Map of Willamette industrial area (image courtesy City of Portland)
BY HEIDI BERTMAN
Last Friday, the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability held the Willamette River Symposium #1. It was part of a series of panel discussions intended to establish policy recommendations for the Central City 2035 plan.
The goals of the symposium were to review existing conditions, policy and the endorsed 2006 River Concept; identify ways to achieve development, access and vibrancy while protecting and restoring natural resources and watershed health; and build on the 2006 River Concept policy guidance to address ways to meet these new goals.
In her introductory remarks, BPS director Susan Anderson called for a vision that will include the Central Reach as a commons and common resource shared by the whole community which will be passed to future generations.
The draft language reads, “The Central Reach will continue to be a highly urban, regional center with a waterfront that is the city’s main civic space and a regional attraction. Access to the river and public use of the waterfront will improve through new development and transportation improvements, eventually including changes to Interstate 5.” The document also calls upon Portland to:
- Ensure a clean and healthy river
- Maintain and enhance a prosperous working harbor
- Create vibrant waterfront districts and neighborhoods
- Embrace the river as Portland’s front yard
- Promote partnerships, leadership and education
The audience was overwhelmingly comprised of planners and people whose principal work is in planning and policy, not surprising but nevertheless dismaying since the main goal is to make policy recommendations that will shape how our city is built for years to come. Still, it is commendable that the city has any public planning sessions instead of reviews after-the-fact, as it is a dense and detailed process with many implications to daily life.
River Plan reach areas (image courtesy City of Portland)
Friday’s symposium was the first public discussion on the River Plan/Central Reach. The policy language for the Central Reach plan is guided by the River Concept, endorsed by the City Council in 2006, which was first used to guide the 2008 River Plan/North Reach.
The planning recommendations of the River Plan come principally from the background work of the 2001 River Renaissance Vision and the 2004 River Renaissance Strategy; the 2004 Willamette River Conditions Report; and the 1987 Willamette Greenway Plan. One is inclined to ask why there are so many plans. The simplest answer is that these are all living documents and, as such, reflect the current issues and priorities of the time in which they are created.
In fact, a distinct theme raised by panelists in Friday’s symposium was the concepts missing from previous documents. Infrastructure was one: At all levels of scale, the changes to or needs for infrastructure are integral to any plan and there is no strategic plan in place. Cultural concepts were another: As a group together as well as of the individual. So too was the concept of access, be it physical, visual, or economic. Then there is civic space, from the ideological (jobs, commerce, housing) and to the built (open space).
These omissions spurred a good deal of discussion. Civic space should be both indoor and outdoor and part of a system of spaces for the public, functional for smaller groups and individual use. It was agreed that we may not know what these civic spaces look like, but that it is important to consider the concept if we wish to have a vibrant urban and regional center. Currently, the simple definition of civic space at the Central Reach of the Willamette is the outdoor public open space which is more ceremonial and decorative than functional for the individual; people move through it or occupy it for a short time unless attending a large event. It is a literal translation of the front-yard concept but the scale and placement of it with respect to other types of space in the city and transportation connections limits the full realization of the concept in this form.
There were also comments by many panelists that were hard to disagree with. The plan needs to reference clear metrics to set policy and those policies for implementation need to be aspiration-driven as opposed to punitive. The use of "continue" in the main vision description for the Central Reach is an overstatement. It is not yet highly urban in use or form. There is no value statement on “urban” or a clear descriptor. “Urban” needs to be defined as "diversified urban with jobs, transportation, equity, access.” If the vision is for the city to continue being something, that definition should be clear and capable of describing an evolving environment.
Panelists also addressed a core issue which makes the planning process so difficult to understand, and which leads to the sometimes inconsistent statements from one document to another. Bob Sallinger, panelist from the Audubon Society, questioned the length of process from concept to strategy and plan. He cited the numerous changes in our region since 2006 and asked how the city might be swifter and expedite the planning process. It remains to be seen just how the process may be simplified or shortened but at least the topic is in the panelists’ and the public’s consciousness.
The Willamette River Symposium #2 will be held on Friday February 25 from 9AM-noon at BPS offices, 1900 SW 4th Avenue, Room 2500A.
Heidi Bertman received her Master's of Architecture from the U of O in 1998 and worked with Opsis Architecture before moving to ZGF Architects in 2004, where she is currently a designer.
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