Category Archives: Local Issues

Local Issues

Arboretum improvements to begin

The Environmental Review of the planned changes in the Columbia Children’s Arboretum is now open for public comment. If you live nearby, you got a notice in the mail. You can see the notice at https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bds/article/757002 .

If you would like to comment, please get your written comments in before the deadline of 5 pm on April 8.

This plan is the result of efforts of many people, and led by Dick and Gyrid Towle who worked for over 8 yrs with Parks staff and Commissioners Nick Fish and Amanda Fritz to obtain funding for an ADA and more accessible park. An advisory group met the summer/fall of 2018 to review plans and advise the project. Parks planners have worked on the permitting for the past year having to get approvals for a number of zoning challenges to get to the filing of this Environmental Review.

The plans include a hard surface path, improved parking and an open shelter for group activities.

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Local Issues

Wetland Inventory: canceled

The city of Portland is updating its wetlands maps. If your property is deemed to have wetland characteristics, it may be subjected to increased zoning restrictions.

To find out more, come to an OPEN HOUSE on Thursday, March 26 between 5:30 and 7:30 pm at Multnomah County Drainage District Office, 1880 NE Elrod Drive, Portland 97211.

You can also learn more by calling a helpline at 503-823-4225.

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Local Issues

Levee improvement plans

The US Army Corps of Engineers will share their draft feasibility study report and tentative plans to make our local levee system more reliable and resilient in early January

Over the course of the last year, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) staff have completed detailed engineering and economic evaluations of our local levee system. They have identified the vulnerabilities and looked at many potential ways to address them. Early this month, the Corps will release their draft feasibility report and tentatively selected plan for public review and comment.

This will be an important opportunity to weigh in on the concepts that are being considered and to help shape what comes next.We will share the draft report once it has been published. In the meantime, please save the date for one of these upcoming community meetings:

Thursday, January 16, 2020           Thursday, January 23, 2020
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.                           6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
City of Fairview Council Chambers       Expo Center
1300 NE Village Street                          2060 N Marine Drive
Fairview, OR 97024                               Portland, OR 97217

If you can’t make it to one of these meetings, LRC will also hold a couple of drop-in sessions later in the month where you can get your questions answered and share your thoughts in a smaller group setting:
  
Portland Drop-in                               East County Drop-In
Saturday, January 25, 2020          Saturday, February 1, 2020
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.                      9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 
Café Eleven                                        Stomping Ground Coffee
435 NE Rosa Parks Way                     21825 NE Halsey Street
Portland, OR 97211                            Fairview, OR 97024

Or, if you’d like to have someone join your neighborhood association or community group to discuss the feasibility study or other efforts to modernize our local levee system, please contact us at leveeready@gmail.com . 

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Local Issues

New flood safety district
 
 
In June, the Oregon State Legislature passed legislation creating a new special district designed to meet long-term flood safety needs along the Columbia, while also allowing for improved environmental stewardship in the managed floodplain and a more equitable distribution of costs based on both services and benefits received.

This district will ultimately take over operating the local 27-mile levee system, which is currently managed by four drainage districts: Peninsula Drainage District #1 (PEN 1), Peninsula Drainage District #2 (PEN 2), Multnomah County Drainage District (MCDD), and Sandy Drainage Improvement Company (SDIC). First, a board of directors needs to be appointed to set up the new district and create a revenue structure to support it. 

Learn more about this new district, how things will change, what will stay the same, board positions, timelines, and much more. 
RSVP Today
An RSVP is greatly appreciated but not required. 
Can’t make it on the 16th? Please let us know if you would be interested in discussing this issue at another time, or if you would like to have someone join your neighborhood association or community group to talk about what’s ahead for flood safety along the Columbia in Multnomah County.
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