September 10, 2002

Mayor Vera Katz and City Commissioners

Portland City Hall

1220 SW Fifth Avenue

Portland, OR 97204

Re: North Macadam Design Guidelines

Dear Mayor Katz and City Commissioners,

North Macadam represents a special opportunity for the City to develop a dense, new, urban community that is integrally linked to an enhanced riverfront environment, benefiting humans as well as native species of fish and wildlife. This district represents the first major opportunity within the Central City to develop a greenway that intermingles urban, recreational, riparian, and upland habitat settings based upon the district’s unique and varied characteristics. The district is poised to set a bold new precedent for redevelopment throughout the City, and the attached design guideline document will serve to help achieve the vision for the area.

This letter forwards to you the recommendation of the Portland Design Commission on the Recommended North Macadam Design Guidelines and Greenway Design Guidelines for North Macadam. The commission urges the City Council to adopt the Recommended North Macadam Design Guidelines and Greenway Design Guidelines for North Macadam, enabling the Office of Planning and Development Review and the Design Commission to constructively review the quality of new development in North Macadam.

Background

The Portland Design Commission, the Bureau of Planning, the Office of Planning and Development Review, the Portland Development Commission, the Office of Transportation, the Bureau of Environmental Services and the Office of Sustainability worked together to develop the Recommended North Macadam Design Guidelines and Greenway Design Guidelines for North Macadam. The Bureau of Planning’s work with the Design Commission on the design guidelines included three drafts of the document, multiple briefings, a public hearing and a work session.

The Proposed North Macadam Design Guidelines and Greenway Design Guidelines for North Macadam were made available to the public for review on April 24, 2002. On July 18, the Portland Design Commission held a public hearing on the Proposed North Macadam Design Guidelines and Greenway Design Guidelines for North Macadam. Notice of the hearing was sent on June 14 to all affected business and neighborhood associations, and to all interested parties. The Design Commission approved the proposed set of design guidelines at the work session on August 22, with some minor amendments, and now forward the Recommended North Macadam Design Guidelines and Greenway Design Guidelines for North Macadam to City Council for adoption. The Bureau of Planning will present the Design Commission’s Recommended North Macadam Design Guidelines and Greenway Design Guidelines for North Macadam to City Council at a public hearing on October 9, 2002.

The North Macadam Design Guidelines revise and replace the Special Design Guidelines for the North Macadam District of the Central City Plan, originally adopted in September 1992. These recommended guidelines address key design issues affecting the entire district, including the development of a varied and undulating riverfront edge, the integration of stormwater management systems in site and development designs, and the successful incorporation of structured parking, among others.

The Greenway Design Guidelines for North Macadam revise and replace the Willamette Greenway Design Guidelines, adopted as part of the Willamette Greenway Plan in 1979, for North Macadam only. Greenway issues addressed by these guidelines include riverbank design, the coherency of the greenway trail system, viewpoint design, and the development of multifunctional plant communities.

The Recommended North Macadam Design Guidelines and Greenway Design Guidelines for North Macadam comply with the City’s Comprehensive Plan, Goal 12 Urban Design, which calls for the provision of clear guidelines of design acceptability that share the public’s concern and objectives for the design review process with developers and designers. To assist in this communication, the Recommended North Macadam Design Guidelines and Greenway Design Guidelines for North Macadam contain many examples of built projects that illustrate a variety of ways to achieve the intent of each guideline.

Recommendations on the Zoning Code

Overall, we have been extremely impressed (repeatedly) by the depth of commitment, understanding, and constructive comment expressed by all parties involved throughout the North Macadam planning process, and are proud to have been able to contribute to one of the city’s most important projects. Those involved, including the review bodies, city agencies, stakeholder groups, the general public and other interested parties, have grappled with some of the most seemingly incompatible factors ever to face a redeveloping part of Portland, and have emerged with a compelling plan for their integration, to the benefit of all. We commend the Planning Commission’s work, the Recommended North Macadam Plan and the set of amendments to the zoning code, and look forward to their implementation with the recommended design guidelines.

During their review process, the Planning Commission requested advice from the Design Commission on the proposed development regulations that address the ways buildings face the greenway. In general, we support the Planning Commission’s recommendations regarding the maximum north-south dimension (125 feet) of building towers in the district. We understand the intent behind the regulation, but question the need to apply this regulation to the entire district. We are interested in allowing more flexibility potentially west of Bond Street, as wider buildings along the western edge of the district would be more suitable for the office and institutional uses envisioned there. In addition, wider buildings along this corridor could help to mitigate impacts from the Interstate 5 Freeway.

Project Follow-Up

As the body that will be reviewing many (if not all) of the development proposals for the district, we wanted to take this opportunity to forward some additional thoughts for your consideration at your upcoming hearings on the Recommended North Macadam Plan package. First, to best take advantage of the different conditions along North Macadam’s river frontage, we are very supportive of designing and developing North Macadam’s entire greenway with a single vision, and therefore recommend implementing the Design Coordination Plan process as soon as possible. In this regard, it would be our hope that the efforts now underway to ecologically restore Ross Island would be reflected in determining the balance and location of urban and ecological settings along North Macadam’s roughly mile-long section of Willamette River Greenway. Second, North Macadam offers a special opportunity for the forging of new, mutually trusting relationships between public agencies and the design and development communities; these could encourage the exploration of innovative design solutions to better achieve the overall vision for the area. Third, the review process that was initially undertaken, employing joint meetings of the Planning and Design Commissions, suggests a precedent for future legislative projects, taking advantage of collaborative discussions and the diversity of perspectives offered by the members of both commissions. And finally, we look forward to discussion on the street plan for the area, as the network of streets and the set of right-of-way elements, including light poles, public signage throughout the district, benches, street trees, paving materials and patterns, and transit shelters, among others, will make a fundamental contribution to a cohesive overall design character for the district.

Recommendation

Again, the Portland Design Commission has approved the Bureau of Planning’s proposed set of design guidelines applicable to North Macadam and its greenway. The commission now forwards the Recommended North Macadam Design Guidelines and Greenway Design Guidelines for North Macadam to the Portland City Council with our unanimous recommendation for their adoption. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Christopher Kopca, Chair        Michael McCulloch, AIA, Vice-Chair

Portland Design Commission      Portland Design Commission

cc:  Members of the Portland Design Commission

 Gil Kelley, Director, Bureau of Planning

 Margaret Mahoney, Director, Office of Planning and Development Review

 Jeff Joslin, Office of Planning and Development Review

Marie Johnson, Bureau of Planning

 Mark Raggett, Bureau of Planning