Category Archives: City wide issues

City wide issues

Comp Plan March ’15 update

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Portland's Comprehensive Plan Update E-News
March 2015
Episode 5: Healthy, Connected Portland
Lights, camera, action! Final Centers and Corridors video released; more videos solicited for April film festival
Over the past few months, we’ve shared a series of videos about making great places, how Portland is growing and what makes a vibrant, safe and healthy community. These videos were developed to help explain what is at the heart of the city’s new Comprehensive Plan: growing in centers and corridors. We’re coming to the end of our story now with the fifth and last installment in the series, called A Healthy, Connected Portland.
Last video in series released
Planning and Sustainability Commission dives into Comp Plan work sessions
With so many Comp Plan issues and topics to learn about, review testimony on and discuss, the Planning and Sustainability Commission (PSC) is now up to four- or five-hour meetings every two weeks, with an extra one thrown in every now and then to pick up the slack. These volunteer commissioners are no slackers, though. Read more about who they are and what drives them to devote so much time and energy to the community.
Then see how the PSC schedule has expanded and morphed to accommodate additional testimony, staff analysis and commissioner discussion by clicking on the Learn More button below. 
PSC work sessions
EOA updated
News Flash: Public hearing on Economic Opportunities Analysis moved to April 28
The Economic Opportunities Analysis (EOA) demonstrates that the policies, infrastructure investments and land use map changes contained in the Proposed Draft of the Comprehensive Plan will support economic growth and provide adequate development capacity to meet Portland’s 20-year jobs forecast, consistent with Goal 9. 
The latest (not final) version of the EOA has been published in advance of the April 28, 2015, Planning and Sustainability Commission public hearing on the reports. Read the updated reports that make up the EOA by clicking the Learn More button. 
EOA
STAR award presentation
Comp Plan Outreach and Map App are STARs
The Comprehensive Plan Update team recently received the 2015 STAR Award for Citizen Involvement from the state’s Citizen Involvement Advisory Committee (CIAC) and the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC).
The award is intended to recognize organizations or individuals for outstanding work in public involvement in local land use planning, and for efforts to promote and implement the values of set forth in Oregon’s Statewide Planning Goal 1 regarding citizen involvement.
The award was presented to the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability for its work on the 2035 Comprehensive Plan, particularly for staff’s “efforts to involve the public in the process to evaluate and amend the comprehensive plan.”
The review committee found that, with the Map App and our efforts to reach communities of color and other Portlanders who don’t normally engage in land use planning, staff were able to use “high and low tech” to reach significantly more people and gather more meaningful feedback on the draft Comprehensive Plan.
“BPS realized from the get go that it had to do public engagement for the Comp Plan differently than in 1980,” said one reviewer. “Staff used technology in a way that made the proposed map changes personal and local. Everybody can relate to their own block.”

The committee also recognized the bureau for exemplary customer service, citing the Comprehensive Plan Helpline, Language Line interpretation services, bilingual staffing and “office hours” out in the community. And by collaborating with organizations representing under represented and underserved Portlanders, staff received feedback on how the plan could help address issues around affordable housing, displacement, and economic development for their communities.

On Thursday, March 12, Map App Developer Carmen Piekarski and SE District Liaison Marty Stockton (pictured above from left to right) traveled to Salem to accept the award from Greg Macpherson, chair of the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission, and Steve Faust, chair of the State Citizen Involvement Advisory Committee. Congrats to all!
Written comment period closes; push from community results in flood of last minute testimony
The written comment period for the Proposed Draft of the Comprehensive Plan closed at midnight on March 13, 2015. Comments were submitted in writing, via email and on the Map App.
Staff have been processing more than 4,000 pieces of unique testimony, submitted over a nine-month period since the Proposed Draft was released. All testimony has been delivered to the Planning and Sustainability Commission and can be viewed on the PSC testimony FTP site. An index of all testimony will be published soon.
The newest testimony submitted in early March is still being analyzed and synthesized by planners, who will then forward their additional recommendations in memos to the PSC in advance of the remaining work sessions scheduled for April 14, May 12 and May 26 (see calendar below). 
By closing time, the Map App (version 2) stats included: 

  • ~40,000 page views
  • 19,058 unique visitors
  • 2,312 comments (testimony)
“The unique visitor number is impressive,” says BPS Tech Services Manager Kevin Martin. “That’s almost 20,000 people participating in some way in the City’s long range plan.”
EVENTS

Planning and Sustainability Commission Work Session

Tuesday, April 14, 12:30 – 5:30 p.m. **
1900 SW 4th Ave., Suite 2500A

 

Mixed Use Zones Project Advisory Committee (MUZ PAC)

Wednesday, April 15, 4 – 6 p.m. 
1900 SW 4th Ave., Suite 2500A

Comprehensive Plan Update – Community Involvement Committee (CIC) Meeting

Wednesday, April 22 2015, 8 – 10 a.m.
1900 SW 4th Ave., Suite 2500A

 

Public Hearing: Revised Economic Opportunities Analysis (EOA)

Tuesday, April 28 2015, 3 – 7p.m. **
1900 SW 4th Ave., Suite 2500A

 

Tentative release date for Draft Recommended Plan reflecting PSC directions

April 28 – May 11, 2015
This is a draft of the PSC’s eventual recommendation to City Council, presented for their review. This staff-prepared draft reflects initial direction from the PSC in previous work sessions as well as staff recommendations that the commission has tentatively accepted. The PSC will have approximately a month to review it prior to a final vote. They may make further amendments at the May 26 or June 9 work sessions.

 

Portland is Growing: A Festival of Local Films

Wednesday, April 29 2015, 6:30 – 9 p.m.
McMenemin’s Kennedy School Gymnasium
5736 NE 33rd Ave.

Public Hearing: Growth Scenario Report Addendum followed by PSC work session

Tuesday, May 12, 12:30 p.m. **
1900 SW 4th Ave., Suite 2500A

Final PSC Work Session(s) and Recommendation (vote)

May 26 or June 9, 2015 **
 
** Please refer to the PSC Calendar approximately one week in advance of each meeting to see the specific time for this agenda item.
bps@portlandoregon.gov
1900 SW 4th Ave, 7th Floor | Portland, OR 97201 US
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City wide issues

Comp Plan February ’15 update

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Portland's Comprehensive Plan Update E-News
February 2015
Have your say about future transportation projects in Portland!
Thinking about your next 25 years in Portland, how would you like to get around? Portland’s Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) recently published a list of priority projects for the Transportation System Plan based on public input so far — as well as funding constraints. Now it’s your turn: Comment on your transportation priorities at a February 24 public hearing or online via the Map App.
TSP
 
Portland, land of plenty (of land)
Good news! The recently revised Economic Opportunities Analysis (EOA) shows that the policies, infrastructure investments and map changes in the Proposed Comprehensive Plan will accommodate a projected 142,000 new jobs on 3,000 acres of employment land by 2035. Portlanders are invited to comment on the EOA to the Planning and Sustainability Commission at a public hearing on Tuesday, April 14.
Revised Economic Opportunities Analysis Indicates There’s Plenty of Land for Jobs in Portland
Mixed Use Zones Project Info Sessions: February 25 & 26
Over the next 25 years, roughly half of Portland’s new housing development is expected to occur in mixed use Centers and Corridors. The Mixed Use Zones Project will revise Portland’s Commercial and Central Employment zoning codes applied in Centers and Corridors outside of the Central City to address issues that arise with newer more intensive mixed use building forms. Staff is sharing information and ideas about a Revised Zoning Concept at upcoming information sessions.
Mixed Use Zones Info Sessions
More voices, better choices: Portlanders’ comments make their mark
As of Feb. 6, 2015, Portlanders have provided almost 3,000 comments to help shape the new Comprehensive Plan. Here’s the breakdown of where your comments have come from:

  • 1,794 through the online Map App
  • 437 via email
  • 330 in letters
  • 129 on testimony cards
  • 231 in verbal testimony
  • Total: 2,921 comments
Thank you, Portland, for providing such valuable feedback on the Comprehensive Plan Update. Your comments have informed the Planning and Sustainability Commission as well as staff.
So keep those comments coming! The deadline to submit written testimony is Friday, March 13, 2015, at 5 p.m. — including via the Map App.
Dear Al …
Last summer the City published a diagram showing circles representing various centers connected by corridors. These were supposed to show the location of different types of centers, such as regional, town and neighborhood centers. Now it appears there’s a new “provisional boundaries map,” which shows a defined boundary around my neighborhood center. What does this new map mean?  
Signed,
Stumped
Dear Stumped,
Last summer we published the diagrams you refer to with regional, town and neighborhood centers depicted by different sizes of circles. Subsequently, the Planning and Sustainability Commission (PSC) received public testimony that said it was confusing for us to identify centers without showing more precisely what the centers do and don’t encompass. In response, we proposed some “provisional boundaries” for these centers on new maps for the commission to consider.
Unlike the circles, the provisional boundaries are more literal depictions of the various centers: They trace the irregular edges of the commercial, mixed residential/commercial and multifamily residential areas falling within a half mile of the center of the circles. 
Why a half mile? It’s generally considered a convenient walking distance to/from home to transit and other amenities, which is a good way to describe a center. The provisional boundaries also provide more credible analyses and greater certainty about where particular plan policies apply, which was also a concern expressed by residents.
The PSC is accepting written testimony on the proper location of center boundaries — symbolic or otherwise — until March 13, 2015. Read Tips for Testifying. And don’t forget the Map App, which allows you to comment online.     
But remember, what’s on the map or in the draft plan is just a proposal. Come up with better facts and reasons for where these lines should be, write them down, send them to the commission … and the lines could move.
Editor’s note: The Comprehensive Plan provides general guidance for how the Zoning Map and Zoning Code may be amended in the future. The policy statements that refer to the anticipated size of centers are general aspirational policy statements. Similarly, the maps and diagrams in the Comprehensive Plan are policies, not regulations. 
EVENTS

PSC Work Session and Public Hearing on TSP

Work Session: David Douglas School District, Community Involvement Policies; Hearing: Transportation System Plan 
Tuesday, February 24, 3 – 8 p.m. (TSP hearing starts at 5 p.m.; the public can start filling out comment cards at 4:30)
1900 SW 4th Ave, Suite 2500A

 

Community Involvement Committee (CIC) Meeting

Wednesday, February 25, 8 – 10 a.m.
1900 SW 4th Ave, Suite 2500A

 

PSC Work Session

Topics: TSP, Housing and Residential Densities
Tuesday, March 10, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m.
1900 SW 4th Ave., Suite 2500A

PSC Work Session

Topics: Discussion of other individual map or policy changes of interest to commissioners 
Tuesday, March 24, 3 – 5:30 p.m.
1900 SW 4th Ave., Suite 2500A
 
1900 SW 4th Ave, 7th Floor | Portland, OR 97201 US
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City wide issues

Comp Plan January ’15 update

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Portland's Comprehensive Plan Update E-News
January 2015
Time to get down to work
After a kick-off session in November, the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission (PSC) work sessions on the Proposed Draft will begin on Tuesday, January 27 at 3 p.m. Project staff have published a series of reports on topics ranging from Centers and Corridors to non-conforming uses and split zones, to help commissioners prepare for this work session. Click “Learn More” to read the reports for this first session. And see a calendar of upcoming work sessions on other topics.
Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Staff Reports Available for January 27 Comprehensive Plan Work Session
Portland’s Unique Neighborhoods Star in the Latest Centers & Corridors Video
One size does not fit all
The latest episode in our Centers & Corridors video series uses computer-generated imagery and animated graphics to demonstrate how all the elements of these vibrant places work together to create great places to live, work and play. Watch the video and then figure out which type of neighborhood you live in — or want to!
Portland’s Unique Neighborhoods Star in the Latest Centers & Corridors Video
TSP TEG (ABC … OMG!)
At their February 24 meeting, the Planning and Sustainability Commission will hold a public hearing on the draft project list for the transportation element of the Comprehensive Plan Update, also known as the Transportation System Plan (TSP).
To develop the TSP project list, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) convened a Technical Expert Group (TEG), which has been reviewing transportation-related policies, as well as criteria and processes for evaluating and prioritizing transportation projects. Click below to learn more about the TEG, and click here for more information on the TSP.
Transportation Expert Group (TEG)
EVENTS

PSC Work Session #1 (decision-making, Centers & Corridors, non-conforming uses/split zones)

January 27, 3 p.m.
1900 SW 4th Ave
Suite 2500A

PSC Work Session #2 (employment land/Goal 9, West Hayden Island)

February 10, 12:30 p.m.
1900 SW 4th Ave
Suite 2500

Public Hearing on the Transportation System Plan (TSP) and Work Session #3 (David Douglas School District, community involvement)

February 24, 3 p.m.
1900 SW 4th Ave
Suite 2500A
bps@portlandoregon.gov
1900 SW 4th Ave, 7th Floor | Portland, OR 97201 US
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City wide issues

Comp Plan December ’14 update


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Portland's Comprehensive Plan Update E-News
 
 
December 2014
 
Work sessions to complete a Proposed Draft begin
The Planning and  Sustainability Commission (PSC) held the first of several work sessions on Tuesday, November 18. Each work session is intended to give the commissioners time to consider testimony received up to this point and discuss requested amendments to policies, maps and projects in order to make recommendations to the City Council. Each work session is organized by topic (e.g., Centers and Corridors, Non-conforming Uses, employment, etc.). 
Comprehensive Plan Work Sessions With Planning and Sustainability Commission Begin
 
 
How do you say “Comp Plan” in Spanish, Chinese, Somali, Russian or Vietnamese?
A short summary of the Comprehensive Plan Update has been distilled into a one-page handout and then translated into five languages: Spanish, Chinese, Somali, Russian and Vietnamese. People speaking these languages can now get to know the Comp Plan in just a couple of minutes. So whether you’re from Portland or across the globe, you can learn more about how the City’s new Comprehensive Plan will guide future growth and development and create a more prosperous, equitable, healthy city for all. 
Get to Know the Comprehensive Plan in Six Languages
 
 
West Quadrant Plan off to City Council, eventually becomes an amendment to the new Comprehensive Plan
On Tuesday, December 9, the Planning and Sustainability Commission held its second work session on the Proposed Draft West Quadrant Plan. After discussions around affordable housing, bridgehead heights and riverfront habitat policies, the Commission recommended the West Quadrant Plan to City Council, which will consider the plan early next year. The West Quadrant Plan is part of the Central City 2035 planning effort, a parallel project to the Comprehnsive Plan Update. The two will eventually come together later in 2015.   
Planning and Sustainability Commission Recommends West Quadrant Plan to City Council
 
 
Dear Al
Dear Al,
Why are there so many meetings, hearings, work sessions, etc. for the Comprehensive Plan Update? I’m wondering when the end will be in sight?
Signed, Fatigued
Dear Fatigued,
You are right that the Comprehensive Plan has been the subject of many meetings, etc. But there is a “method to the madness,” per state land use planning law, which aims to give the plan and the public due process. 
Who: The City Council has sole authority to update the Comprehensive Plan, but first they must get a “recommendation” from the Planning and Sustainability Commission (PSC). The PSC bases its recommendation on proposals from City planners and public testimony. The Commission can recommend something different from what planners propose, and Council can change what the Commission recommends. But both the PSC and City Council hold public hearings before they change anything.  
Why: Planners develop their proposed plan from lots of research and analysis contained in official background documents. These “official reasons” are adopted by Council ordinance as supporting evidence for the proposed changes in the plan. Example “whys” include the number of people expected to be born in or move to Portland over the next 20 years and best estimates on the amount of new housing and jobs these folks will need.
What: Comprehensive Plan policy describes what the City will do, and not do, to meet the expected demands and opportunities of the future.
Where: The Comprehensive Plan Map (or land use map) shows where new jobs and housing growth can go, depicts other developed areas where little change is expected and shows areas that are protected as natural areas or open space.
How:  The “whats” and “wheres” in the Comprehensive Plan are carried out by official “hows.” For example, the Zoning Code explains how the policies in the plan will be carried out while the Zoning Map explains how the land use map will be implemented.
When: Council has already adopted all the official “whys” (background reports) except for one — the amount and types of land needed for expected employment growth, known as the Economic Opportunities Analysis. The PSC will conclude its hearings on this remaining analysis and will make their recommendation about the goals and policies as well as the Comp Plan Map this spring. City Council will pick them up this summer. The PSC will begin its hearings on the implementation projects (how) this summer, but Council will likely not consider this body of work until 2016.
Hope this helps.
Al
 
 
EVENTS
 

PSC Comprehensive Plan Work Session 1

Topics: Using the plan in decision-making; Centers and Corridors; non-conforming uses and split-zoning
Tuesday, January 27, 2015, 3 p.m.
1900 SW 4th Ave.
Suite 2500A

PSC Comprehensive Plan Work Session 2

Topics: Economic elements and Goal 9, West Hayden Island
Tuesday, February 10, 2015, 12:30 p.m.
1900 SW 4th Ave.
Suite 2500A

Transportation System Plan Hearing and PSC Comprehensive Plan Work Session 3

Topics: David Douglas School District; Community Involvement policies
Tuesday, February 24, 2015, 3 p.m.
1900 SW 4th Ave.
Suite 2500A
Please confirm all times by checking the PSC calendar prior to each meeting. 
 
bps@portlandoregon.gov
1900 SW 4th Ave, 7th Floor | Portland, OR 97201 US
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