Rachel Elizabeth's appeal

Here's is Rachel Elizabeth's appeal:

May 24, 2007

Case File Number: LU 07-118313 HDZ
Related Case File Number: LU 06-145409 HDZM

I am appealing this Type II proposal based on four separate criteria.

Three of the criteria that this proposed building does not meet are from the Community Design Guidelines (E) Pedestrian Emphasis which states that Portland is a city for people as well as cars and other movement systems and (D) Project Design, which assures that each development is sensitive to both Portland's urban design framework and the users of the city.

The fourth criteria might be considered a procedural error based on flawed historical analysis. The "error" I am referring to is taken from the Albina Community Plan. This is now the second time that this identical statement has been (mis)quoted in the analysis section of a type II proposal in my neighborhood and is historically "incorrect."

The statement in question is taken from the Historic Design Zone/Neighborhood Conservation District Background in Appendix F of the Community Design Guidelines and states that: "three and four story brick commercial structures that once lined the streets have almost all been demolished."

A trip to the records section of the bureau of buildings will confirm that there were never four story buildings in the Mississippi Avenue Conservation District and until the Betty Campbell building was erected in the 1990's there were no three story buildings either.

I believe it is critical is to acknowledge and correct this "historical error". The fact is that three and four story buildings on N. Mississippi Avenue both within and outside of the Conservation District are "new" to the street. The framework for thinking about the design and placement of these larger buildings shouldn't be to "copy" the old style streetcar-era buildings and houses but to successfully "blend in" and honestly acknowledge the differences in mass, scale, volume, and materials of the old and the new.


In the next section of my appeal I am going to reference the following three criteria that do not meet the Community Design Guidelines:

E1: Pedestrian Networks. Create an efficient, pleasant, and safe network of sidewalks and paths for pedestrians that link destination points and nearby residential areas while visually and physically buffering pedestrians from vehicle areas.

E2: Stopping Places. New large-scale projects should provide comfortable places along pedestrian circulation routes where people may stop, visit, meet, and rest.

D7: Blending into the Neighborhood. Reduce the impact of new development on established neighborhoods by incorporating elements of nearby, quality buildings such as building details, massing, proportions, and materials.

E2: Stopping Places.
Exhibits E-U are photographs of every Stopping Place along N. Mississippi Avenue from N. Fremont to North of Shaver near the proposed building site.

E- ReBuilding Center 3625 N. Mississippi Ave.
F- Por Que Non? 3524 N. Mississippi Ave.
G- Mississippi Pizza Pub 3550-3548 N. Mississippi Ave.
H- Muddy's Coffee House 3560 N. Mississippi Ave.
I- Amnesia 832 N. Beech St.
J- Mississippi Commons 3705-3807 N. Mississippi Ave.
K- Mississippi Station 3943 N. Mississippi Ave.
K1- Mississippi Station Lot
L- Lupa 3955 N. Mississippi Ave.
M- Gravy 3957 N. Mississippi Ave.
N- Pasta Bangs 3950 N. Mississippi Ave.
O- Video Verite 3956 N. Mississippi Ave.
P- Porch Light 3972 N. Mississippi Ave.
Q- Equinox 830 N. Shaver St.
R- Sameunderneath 915 N. Shaver
S- Fresh Pot 4001 N. Mississippi Ave. (Shaver St. View)
S1- Fresh Pot
T- Mississippi Records 4007 N. Mississippi Ave.
U- Moxie Rx Lot 13 Block 14, Multnomah

As you can see from the photographs many businesses/buildings provide stopping and resting places. You can also see a direct correlation between the scale of the building and the size of the stopping place from a humble bench in front of many of the smaller shops to the expansive courtyard of the Mississippi Commons.

The placement of the proposed large-scale new four-story building at the lot line does not meet the E2 Criteria. The E1 Criteria is not met either because without the 2' dedication for the right of way there is no "efficient, pleasant, and safe network of sidewalks".

D7: Blending into the Neighborhood.
If you take a look at exhibit V, the Betty Campbell Building located at 3983 N. Mississippi Ave., you can see that this 3 story building sits at the lot line and it also fails to meet the D7, E1, and E2 Community Guidelines.

Having lived across the street from the Betty Campbell Building for over 10 years I have observed how this building is a social and architectural failure. The people living in the apartments on the second and third floor of the building have no opportunity or space to meet, greet, rest, or interact with their neighbors at the street level.

The remedy for this form of socio/architectural failure is to not repeat a pattern like this that is clearly not working and that is the result of a series of "errors."

Unless more space is dedicated to pedestrians along the Mississippi Ave. "Pedestrian Network" this building will not meet the D7, E1, or E2 Community Design Guidelines.

As beautiful as the "healing garden" has the potential to be, it is located in the back of the building site on private property. The "plaza" is also located on private property and cannot be construed as a replacement for a street frontage plan that "should provide comfortable places along pedestrian circulation routes where people may stop, visit, meet, and rest."