Design panel picks on Parks, PDOT in South Waterfront
Daily Journal of Commerce
by Alison Ryan
07/16/2007
Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects’ slim, sculptural design for a 30-story retirement home in South Waterfront drew raves from members of the Portland Design Commission. But other issues surrounding the review process for Portland’s newest neighborhood inspired rants during Thursday’s commission meeting.
Portland Parks & Recreation’s slow movement on a planned two-block neighborhood park is an “embarrassment,” commissioner Paul Schlesinger said.
“The city has promised the community, not just South Waterfront but the community, and we’ve yet to see or hear anything on this important project,” he said.
Development of the two-block park bordered by Southwest Moody, Bond, Gaines and Pennoyer streets is behind schedule, Sandra Burtzos, South Waterfront neighborhood park project manager, said Friday.
“It’s a staffing issue,” she said.
A request for proposals for design consultant services was originally scheduled to go out in spring 2007; the RFP is now expected to be written this month, with a consultant retained by winter 2008. A programming plan for future South Waterfront park spaces, she said, will likely be developed along with designs for the two-block park.
The number of in-the-works South Waterfront projects is growing, with projects like the six-story mixed-use development at Block 46 also in the pipeline for design review. Commissioners said they were concerned that the park and other public spaces were being viewed as afterthoughts.
“Parks has abdicated an enormous responsibility by not being propositional. ... I don’t accept build all this stuff and then what’s left over is the park,” said commission vice chairman Michael McCulloch.
Commissioners also questioned what Schlesinger called the Portland Office of Transpor-tation’s “feeble response” to a requested study of the effect of South Waterfront traffic on existing neighborhoods.
Requesting additional information from building teams also needs to be discussed, commissioners said, as more projects line up in South Waterfront. Commissioners can ask for research like wind studies – which the Mirabella team commissioned at a cost of about $100,000 – but their requests aren’t backed by code.
“We’re in a situation now where we’re starting to layer on requirements for approval that are not in the code,” Commissioner Jeff Stuhr said.
Meanwhile, the design of the building was met with enthusiasm. The Mirabella, designed as a series of smaller podiums topped by a slender tower, will hold 224 independent senior living units and 60 special care units. At ground level, a series of outdoor spaces support café, retail, and public community room uses.
A citizen request to hold the record open for comment for seven days, as well as a need for revisions to the staff report, meant the commission couldn’t approve the project. But commissioners said the project – especially the building top – was an exemplary effort.
“A very carefully done piece of sculpture, and I’m confident that it will be beautiful,” McCulloch said.
The team is expected to be back before the commission in mid-August.
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Le Hana and Bella Espresso look like they both will be ready to go pretty soon
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