Steven Cole, President, called the meeting to order at 7:11.
Board members present: William Archer, Steven Cole, Susan Hathaway-Marxer, Bev Burn, Dean Gisvold, Michela McMahon, Peter O’Neil, Barb Christopher, Jim Barta, Pam Lindholm-Levy, Aaron Stuckey, Christine Coers-Mitchell, Jason Messer
Board members absent: Tiffanie Shakespeare, Jeff Jones, Brian Schaeperkoetter, Tom Mertes, Nathan Corser, Nathan Christensen, and Kysa Kelleher.
Visitors: Shirley Lewton, Kathleen (Kathy) Eaton from The Hollywood Star paper, and Antoine Dean (Grant grad in 2011).
Dean Gisvold moved to approve the March meeting minutes and Jim Barta and Michaela McMahon seconded. The minutes were approved.
No police officer was present. Concerns were raised by Steve and various board members about the lack of officer attendance for several consecutive meetings. Issues about car prowls, “homeless” individuals entering private property, package thefts and crime statistics were mentioned. Dean said that the turnover of police personnel as neighborhood contacts is not helpful if the City’s goal is to have a strong community-policing program. Steve said that he would be contacting the Police Bureau to request that they resume attending our meetings and suggesting that both the police and the community could benefit from more frequent contact.
LAND USE: Dean Gisvold, Chair of the Land Use Committee, said that the City’s comp plan approval activity is “rolling along”. The ICA comments were submitted to the City on time and the ICA’s positions will be pursued through to the appropriate City Council meetings. Barb and Jim talked about the PDX Coalition for Historic Resources, a group advocating for reasonable and appropriate City staff review of historic building permit issues and demolition requests. The City Council is supposed to review this process after two years in practice (now) and the Type I review process is considered to be working reasonably well.
There are two land partitions still pending. In the first one, the ICA filed a response and is now waiting further notice and/or activity. In the second one, the concern is a pre-application notice for turning a 100 by 150 lot into two lots, one 30 by 50 feet and the other 50 by 100 feet. The ICA rejected this request, which concerns property on the NE corner of 13th and Tillamook. There is a duplex there now; the owner wants more structures there.
There are three pending applications: one for the Marquis Apts. Jim Heuer wrote the ICA’s seven-page response to this and submitted it to the Landmarks Commission. It concerns land at NE 11th and Schuyler, ten units built in 1960, which the owner will keep but he wants to remove the existing parking lot and develop 12 new units on that portion of the site.
Christine Coers-Mitchell asked about the status of the Blackwater Tavern, the site across from On Point Credit Union. Nobody seems to know if it is operational and there were questions about the owner’s intention to begin operation. The next land use committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 30.
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