In effort to tell an inclusive story of Oregon's past, Restore Oregon, Oregon’s only statewide nonprofit historic preservation organization is launching the Albina Preservation Initiative—a collaborative program dedicated to researching, celebrating and educating people about Black history and preservation in Oregon.

The post Restore Oregon Launches the Albina Preservation Initiative appeared first on Restore Oregon.

Community engagement, also called public or civic engagement, is a term often used, but can be difficult to define.
Depending on who you ask, you might receive several different answers. Community engagement might mean mailing out letters to notify property owners of a project that will affect them and their land. It might mean holding a series of meetings at a space within walking distance of a majority of neighbors. Or, it could mean any range of activities involving all parties that could be affected by your project. While a worthy goal, community engagement can also prove difficult to achieve.
Part of what makes our ongoing project in Walnut Park so successful is the community. The neighbors of Walnut Park sought assistance from Restore Oregon a little over a year ago when the threat of demolition hung over the Ocobock Mansion, a landmark within the neighborhood. Staff from Restore Oregon attended meetings and rallies held by the neighborhood to lend support to their cause. Following their success, concerned neighbors continued conversations with Restore Oregon, which ultimately led to our current documentation project.
In May of this year, we were invited to a meeting with a small, core group of neighbors that hoped to continue the initiative sparked by the success of saving the Ocobock Mansion. These neighbors wanted to learn more about the options available to them and how to move forward with understanding their history and significance. While they all agreed they wanted to document their neighborhood, the consensus among this group was to first hold a larger community meeting in order to gauge the wider neighborhood’s opinion on any kind of project.
To prep for this larger meeting, we helped design a flyer to pass to all neighbors that would be included in the study area boundaries. While we passed out these flyers, we made sure to chat with anyone we saw on the street or sidewalk in order to start that initial dialogue on the project and how it could affect the neighborhood. The responses we received that afternoon were positive, with neighbors saying they hoped the project could prevent a future Ocobock-like threat.
At our larger meeting, we wanted to ensure that neighbors received as much information as possible so that they could make an informed decision on whether or not the project would move forward. A neighborhood spokesperson introduced Historic Walnut Park, an update on the Ocobock Mansion was given so neighbors would know the progress made on the landmark they collectively saved, and Restore Oregon explained what documentation would entail as well as what the results would mean for the neighborhood’s future. We then opened up the floor to any questions or concerns neighbors might have before ending the night by asking them to vote using a sticker system.
While our meeting produced a consensus among attendees, we still wanted to allow more Walnut Park residents to provide us with input before fully getting started on documenting. With the help of neighbors, we sent out an email that allowed people to answer a brief survey and submit any questions. Again, we welcomed the unanimous response and moved forward with the project.
Neighborhood volunteers have attended training sessions and presentations in order to learn how to conduct historic documentation. We have gathered in living rooms and coffee shops to discuss the types of information needed to complete neighborhood documentation and to work together to learn what’s in Walnut Park. While the data is still coming in, already neighbors are learning the architectural styles and historic significance of their neighborhood within Northeast Portland.
Our hope is that even after the summer project comes to a close, neighbors will continue to research their houses and previous homeowners, talk to their neighbors about their experiences in the neighborhood, and work together to preserve the neighborhood’s character and history into the future. We also hope that other neighborhoods see this project as an example of how to start the documentation process in their own communities.

The post What’s up in Walnut Park? – Building Consensus appeared first on Restore Oregon.

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Walnut Park is important.
But it’s likely that you’ve never heard about it. That’s forgivable. Restore Oregon didn’t know it existed until last summer. It’s probable that even some residents of Walnut Park don’t know that they live within its boundaries.
When platted in 1904, this undeveloped island of forest in Northeast Portland was bounded by Alberta to the south and Killingsworth to the north. Its western boundary, Congress Street, was subsequently vacated for the construction of Jefferson High School and, to the east, what was once Union Avenue is now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. While much of the original plat’s western blocks were devoted to a mix of uses, the eastern half of the neighborhood was developed with a pleasant variety of middle-class housing types from the decades leading up to the Second World War.
Walnut Park was first sold to and occupied by the typical American mixture of Western European immigrants including families of Irish, German, and Scandinavian ancestry. In keeping with the rest of Northeast Portland which surrounded it, Walnut Park saw a cultural and racial change in its residents after World War Two. Prominent black Portlanders replaced white occupants of the neighborhood as it continued to ground the social and civic life of Northeast Portland. In the last 15 years, Walnut Park’s demographics have begun to shift once again. As in much of the city, many of the neighborhood’s older families have left in response to internal and external pressures. The inherent charm and history of the streets and their houses have attracted new residents who join a community which has evolved for a century.
Walnut Park is important because of that brief, paraphrased history.
It’s representative of much of Northeast Portland and speaks to significant eras in the city’s development and evolution. But that story is threatened.
In the summer of 2016, Walnut Park neighbors were surprised to learn that a landmark which had anchored their neighborhood for 105 years would be demolished. The Ocobock House and the fight to save it galvanized the residents who surround it. Their ultimate success, facilitated by Restore Oregon, but initiated, led, and secured by a core band of neighbors started a conversation about the value of Walnut Park and the likelihood of its survival in an ever-changing Portland. They have requested our assistance to continue evaluating options for the community which would document their history and identity and we agreed.
Like many across the city, the residents of Walnut Park have discovered that their neighborhood is vulnerable. Their stories might go untold. Their landmarks might be demolished. But unlike so many others, the citizens of Walnut Park are working proactively to shape the evolution of their neighborhood. Not to arrest change but to effect that change and direct it in a way that sustains their story and builds on the power of place that has been preserved in this corner of the city. And Restore Oregon will help.

The post Introducing Walnut Park appeared first on Restore Oregon.

1. A further reduction in the allowed size of new single-family houses to approximately 2,000 square feet. Although new duplex/triplex construction would be allowed to be slightly bigger (approximately 2,500 square feet), these “middle housing” designs would be subject to a higher bar of design controls than single-family houses.
2. Allowing for the internal conversion of existing houses into multiple dwelling units citywide, but ensuring that such conversion projects do not inadvertently result in frankenbuildings.
3. Greatly reducing the percentage of Portland neighborhoods where skinny houses and lot confirmations would be allowed to reduce demolition pressure and ensure greater compatibility of new construction.

The post Portland City Council Responds to RIP Testimony; Continued Advocacy Needed in 2017 appeared first on Restore Oregon.

Scale of Houses

The Concept Report highlights three areas aimed at curbing the scale of houses: Floor Area Ratio (FAR), lower rooflines, and setbacks to better match neighboring homes.  We support this generally, but take issue with its one-size-fits-all approach.
Restore Oregon recommendation:

• Height limits and FAR maximums need context-specific standards for neighborhoods, rather than one solution for the entire city

Existing House Retention

The City’s own “Internal Conversion Report” demonstrates clearly that it is feasible to provide middle housing within our existing housing stock. The City Council must advance the recommendations of this report in a clear and meaningful way.

• To incentivize retention, the City should waive systems development charges (SDCs) only for projects that keep an existing house
• Lobby the State Building Codes Division to allow flexibility for internal conversions
• Make changes to the Housing Overlay Zone to incentivize internal conversions

Housing Opportunity Overlay Zone

This will be a zone across the city that is within a quarter mile of transit, centers, and corridors which will allow diverse housing options such as duplexes, triplexes, cottage clusters, and ADUs –what has been coined as “middle housing”. Because much of Portland’s neighborhoods are within this quarter mile zoning proposal, it affects entire neighborhoods throughout the city. This will encourage demolitions without proper steps to ensure the retention of existing houses.
Restore Oregon recommendations:

• Only allow new middle housing on sites with existing houses that are less than 50 years old or sites that have been vacant for five years.
• Allow internal conversion of existing houses into multiple dwelling units citywide.
• Allow for multiple detached ADUs, where appropriate, in conjunction with retention of an existing house

Design Control

Compatibility with the context of a neighborhood is crucial for new buildings to be successful, particularly so with middle housing. There needs to be context-specific design standards for infill to respond to and not diminish from its surroundings.
Restore Oregon recommendation:

• Develop design standards and/or guidelines for infill that are responsive and favorable to existing houses and neighborhoods
  

  

Narrow Lots

The Concept Report proposes allowing “historically narrow lots,” which are less than 36 feet wide. Today, any lots that are divided to less than this 36 feet can be developed only after being vacant for at least 5 years. The City is looking to take away this vacancy requirement and allow for narrow lots to be developed and even been reconfigured as flag lots, which would allow multiple housing units on an existing lot. This provides an enormous amount of demolition pressure on existing houses.
Restore Oregon recommendations:

• Require the existing house (if any) on a lot to be retained for narrow lot development to occur
• Narrow lot development needs to be coupled with design standards or guidelines to be compatible with existing houses and/or the neighborhood

 
Restore Oregon feels City Council has an opportunity to get the Concept Report right, providing a positive future for both Portland’s neighborhoods and its people. We highly encourage individuals to testify this Wednesday and inform City Council of possible amendments to the Concept Report.

The post This Wednesday: Raise Your Voice to Protect Portland’s Neighborhoods appeared first on Restore Oregon.

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