Appeal 31746

Title 24 Building Regulations, Chapter 24.50 Flood Hazard Areas: 24.50.060 Provisions for Flood Hazard Reduction, Item F.2. Special Flood Hazard Areas, Residential Construction.

Residential Construction, Item a:
New construction of any residential structure shall have the lowest floor, including basement, elevated to or above flood protection elevation. Flood-proofing of "lowest floor" space is not permitted.

Residential Construction, Item b:
Fully closed areas below the lowest floor that are subject to flooding are prohibited or shall be used solely for parking of vehicles, building access or limited storage and be designed to automatically equalize hydrostatic flood forces on exterior walls by allowing the entry and exit of floodwaters.

Note — 24.50.030 Flood Related Definitions, Item U:
"Lowest Floor" means the lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement). An unfinished or flood resistant enclosure, usable solely for parking of vehicles, building access or storage, in an area other than a basement area is not considered a building's lowest floor, provided that such an enclosure is not built so as to render the structure in violation of the applicable non-elevation design requirements of this ordinance found at Section 24.50.060 F.2.

The intent of this appeal is to be allowed to be considered under the Nonresidential provisions of Chapter 24.50.060, which allows for the below-grade parking structure, without the retail space being permanently dedicated to a non-residential-use through a restrictive covenant.

Note: Please reference the attached 1996 Flood Overlay. A small portion of the proposed project site resides within a flood hazard area as defined by 24.50.050 Flood Hazard Areas and Flood Protection Elevations, and is subject to a flood protection freeboard elevation as defined by Item J.

Note: Please reference the attached Site Grading Plans, Site Plan, Floor Plans and Elevations.
The proposed project is for a 23 story, 381 unit apartment building, with a below-grade, at-grade, and above-grade parking garage for approximately 300 stalls. The proposed uses are multi-family residential and include a commercial (non-residential) space at the street level, allowing the project to be classified under section 24.50.060.F.4 – Non-Residential Building. The parking garage is to serve these tenants.

Based on the applicant’s geotechnical and civil engineering analysis and examination of the 1996 Willamette River Flood inundation event, the City of Portland Bureau of Development Services, Site Development, has accepted the base flood elevation for this site to be 30 feet. Per the requirements of 24.50.050 Flood Hazard Areas and Flood Protection Elevations, Item J, the required flood protection freeboard elevation shall be 32 feet. The project has set the actual elevation at +32’ – 1”.

The proposed design includes a basement parking garage substantially below grade that is lower than the established base flood and required flood protection freeboard elevations. The vehicle entrance opening to the basement level of the garage on NW Quimby St (closer to NW 11th & Fields Park) provides a finished elevation at the low (west) side of the opening of 36.31 feet. This is above the established flood protection freeboard elevation of 32 feet. The design proposes a portal system in the above grade basement foundation wall to the northeast (see attached 2023_0612-Block24-Ports-at-East-Elevation and Architectural sheets A1P1, A101, A217 & A505). This portal will be designed to allow any flood water that reaches the freeboard elevation to flood the basement at a rate of 6 feet per day (see attached Block 24 – Basement Flood Ports 2023-06-26) that will equalize the pressures on the basement walls and slab-on-grades.

For this proposed multi-family development to function as intended, the building requires on-site parking for the building's residents at a ratio of .8 to 1 of parking stalls to housing units; approximately 300 parking stalls in this specific case. The City of Portland's River District Design Guidelines establishes standards for parking facilities that entail keeping parking lots and/or garages concealed from public view, and strongly discourage the use of ground floors for this purpose. Invariably, proposed residential developments in the River District, Pearl District, or in this project's case, the North Pearl Sub-area, require below grade basement parking garages to be granted land use approval by the City of Portland.

The development standards within the City of Portland's Title 33 Zoning Code do not require commercial and/or mixed-uses at this site's location. However, this proposed multi-family residential development does include commercial space at the ground floor (SE corner of property, closest to The Fields Park on NW Quimby), that would allow for the inclusion of a basement below the flood protection elevation per Chapter 24.50, section 24.50.060 F.4. However, the city has indicated that the non-residential-use component would need to be permanently dedicated to a non-residential-use through a restrictive covenant. Such a restrictive covenant would greatly hamper future flexibility of the project. There are no indications that any use other than the planned retail space will be successful in this location and the design team requests that the project not be permanently hampered with such a requirement.

As noted per Chapter 24.50, section 24.50.060 F.4, basements are allowed below the flood protection elevation in non-residential and mixed-use buildings. Under this regulation, the mixed- use designation only requires a small amount of non-residential space in order for a basement to be allowed below the flood protection elevation. In discussions with BDS' Site Development engineers to date about this project, it has been stated that BDS could support a building code appeal to waive the inclusion of a restrictive covenant dedicated to non-residential-use, if the proposed building can be designed to be dry flood-proofed. As described above in the proposed design, the building has been designed to dry flood-proof standards.

Although the project is planned to have a retail space at the ground floor, the inclusion or exclusion of this proposed commercial space has no impact on the structural integrity of the building or the safety of its occupants during flood events. The building’s structural engineering will be designed to dry flood-proofed standards up to the freeboard elevation of 32 feet, and the structural components will be engineered to resist hydrostatic pressure from floodwaters rising to the elevation of 32 feet. As mentioned previously, portals will be incorporated into the east foundation wall to equal basement pressurization, and therefore is protected to the required freeboard elevation, and does not require human intervention to protect this opening in the event of flooding.

With the aforementioned flood protection features, and the inclusion of a commercial space on the ground floor, this development will not increase the elevation of a potential flood, will not pose a threat to public safety, and will not burden the public with expense due to flooding. We respectfully request to be considered under the Nonresidential provisions of Chapter 24.50.060, which allows for the below-grade parking structure, without the retail space being permanently dedicated to a non-residential-use through a restrictive covenant.

2902.2 Separate Facilities

2902 – The number of plumbing fixtures within a building shall not be less than set for for each type of building occupancy in Table 2902.1. (Please see attached sheet G091 for required number of toilet facilities).

2902.2 – Where plumbing fixtures are required, separate facilities shall be provided for each sex.

The intent of this appeal is to allow for a single all-gender toilet facility to serve each of the following amenity spaces and leasing areas that are accessed only by the occupants of the Group R2 dwelling units and their guests, building agents and their staff or maintenance personnel: 1. One all-gender toilet for ground floor lobby, amenity spaces and leasing office; 2. One all-gender toilet at Level 2 Fitness Room; One all-gender toilet at Level 4 Amenity Spaces; One all-gender toilet at Level 22 Amenity Spaces.

Proposed design is to have (1) fully accessible all-gender restroom at each of the following floors: 1. One all-gender toilet for ground floor lobby, amenity spaces and leasing office; 2. One all-gender toilet at Level 2 Fitness Room; 3. One all-gender toilet at Level 4 Amenity Spaces; 4. One all-gender toilet at Level 22 Amenity Spaces. Per Plumbing Fixtures calculations on sheet G091 (attached), each space would require one toilet facility per gender. These restrooms are intended for use for the office/leasing and tenant amenity areas. Please note that the amenity spaces can only be accessed and used by residents and their guests, they are not available for general public use. Additionally, residents of the building can use their own individual unit bathrooms. See attached exhibits for location of all-gender toilets and plumbing fixture calculations. Excluding the future Retail spaces (which will have their own restroom(s)), there is a total of 4 water closets required per sex, and 4 lavatories (1 per sex per floor) – see calculations on drawing sheet G091 lower center of sheet.

The reason for requesting the alternate is that the Amenity areas are only used by the building residents who understand the building layout well enough to know where to find the restrooms. These all-gender toilet facilities are always available on the same level as each of the amenity areas (Levels 1, 2, 4 and 22). The proposed locations of the restrooms are near the main lobby, leasing and amenity areas which they serve. Additionally, the occupants always have access to their private unit bathrooms. Future tenants in the retail spaces will have to provide restrooms as required by the plumbing code as part of permitting for the tenant improvements. As such, we respectfully request that this appeal be granted.