Opportunity Gateway Program Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes

January 19, 2005

In attendance:

Duke Shepard, Chair, Dorene Warner, Vice-Chair, Teena Ainslie, Ron Brown, Frieda Christopher, Dick Cooley, Steve Dotterrer, Bob Earnest, Grace Fitzgerald, Renee Jensen, Arlene Kimura, Jerry Koike, Alesia Reese, Phil Selinger, Laurel Wentworth, Carol Williams, Dann Wonser, Aleta Woodruff

Staff and Guests in attendance:

Sara King (PDC), Cheryl Twete (PDC), Susan Aldrich (PDC), Mark Murray (PDC), Ana Inclan (PDC), Allyson Spencer (PDC), Ann Griffin (PDC), Jon Connor (PDC), Dan Layden (PDOT)

Not in attendance:

Beth Baltz, Andy Cotugno, Merced Flores, Mark Gaulke, Ted Gilbert, Randy Robinson, Fred Sanchez

1. Welcome from the Chair

Duke opened the meeting at 6:40 in welcoming the members. He added an additional agenda item at the end of the meeting about the City Club report on the Portland Development Commission that was released the week prior.

2. Discussion of Budget Process

Duke introduce Mark Murray, Budget Officer at PDC, who passed out budget outreach information and schedules for the fiscal year 2005 – 2006 PDC budgets for urban renewal areas. He said that PDC staff would like feedback from the PAC members throughout the end of February and on into March. The proposed budget will be presented to the PDC Board and reviewed by City Council in March. The timeline showed a public budget forum on the proposed budget in April or May with changes recommended to the Board for approval. In June, the approved budget will be reviewed by the Multnomah County Tax Supervising and Conservation Commission and then adopted by the PDC Board of Commissioners.

Next, Mark covered the scoring criteria listed on pg. 13 of the handout. He went over such facets as dedicated funding, and support of citywide goals and PDC outcomes, one of which requires the agency to have strong and reliable community support. Other scoring criteria included support of the URA Plan and projects eligible for New Markets Tax Credits.

Frieda asked if the budget is being funded by tax-exempt bonds. She wanted to know if there existed criteria to favor properties that are tax-exempt. She said the David Douglas School Board, on which she serves, is fighting tax abatement and exemption on property in the area. Mark said they will take this under consideration next time around. The final criterion that he mentioned was whether an item is budgeted or forecasted.

Mark then moved on to tier definitions, used to prioritize projects and goals, and concluded with a look at a spreadsheet summarizing preliminary resources and expenditures. He asked the PAC to focus on fiscal years 2005-06 and 2006-07. Sara said that there will be further work on the budget at the next PAC meeting in February.

Frieda asked if the forecasted budget for FY 05-06 had been run through the tiers process. Mark said cost and process have been looked at with resource projections and administrative costs. Frieda said that the PAC’s job will be to decide what to put less money into in order to make it balance.

Dick commented that the challenge is having money early on [in the life of the urban renewal area] and that the Gateway Transit Center project will be a real resource producer. Mark said that forecasting resources by projects is not conservative. Sara added that tax increment generated by the Gateway Transit Center project will hit the tax roles in FY 2007-08.

Alesia expressed interest in how Gateway’s priorities stack up against the priorities of other URAs in the city. Mark responded that the financial resources contained within a URA help to guide what its priorities are. He said that there are different emphases for each URA but that all share the same basic objectives: development, economic development, and housing.

Duke told the PAC members to contact Sara with budget-related questions and reaffirmed that there will be more work on the budget at the February PAC meeting.

Sara took this opportunity to introduce Cheryl Twete, Interim Development Director at PDC and Susan Aldrich, Senior Development Manager. Susan currently oversees Gateway URA activities while Cheryl is engaged with her temporary responsibilities as Director.

3. Completion of 99th & Glisan Realignment Update

Duke then called on Dan Layden, the project manager at PDOT working on the 102nd Avenue Project, to give an update to the PAC.

Dan passed around handouts of the project schedule and elements.

Dan asked if anyone had had a chance to drive down 99th Avenue now that construction of the street realignment is complete.

Carol commented that adding left turn signals at Glisan going south or north on 99th was neglected and called it a dangerous situation.

Dan responded in saying that Glisan at 99th is very busy and that Transportation’s objective was to eliminate the dog-leg. Signal timing is based on the frequency of left turns. He said that trade-offs had to be made and that Glisan now has a better and greater capacity to handle the high volume of traffic in that area due to the realignment and improvements that have been completed.

Dick wanted to know, to the extent that decisions are made that are wrong, if adjustments can be made. Dan replied that traffic signals can be adjusted. Carol mentioned that the care center has been impacted by the project. Dan said that management staff from Transportation had been to the care center that day.

4. 102nd Avenue Street Improvement Project Update

Dan started by thanking members of the Gateway Transportation Subcommittee including Aleta Woodruff, Bob Earnest, Beth Baltz, Jeff Baltz, Jim Doig, and others.

He announced that two open houses will be held in February to present the current stage of the project to stakeholders and the community.

Regarding project funding, Dan told the PAC that there is a small amount from the URA but that the majority will be federal. He said there is $1.7M now and that Laurel Wentworth, Chief Planner for PDOT and non-voting member of the PAC, is currently working toward obtaining additional federal funding for the project.

The length of the project will be from the Halsey-Weidler couplet in the northern part of the URA to the Stark-Washington couplet in the south. He said that they have decided to design the entire project rather than proceeding in stages from north to south.

Dan said construction would probably commence no earlier that late fall of 2005.

Duke asked if the construction would include the couplet intersections. Dan responded that there are plans for better treatment with these high traffic intersections. He said that there is a fair amount of design completed between Halsey and Glisan and some from Glisan proceeding south. He spoke briefly about previously discussed options for boulevard treatment and the need to establish bike lanes. He emphasized the importance of bike traffic in the future and that providing for it is a transportation policy of the City of Portland. He mentioned the removal of excessive left turn lane areas by replacement with landscaped medians, the widening of sidewalks, additional trees, and new street lights.

Dan continued with streetscape possibilities that included concrete pavers which can be colored in a variety of tones. He said lightning will be on both sides of the street rather that only on one side as it is now. Two options for ornamental street lighting are being offered.

Aleta asked if the standard ornamental streetlights, which are prevalent in many areas of the city, are readily available. Dan said the city keeps a stock of these on hand but not the specialized lights. Aleta commented that specialized street lighting on Rocky Butte that was purchased by the Rocky Butte Preservation Society was vandalized.

Alesia asked Dan what it is about this plan that makes it unique to Gateway. Dan responded that it is the pavers, the benches, traffic islands and paint colors for lights that are being offered.

Bob said that the design elements can be designated as unique to this district, the tree grates, for instance, he added.

Frieda wanted to know what the cost of property acquisition might be to gain a 7 foot right-of-way in some places. Dan said that about $500K is the estimate and that a prescribed process for property acquisition is required.

Dan said that the design option does not provide for on street parking.

Teena asked if there will be two lanes going north and two going south. Dan said they are not modifying the number of lanes. Alesia said that the on street parking in Hazelwood makes it very dangerous getting out of a car.

Dick said he’s all for on-street parking. He believes it has two benefits: 1) it creates a better pedestrian zone, providing a degree of protection, which is better for on-street businesses, and 2) slows down the street which it what he said is needed.

Dan said that the concept for the intersection at Glisan, which he displayed for everyone, provides room behind curbs for pedestrians, trees, and possibly a “Gateway” arch.

He said open houses will be held February 9th and 10th at Adventist Medical Center in Education Center A. Another open house will be held in May. City Council will adopt the design in May or June.

5. Advisory Committee Approval of the Gateway URA Current Conditions and Economic Opportunities Report

Dann Wonser walked the PAC through a summary of the report that was completed in December after many months work by the Gateway Economic Development Work Group.

Dick said the report is good and concise and helps to remind everyone what they are trying to do in Gateway.

Dann thanked Ann Griffin for all her hard work.

Alesia said she would like to see more transportation related elements pushed and that she did not see economic development linked with transportation in the key concepts or long term strategies in the report. Dann said they welcomed suggestions.

Frieda said she believed the report to be a marketing tool. Alesia added that the accessibility to educational facilities in Gateway should be shown in the report and Bob felt that there’s a need to expand upon that to include transportation centers.

Duke said there needs to be an educational piece in the report.

Dick moved to approve the report and Alesia seconded the motion.

Roll call was taken and all voting members of the advisory committee voted to approve the report. Aleta voted “Yes, with additions” some of which are recorded in the preceding minutes.

6. Discussion of the City Club Report on the Portland Development Commission

Sara opened discussion of the research report on PDC that was released by the City Club of Portland during the previous week. She said PDC staff was generally pleased with the report and found it useful. She said there were recommendations in the report that City Council have more oversight of the agency and that PDC engage in more public involvement.

Sara expressed concern about assumptions made regarding the City Club report in a Wednesday, January 19 article in the Portland Daily Journal of Commerce. She quoted from a paragraph containing inaccurate statements comparing the Gateway and Lents urban renewal areas.

Duke said he would immediately draft a letter to the City Club to specifically address the elements having to do with the Gateway URA. He said that Gateway PAC members were not consulted for information contained in the report and stressed the need to correct false statements made about progress not having been made since the creation of the urban renewal area.

Frieda listed some outstanding accomplishments of the Gateway PAC.

Dick stated that “we are here to defend the process so others don’t misrepresent it”.

He said “we need to go out and correct the record”.

Steve pointed out a difference between the report and the press coverage of the report in that the press chose to quote a few individuals with strong views.

Alesia felt that there should be a measured response based on media and the report and that the response should not become yet another story for the press.

Duke agreed but affirmed that the members of the PAC are now involved and need to correct the perception for the record. He adjourned the meeting at 8:35 p.m.

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The next meeting of the OpportunityGateway Program Advisory Committee will be Wednesday, February 16, at 6:30p.m. at the PortlandAdventistMedicalCenter, EducationCenter A.

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