From: Jon Judkins

Sent: Wed Sep 16 10:30:33 2020

To: Council Clerk â Testimony

Subject: Ãlamo Manhattan Project

Importance: Normal

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To Whom It May Concern:

I am a resident of the south waterfront and am vehemently opposed to the current plans from the developers of the Alamo Manhattan project. They have taken advantage of legal loopholes and have designed a complex that will have incredibly negative drawbacks for the South Waterfront.

Additionally, this will increase the number of residents in the S Waterfront by over 40%, and this will create a multitude of problems for all residents. I would love to see the property developed, as it is currently a huge eyesore, but this developer and their current plans will be a detriment to the South Waterfront area and this damage will be irreversible. It will further contribute to Portland’s traffic problem without providing any low income housing. There are no positives.

The South Waterfront buildings state that there should be graduated building heights from the western boundary down toward the waterfront, which these would not comply with. Guidelines also call for sculpted tower designs like the John Ross and Ardea, which again, were blatantly ignored by the developers.

In order to get the bonus heights, the developer Alamo Manhattan had to concede to certain greenway standards and this is where we feel the developer has simply taken advantage of getting maximum concessions and doing the very minimum to enhance the waterfront. The proposed towers are too close to the river, do not provide public amenities or provide for public usage i.e. access to the water, boat ramp, dock etc. In addition, the designs for the greenway give the feeling it (the Greenway) is for the private use of the Alamo Manhattan residents and not the public. By far, this is the most important issue to be addressed.

This Greenway space is one of the last segments along the Willamette to be developed and it must be done right because once it is gone, it is gone forever. It is so important that both Prosper Portland and Portland Parks and Recreation have offered to provide funds to ensure the Greenway design meets more than minimum standards. Both offers have been refused by the developer. The developer has also simply taken advantage of legal loopholes allowing it to remove eco roofs and bird resistant glass on the proposed project.

Thank you for your time and I hope you will reconsider the decision to approve this project in its current form.

Warmest regards,

Jon Judkins, MD