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.

 

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.

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.

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 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. 

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.

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.