.S. Highway 30 Bypass), control over it falls under Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) jurisdiction. LUTC is beginning inquiries to ODOT.
2. Prescott Street speeding and volume of traffic LUTC is coordinating with other impacted neighborhoods to encourage PBOT to conduct a safety analysis of Prescott Street and consider what abatements and/or traffic calming measures might improve the issue. We encourage neighbors to write letters in support.
3. Building at 2734 NE Alberta St. This building sheds bricks and has been labeled “dangerous” by city officials. We remain concerned about this hazard and are questioning the city about enforcement of building regulations.

Housing needs

LUTC understands the need for infill housing in our neighborhood but would like our community to have a say in how development occurs. We are hoping for more transparency from the city regarding planned developments. If you know about building plans, have questions or concerns, please reach out.

Help us help you!

Consider attending our monthly meetings which are held in-person at 7:00 pm on the third Wednesday of each month in the Community Room at McMenamins Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd Ave. Everyone who lives or works in Concordia is invited.

Email us with ideas, information, or concerns at LandUse@ConcordiaPDX.org. Find us on the Concordia Neighborhood association website at ConcordiaPDX.org/lutc.

Kepper Petzing has lived in Concordia for 40 years, where, with their partner Lowen, they raised two children. They are nonbinary. They love community and are grateful for Concordia News.

By Rob Cullivan and Kepper Petzing

Neighbors living along Northeast Prescott Street have one message for drivers: SLOW DOWN!!

Fed up with hundreds of vehicles daily speeding – and sometimes crashing on their street, residents are working together to ask the city of Portland to address traffic safety issues.

Traffic safety advocates will discuss their concerns at the General Membership Meeting of the Concordia Neighborhood Association at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 7, in the Community Room at McMenamins Kennedy School, 5736 N.E. 33 rd Ave. The Prescott issue is planned to be addressed at 7:30 p.m.

Sabin leader
Kathleen McConnell, chair of the Sabin Community Association’s Land Use and Transportation Committee, said she wants to rally residents of five neighborhoods through which Prescott runs to put an end to vehicular speeding on her street. McConnell said residents of the Concordia, Sabin, King, Vernon and Alameda neighborhoods need to raise their voices about the issue.

“Visually, Prescott looks like a speedway,” she says, noting its posted limit is 25 mph, but hundreds of cars daily exceed the limit. “It invites people to speed through it.”

She and other residents would like to see the Portland Bureau of Transportation install speed bumps aka cushions as well as more stop signs on Prescott. She noted that one concerned resident has even started an Instagram page, “@slowdownonprescott” to collect photos and data on crashes.

Tiffany Allmandinger lives near the intersection of Prescott and 24 th streets. Had she known Prescott would be overrun by speeders, she would have never bought her house there five years ago, she says.

An astronautics engineer who’s also an amateur auto racer and semi-pro cyclist, Allmandinger says she’s familiar with how vehicles sound when they speed and estimates that only 10 percent of drivers on Prescott observe the 25-mph speed limit.

Every night, vehicle after vehicle drives anywhere from 45 to 90 mph past her house, she says. Her corner was the site of a fatal accident in 2020 when a speeding drunk driver was killed after crashing into a tree at 90 mph.

“At night it’s basically a racetrack,” Allmandinger says, adding that cars routinely recklessly pass each other. A cat she owned was killed by a driver, she says, and a neighbor’s dog was injured after a hit and run. There are almost no stop signs or signals for much of Prescott in her area, she adds.

“I want the city to make it physically impossible for people to speed on Prescott,” she said. “You can’t get people to change their behavior, you have to encourage them to change behavior. I would be happy to see a stop sign on every other block.”

PBOT response
Since learning of the residents’ concerns in 2018, PBOT has responded with some measures over the past few years to mitigate the traffic issues. Prescott’s speed limit was reduced from 30 mph to 25, and the city pruned tree limbs as well as prohibited parking within 20 feet of intersections to increase pedestrian visibility, among other measures.

However, in a Jan. letter PBOT sent to the Sabin LUTC, an official noted that, as bad as Prescott is when it comes to crashes, it’s not as bad as other Portland streets. Due to budget constraints, among other factors, PBOT prioritizes addressing traffic safety issues in what is called the High Crash Network. The HCN is made up of 30 streets with the highest number of serious crashes in Portland. The HCN makes up 8% of Portland’s streets, and yet they account for 60% of fatal crashes.

“NE Prescott Street is not part of Portland’s High Crash Network,” PBOT told the Sabin LUTC.

PBOT has stated it plans to install at least two Speed Reader Boards, electronic signs that use radar to detect the speed of an approaching vehicle and display them, on Prescott. Dylan Rivera, PBOT public information officer, said his bureau is gathering information to further address neighbors’ concerns.

“We plan to take a closer look at the area later this year to see what we might be able to do to address safety concerns with signs and markings,” he says.

TriMet may drop service for Bus Line 17 at the north end of its current route at Northeast Broadway Street due to low ridership.

Currently, Line 17 runs 136th Avenue and Holgate Street to 24th Avenue and Dekum Street. The potential route change would affect Concordia residents, eliminating the Concordia portion of the route entirely, and is part of the Draft Service Concept of TriMet’s “Forward Together” initiative, which aims to adapt to changes in ridership brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic by making a series of updates to TriMet bus routes in the near future.

TriMet gathered input from the Portland community in the spring of 2022 around the Draft Service Concept, as well as recently via a now-closed online survey.

Ostensibly, any changes made to TriMet bus service would have the aim of “focusing on ridership and improving connections to destinations for people with low and limited incomes.” Among the questions CNews wanted to ask TriMet is how this change will affect low-income riders who commute to higher-income neighborhoods for work. However, TriMet did not respond to repeated requests for interviews prior to the CNews deadline.

Additionally, the 17 line is currently the only direct route from the Concordia Neighborhood, which will soon be home to a University of Oregon campus, to Downtown Portland. Residents and students who rely on this line would need to use an alternate, indirect, and more time-consuming route. TriMet’s website advises that riders would be able to take alternative routes via Line 8 on Northeast 15th Avenue, Line 70 on Northeast 33rd Avenue, and Line 77 on Northeast Broadway Street.

Despite concerns, TriMet says the possible changes would “bring bus service to 50,000 more people, weekend service to 100,000 more, and significant increases to frequent buses service to connect people and jobs” in the Portland Metro area.

The possible changes would have some upside for riders, including frequency of bus service along the portion of the route that runs along Holgate Street. Service, which recently increased to every 30 minutes in September, would further increase in frequency to every 20 minutes under the current iteration of the Draft Service Concept.

No decisions have been yet made regarding the Draft Service Concept. The Draft Service Concept committee will present the findings of its survey and community input, as well as potential updates to the Draft Service Concept, to the TriMet Board of Directors at a meeting on Dec. 14. Any approved changes would go into effect no sooner than September of 2023.

TriMet also says that “the full adoption of Forward Together is dependent on our recovery from our ongoing operator shortage.”

While the community feedback survey specific to the Draft Service Concept, and thus the Line 17 change, is currently closed, comments, questions, and suggestions about TriMet operations can be submitted at support.trimet.org.

Shawn Mihalik is a novelist, photographer, martial artist, and the Concordia Neighborhood Association’s media team lead.

I t was in spring 2014 when I became chair of the Land Use and Transportation Committee (LUTC) for Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA).

Since then, the LUTC has worked with neighbors and the board of directors on a variety of issues, some of which resulted in something that could be called victories. Many others resulted in no changes to the status quo, or problems not solved, or what could be called the opposite of successes.

In this, my final CNews column as the LUTC chair and as a CNA board member, I’d like to focus on the high points.

Over the winter of 2014-2015, CNA worked to identify neighbor priorities for the city’s comprehensive plan, to review these priorities and to submit clear comments. One priority we advocated for was middle housing, which we supported with our requests to legalize duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes within singlefamily-zoned areas.

This comprehensive plan change was followed by the Portland Residential Infill Project (RIP), and I became a member of a citywide stakeholder advisory committee. I represented the LUTCs of both CNA and Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods (NECN).

The Oregon Legislature then passed HB 2001, and the city was required to implement the RIP in at least the manner recommended by the stakeholder committee. The question remains whether RIP will help build the newly-legalized buildings types as profit-seeking activities.

In January 2016, the CNA LUTC began making repeated requests until Portland Bureau of Transportation lowered speed limits on Ainsworth, Killingsworth, Alberta and Prescott streets. More effort is needed to:

Further reduce speed limits to 20 mph on Killingsworth at 33rd and 30th avenues.

Install physical speed-reducing technology, such as raised crosswalks where pedestrians are most likely to try to cross.

Beginning in 2013, CNA worked to spread awareness of and provide support for neighbor-led alley improvement efforts. Partners included Alley Allies, NECN and neighborhoods elsewhere in the city. Interns assigned from the Portland Institute for Sustainable Solutions at Portland State University worked with us two summers. That resulted in multiple alley improvement projects throughout the neighborhood.

Concordia is a very walkable, mixed-use, mixed-income, diverse neighborhood – one that is more livable than most other neighborhoods anywhere on the West Coast.

Yet, it is built on a backbone of historical injustices and continuing to the present day. The work to build a better world goes through building a better neighborhood.

We still have much work to do. Let’s get to it!

Garlynn Woodsong lives on 29th Avenue, serves on the CNA board and is an avid bicyclist. He also is a dad who is passionate about the city his son will inherit. He is the planning + development partner with Cascadia Partners LLC, a local urban planning firm. Contact him at LandUse@ConcordiaPDX.org.

In October, this column continued its series on accessory commercial units (ACUs). This is the fourth and final installment.

The legend of Hewlett Packard’s origin begins, effectively, in an accessory commercial unit (ACU), with Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard developing an audio oscillator in a garage in 1939.

It was not the first company, or the last, to begin in that way:

• Google was begun in a garage, which Larry Page and Sergey Brin rented from a friend, Susan Wijcicki, in September 1998.
• The first Apple computer was developed in 1976 by Steve Jobs – in his parents’ garage – with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
• Microsoft started in a small garage in Albuquerque, where Bill Gates and Paul Allen first developed programming and operating systems for IBM.
• Jeff Bezos created the first version of Amazon in his garage in Seattle.
• Walt and Roy Disney even created their first films in their uncle’s Los Angeles garage in 1923!

Yet, in the Concordia neighborhood, it’s unclear to what extent this – or other forms of ACUs – would be legal today.

The residential zones are governed by Table 110-1 of the Portland Title 33 Zoning Code. It states none of the residential single-dwelling zones allow for retail, office or other commercial primary uses.

It does allow for accessory uses that comply with all development standards. But those development standards do not allow for structures within the front setback that would allow for pedestrian-oriented businesses fronting the sidewalk.

On sites served by alleys – because zero-setback buildings are allowed to front on alleys – it’s possible to build structures there containing accessory uses. However:

• Hours are limited to 7 a.m.-9 p.m.
• No more than one nonresident employee is allowed onsite.
• Service is limited to eight customers per day.
• No retail services are allowed onsite.
• The dwelling and site must remain residential in appearance and characteristics.

So, there are very limited types of commercial uses that would be legal under the existing code. Budding entrepreneurs would have to fit within these restrictions. Otherwise, they would not be able to engage legally in their commercial activities in residential zones.

As mentioned in the previous installment in this series, there are good questions to be answered about where – on lots, on which lots, in which parts of the city – ACUs should be allowed. There are many ways to answer these questions, and no necessarily right or wrong answers.

There are just different conclusions that people can come to through the process of community dialogue. Yet, in the Concordia neighborhood, it’s unclear to what extent this – or other forms of ACUs – would be legal today.

Neighbors interested in discussing ACUs further are welcome to join the monthly meeting of the Concordia Neighborhood Association Land Use & Transportation Committee. Find details at ConcordiaPDX.org/CNAMeetings and ConcordiaPDX.org/lutc.

Editor’s note: The first three installments of this Urbanism series about ACUs were published in July, August and October. 

Garlynn Woodsong lives on 29th Avenue, serves on the CNA board and is an avid bicyclist. He also is a dad who is passionate about the city his son will inherit. He is the planning + development partner with Cascadia Partners LLC, a local urban planning firm. Contact him at LandUse@ConcordiaPDX.org.

In August, this column continued its series on accessory commercial units (ACUs), and it focused on placement.

Affordability is also vital.

Affordable commercial space is not necessarily easy to come by in this neighborhood.

This is largely due to city zoning rules, under which most commercial uses are not allowed outside commercial/mixeduse zones. That’s where the price of land is higher on a per-square-foot basis than for land with residential zoning – even if just on the other side of a lot line from commercially-zoned parcels.

This is partly a function of the potential residual land value of developing to the highest and best use allowable on a property.

Seller expectations also play a role, with an expectation of a seven-figure sales price for commercially-zoned land in a hot corridor, even if it isn’t currently producing income of any sort. Even vacant lots can command a price premium, if they are commercially zoned.

Even if commercially-zoned lots were the same price as residentially-zoned lots, a lot in Concordia with a viable building on it of 2,000 square feet or more will likely cost more than $650,000. A smaller building might fetch as little as $250,000, if not in great condition.

That is a lot of cash.

Many people can afford to buy a home for those prices, because they’re able to save for down payments and can obtain federally-backed low-interest mortgages.

Yet purchasing a commercial property for a similar price to start a new, unproven small business is not really within the realm of possibility for these same people.

Therein lies a conundrum. To start a new business, a budding entrepreneur needs space within which to operate. Often, the entrepreneur-to-be may have access to a single-family home, perhaps with a garage or basement that provides the extra space within which to set up specialized equipment and create a product to offer.

The incremental price to build a new commercial structure as an accessory to a home is just the cost of the structure. The land has already been paid for by the primary use.

The incremental price of a new business could thus be reduced by an order of magnitude. It could be as little as the cost of bringing in a shipping container, trailer, camper, prefab shed or other space sufficient to house a small new business. That expense could be small enough to put on a credit card or saved within a reasonable amount of time on a middle income.

Bringing down the cost of entry can reduce the barriers of entry into affordable commercial space. This can ease attainment to the first rungs on the ladder of economic opportunity and make business creation more accessible to folks without subsidy.

The only requirement is to change zoning codes to allow for the legal concept of accessory commercial space.

Editor’s note: The first two installments of this Urbanism series about ACUs were published in July and August. 

Garlynn Woodsong lives on 29th Avenue, serves on the CNA board and is an avid bicyclist. He also is a dad who is passionate about the city his son will inherit. He is the planning + development partner with Cascadia Partners LLC, a local urban planning firm. Contact him at LandUse@ConcordiaPDX.org.