The SE 122nd Avenue corridor is poised to receive an infusion of commercial development that will better serve the residents in the area. That’s because City Council recently expressed their commitment to improving the quality of life for East Portland residents by adopting the SE 122nd Avenue Rezoning Project. A recommendation from the East Portland Action Plan (EPAP) and an outgrowth of the SE 122nd Avenue Study: A Pilot Project of the Portland Plan, the rezoning project included changes to the Comprehensive Plan Map and Zone Map to increase neighborhood-serving commercial activity and employment opportunities along the major north-south corridor east of I-205.

The result of more than a year of collaboration between the City and the Project Advisory Group, the project will result in 17 acres of new neighborhood-serving commercially zoned property and 5 acres of property designated for additional commercial development by the Comprehensive Plan, after specific traffic safety issues are addressed at Powell Blvd.

These land use changes have been advocated strongly by the EPAP and other community members throughout the planning process and represent an important step toward providing additional businesses and amenities in an otherwise underserved part of the city. They also support the Portland Plan’s Economic Prosperity and Affordability Strategy, which seeks to expand economic opportunities for Portlanders, and the Healthy Connected City Strategy, which promotes complete and vibrant neighborhood centers and corridors.

City Council received testimony from community members who spoke about the City’s larger responsibility to East Portland on issues ranging from infrastructure funding to poverty eradication strategies. Some additional revisions to the City’s home business regulations and multi-family residential design standards were touched on in the Staff Report, which would address some of these concerns but were beyond the scope of this project. These issues are being carried forward into the larger Comprehensive Plan Update process currently underway.

After nearly a year-long process to address residents’ concerns about the lack of neighborhood-serving commercial development along the SE 122^nd Avenue corridor, the Portland City Council will consider a rezoning proposal to create more neighborhood-serving businesses for the community.

On Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012, Council will hold a public hearing on The SE 122^nd Avenue Rezone Project – Recommended Draft, which includes changes to support more commercial activity in a historically underserved neighborhood. Led by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, this action will help create a more complete neighborhood as described in the Portland Plan’s Economic Prosperity and Affordability Strategy and Healthy Connected City Strategy.

This project implements portions of The SE 122^nd Ave Study: a Pilot Project of the Comprehensive Plan, which was endorsed by the City Council in February 2011. The proposed recommendations will change the zoning applied to numerous properties along the SE 122^nd Avenue corridor between Powell Blvd and Foster Road from multi-dwelling residential designations to commercial designations.

The project also incorporates zone changes requested by the Portland Parks Bureau. Four parcels of property under their ownership and included within the Leach Botanical Gardens will be rezoned from low-density residential to open space, thus bringing these properties’ zoning into conformance with current and anticipated future use. No new development is proposed for this part of the project area.

Comprehensive Plan Map changes will also be made to eight lots with frontage on Powell Blvd. This intersection has been identified by the Oregon Department of Transportation as one of the top-5% Safety Priority Index System locations in the state, an indicator of safety concerns that require additional consideration when potential new development might affect traffic and pedestrian safety. Future zone change applications for these properties will be made through a quasi-judicial process, allowing the Portland Bureau of Transportation to outline required traffic safety improvements and allocate the cost of these improvements.

For more information on the SE 122^nd Avenue Rezone Project, please contact John Cole, Senior Planner, at (503) 823-3475 or john.cole@portlandoregon.gov.

The Planning and Sustainability Commission voted on June 26, 2012, to recommend approval of a rezoning proposal that would add 22 acres of commercially zoned property to SE 122^nd Avenue between Powell Boulevard and Foster Road. The proposal is the result of a nearly year-long process to address residents concerns about the lack of neighborhood-serving commercial development in the area. Two acres of property owned by the Portland Parks Bureau as part of the Leach Botanical Gardens were also recommended to be rezoned as open space, in recognition of its public ownership and continuing park use. 

The PSC recommendation included approximately six acres of land near the intersection of Powell Boulevard and SE 122^nd Avenue that had tentatively been withdrawn by City staff in response to concerns the Oregon Department of Transportation had about safety. The commissioners directed staff to work with ODOT to resolve these outstanding safety and traffic modeling concerns prior to City Council consideration and adoption, tentatively scheduled for later this fall.  

Staff briefly reported on proposed changes to the City’s home occupation regulations and multi-family density and design issues that were also discussed by the project advisory group during the course of the rezone study. The PSC recommended that these topics be included in the Comprehensive Plan Update currently underway.