Meeting Agenda

Meeting Agenda Planning and Transportation Committee Tuesday, June 5, 2018, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM Pacific Northwest College of Art, 511 NW Broadway Hammer Board Room (237)

Committee members: Pete Bowling, Ashley Carson, Jim Chapman, David Dysert (CoChair), Reza Farhoodi (Co-Chair), Alyce Flitcraft, Bob Girsberger, Sara Hoeber, John Hollister, Edward Kilgarriff, John Kirby, Betty Lou Koffel, Bruce Levy, Larry Mazer, George McNiel, Jason Naiman, Jerry Pike, Bruce Stephenson, Glenn Traeger

Agenda

6:00 Introductions 6:05 Approval of 5/22 Minutes 6:10 Parking Management Manual 6:25 Naito LID 100% Plans 6:40 PDNA Bylaws Update 7:00 Other business 7:15 Adjourn Next meeting is: June 19 - Central City in Motion and Flanders Greenway

Recent Notices •

LU 18-147283 DZ - Notice of Type II proposal for two marquee signs at Canopy Hotel (May 29)

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LU 18-124712 HR - Notice of Type II proposal for rooftop addition at 1313 NW Glisan (May 31)

PDNA Planning and Transportation Committee Meeting Agenda – June 5, 2018

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Meeting Minutes Planning and Transportation Committee Tuesday, May 22, 2018, 6:00 PM Pacific Northwest College of Art, 511 NW Broadway Hammer Board Room (237)

Committee members in attendance: Pete Bowling, David Dysert (Co-Chair), Reza Farhoodi (Co-Chair), Edward Kilgarriff, Betty Lou Koffel, Bruce Levy, Jason Naiman, Jerry Pike, Bruce Stephenson, Glenn Traeger Committee members absent: Ashley Carson, Jim Chapman, Alyce Flitcraft, Bob Girsberger, Sara Hoeber, John Hollister, John Kirby, Larry Mazer, George McNiel Guests: Kathryn Hartinger (BPS), Phil Nameny (BPS) Chloe Tucker (Pearl Business Owner), Marissa Ramirez (NWNW), Sally Mize (Pearl Resident), Allen Classen (NW Examiner)

6:00 Introductions ● Reza Farhoodi announced that Larry Mazer and Edward Kilgarriff had recently completed the seminar and were now officially members of the committee. 6:05 Approval of 4/17 Minutes MOTION: Bruce Levy, SECONDED: Betty Lou Koffel, ABSTAINED: All absent members Committee voted unanimously to approve April 17 Minutes 6:10 Design Overlay Zone Amendments •

Kathryn Hartinger and Phil Nameny from the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability presented on the Design Overlay Zone Amendments (DOZA) projects that will update the city’s design overlay zones. As a primer, the Pearl District is located in the Central City Plan District, which is a design overlay zone. Land use proposals in the Pearl are subject to either an objective track (Type II design plan check) or discretionary track (Type III design review). All new building proposals in the Pearl are subject to Type III review and must adhere to both the Central City Fundamental Design Guidelines and the River District Design Guidelines. Any conflicts between the two guidelines are resolved in favor of the River District.

PDNA Planning and Transportation Committee Meeting Minutes – May 22, 2018

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In 2016, BPS and BDS hired a consultant to assess the city’s existing Design overlay zone (d-overlay), which resulted in the Design Overlay Zone Assessment that included a set of findings and recommendations to improve the process and tools that implement the d-overlay. Based on those recommendations, BPS will implement two projects: DOZA Process and DOZA Tools. •

DOZA Process proposes zoning code amendments to make the regulatory process more efficient. To that end, it will update the purpose statement for the Design overlay zone and related design chapters to reflect the direction of the new Comprehensive Plan. It will clarify that floor area ratio (FAR) cannot be reduced as a condition of design review approval by Design Commission. In addition, DOZA Process will require applicants to hold early design conferences and allow phased submittal of materials in order to align the Type III design review and historic review process with an applicant’s design process. Finally, the rules related to Design Commission membership will be updated so that landscape architects will be allowed to join as industry technical experts, while clarifying that the public-atlarge member must be independent of these technical industries. David Dysert asked how these early design conferences relate to Design Commission work sessions, referring to the 815 W Burnside project that already had its Design Advice Request in May and has a work session with Design Commission scheduled in June. Phil responded that like DARs, work sessions are discretionary and intended to help applicants work out issues and set out a direction for the project. He added that BPS was working with BDS to get administrative clarity on how early design conferences would work. Reza Farhoodi asked if materials for early design conferences would be available to the public, noting that materials for pre-application conferences were hard to find and not publicly distributed or archived in contrast to land use review notices. Another committee member thought that improvements were needed to land use noticing requirements, specifically bringing up the Fremont Apartments where Type III design review requires sending notices to all property owners within 400 feet but few or no residences were located within that radius. BPS staff acknowledged these points and stated that there were details to work out with the early design conference. Kathryn added that BPS would be looking at notice requirements through the separate Neighborhood Contact Code Update project and asked the committee if they would prefer mailed or posted notices. There did not seem to be consensus on this issue, but one committee member suggested a system to allow residents to opt-in to notices for a larger geographic radius than what is currently required. There was also a question from the committee about whether transportation elements could be incorporated into design review. Phil replied that the DOZA Tools project would look at how projects interface with the public realm, but that transportation elements are typically reviewed internally by PBOT, unless there are non-standard right-of-way details, which receive extra scrutiny. In the case of the Pearl District, projects must adhere to the River District Right-of-Way Standards,


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which set the standard for sidewalk and street interfacing elements. A related issue is that PBOT approves traffic control plans for construction projects without input from the neighborhood, but those would remain separate from the design review process. Kathryn offered to check with PBOT to see who would be the best contact for reviewing traffic control plans.

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DOZA Tools will update the Community Design Guidelines that apply to areas of Portland outside of Central City, which are analogous to the Central City Fundamental Design Guidelines. It proposes new discretionary design guidelines and objective design standards for d-overlay zones outside of the Central City. Based on of the recommendations in the DOZA Assessment report, the DOZA Tools intend to more directly link discretionary guidelines and nondiscretionary standards in the zoning code. DOZA Tools includes a Conceptual Framework based on the three tenets of design highlighted in the new purpose statement for the design overlay zone: Context, Public Realm, and Quality. The Conceptual Framework proposes a nested outline that starts with these tenets, under which are supporting discretionary design guidelines that are broad to allow for flexibility. “Means of design” are intended to bridge these guidelines to the objective design standards that are more specific and prescriptive. These draft standards may be expanded to allow for a menu of choices. The approaches in the Conceptual Framework focus on new construction and would not be applicable within the Central City except in the case of alterations, which may be allowed to use an objective, standards track rather than discretionary review. However, a future Central City Fundamental Design Guidelines update will be informed by the three tenets that form the basis of the DOZA Tools Conceptual Framework. While there are changes outlined in DOZA Tools that do not impact the Pearl District, the project is proposing changes to review thresholds in several ways. First, the level of review will be based on the size and scale of development (such as the amount of square footage or height), rather than cost, which is often used to determine whether a project receives Type II or Type III review. Moreover, the review table and list of exemptions will be simplified, and the thresholds will distinguish between new projects, additions to buildings, and alterations. Projects will also be distinguished by whether they are located in the Central City, with lower thresholds for Type III review in Central City. David Dysert asked if DOZA Tools would include changes to modifications, to which Phil replied no, but that revising the guidelines and standards may impact how modifications are reviewed on future projects by staff. Much of the discussion was focused on the concept of encouraging new development to incorporate older “character” buildings or façades that define an area, through the use of floor area bonus incentives or exempting existing floor area from maximum FAR limits. The program would require discretionary review to ensure that the additions to the existing character building contribute to the preservation of the structure or façade. BPS staff used Seattle’s Character


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Structures program as an example and emphasized that this was not meant to be a historic preservation tool, although it could help retain unreinforced masonry buildings that need upgrading. Kathryn noted that this was still a proposal and a decision had not been made on whether to provide this incentive in the Central City or whether this program was viable at all, noting that Design Commission did not like the examples shown from Seattle that had been built using their program. Phil stated that BPS is focusing on applying the program to buildings in commercial zones located in Portland’s traditional streetcar suburbs, but may choose to apply it citywide. He added that the issue in the Central City is that buildings are usually taller and it may look ungainly to have a 10-15 story building built on top of an existing 1-2 story structure. One member disputed this notion, as he felt the neighborhood already reviews proposals that show first floors markedly different from the rest of the building, and that the results do not always look awkward.

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Another committee member recommended codifying the character building concept (such as implementing discretionary review for projects that contribute to historic character), as he felt that there wasn’t strong code language in existence towards maintaining the historic fabric of neighborhoods, and that the Pearl had recently lost some of its historic fabric. This was important, he thought, because Central City 2035 code will raise height limits in much of the neighborhood and allow for taller structures. David Dysert added that height limits and real estate values work to incentivize redevelopment and there is currently no mechanism to protect character buildings. One issue is that historic preservation is currently voluntary and requires the owner’s consent. BPS is currently taking public comment on the DOZA Process Discussion Draft and the DOZA Tools Concept Report until June 1. The DOZA Process comments will inform the upcoming Proposed Draft to be published in summer 2018 in advance of a fall 2018 hearing at Planning and Sustainability Commission. DOZA Tools comments will be incorporated into a revised concept, which will be used to test the new guidelines and standards at various sites across the city. BPS will hire a consultant to help with preparation of the DOZA Tools Discussion Draft, to be released in winter 2019 for public comment following testing and subsequent revisions to the guidelines and standards. BPS staff also previewed what’s to come with the upcoming Central City Design Guidelines update, whose timeline is uncertain but will take place after the DOZA Tools project is completed. In addition to incorporating the tenets of DOZA Tools, some ideas discussed were simplifying subarea guidelines, and consolidating subareas where appropriate.

6:50 Other business •

David Dysert reiterated to the committee that the 815 W Burnside project had their Design Advice Request in May and were scheduling a worksession with the Design Commission on June 14 at 3:45pm. The project would likely return to the committee sometime after that point.


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David Dysert noted that the PDNA Board had voted on April 26 to an agreement with Lincoln Property Company to drop the Fremont Apartments appeal in exchange for a payment of $35,000. Subsequently, the project was approved on May 10 by the City Council on a 4-0 vote with Commissioner Saltzman absent. Reza Farhoodi stated that the 100 percent plans for the Naito Local Improvement District project were completed and that the committee would review those plans at their June 5 meeting. David Dysert added that he and Reza had a meeting with PBOT staff scheduled that Friday to review those plans and to discuss strategies for inviting Lincoln Property Group and Lynd Company to join the LID. This would be part of a potential second phase to build the west sidewalk on Naito and other local priorities such as a potential bicycle/pedestrian bridge over the tracks. Reza Farhoodi announced that PBOT would return to discuss the Flanders Greenway with the committee on June 19. This presentation would focus on the portion of Flanders Street between I-405 and NW Broadway. He also gave an overview of the first Northwest in Motion Community Advisory Group meeting that took place on May 14. He and Bruce Levy serve as representatives of PDNA. Reza Farhoodi also discussed a potential new hotel that may be proposed on the corner of NW 13th and Raleigh across from the Ramona and Abigail. The same hotel real estate developer that built the Hampton Inn would develop the project. Reza Farhoodi noted that the Parking Management Manual was headed to City Council on June 13 and added that he was still awaiting a copy of the written memo from Commissioner Saltzman asking for PBOT staff to explore local revenue sharing in the downtown meter district. Reza would like the committee to vote to support the manual at the June 5 meeting once members have had a chance to review the memo.

7:10 Adjourn Next Committee Meeting is: June 5, 2018


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