From: Laura Ramirez
Sent: Sun Jun 28 15:53:05 2020
To: Monroe, Staci; BDS Web mailbox
Subject: Community Input regarding Alamo Manhattan Blocks LU 20-102914 DZM AD GW; PC#19-225732
Importance: Normal
I live in the S Waterfront neighborhood, at 3570 S River Parkway.
I have numerous objections to and questions about the Alamo Manhattan development plan. They include:
- * Increased traffic congestion due to the 1,200 new residential units which I am estimating to be a 40% increase in our current number. Currently congesting is a problem with our local streets and access to Macadam. In the morning, during school drop-off time, access to Macadam heading south is extremely challenging with cars backing up both on Moody and on Bancroft.
- * There are not enough parking spaces in the building plans to accommodate the residential units being built. 738 parking spaces for 1,200 residential units (so perhaps we can expect 2000 new residents) presumes more people than not will have cars that they need to park. Although that is a nice goal (to rely on transportation), it is entirely unrealistic. We already have a significant parking shortage of on-street parking, and this affects local businesses negatively by further reducing customer parking options.
- * As another note on the parking ratio, anyone purchasing a high end condo or renting a high end apartment will expect 1 or 2 parking spaces per unit, and without that as an option it will be challenging to lease or sell the units. I know it was a deal breaker for us when we shopped for our condo.
- * City design specifications call for the tall buildings to be situation on the western blocks. Earlier design reviews had the committee recommending that Alamo move the tall buildings to the west blocks. Why is this recommendation no longer a valid concern for the Committee? What changed from the original recommendation to make the change acceptable?
- * Alamo is requesting numerous exceptions to city codes in their design. How does the community or city benefit by approving any of these exceptions? If there are no tangible benefits to these exceptions, then why grant these exceptions to out of state investors rather than taking into account the considerations of the local community?
I understand the appeal to the investors of this project. This is a unique piece of property and opportunity. I would hope the city would put the communities needs front and center because we all live and work here, while the developers are from out of state and just want to make money quickly for their investors. At the very least I would hope they would have to live within the cities building codes and design guidelines.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my input.
Laura Ramirez
3570 S River Parkway Unit #1413
Portland, OR 97239