How tall is too tall for Old Town?
The city looks at updating area guidelines in Portland’s Old Town, with an eye towards merging old and new
POSTED: 06:00 AM PST Wednesday, February 13, 2008
BY ALISON RYAN DJC
As development surges in Old Town, city commissions are taking a look at how modern buildings fit within Portland’s only National Historic Landmark district – and whether or not taller may be better for some sites currently limited to 75 feet.
The 2006 Ankeny/Burnside Development Framework set up the work that lies ahead in the downtown district, including updating design guidelines that haven’t been reworked since 1987 and considering higher height limits on several sites. Six sites at the edges of the district were recommended for height limits between 100 feet and 130 feet.
And that’s a change, members of the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission said Monday, that they wouldn’t support.
“Certain sites, maybe it’s ok,” said Commissioner Brian Emerick. “For the most part, I think the scale of the district is its defining feature.”
As it stands, project consultants told commissioners, about 72 percent of buildings in the district are 75 feet or less. Two buildings – equal to 4 percent of all buildings in the district – are taller than 75 feet. Unbuilt property accounts for 24 percent of the district.
Allowing higher buildings on certain sites, consultants said, could spark developer interest in those blank parking lots.
“The increase in height on those sites … appears to make the sites economically viable without subsidy,” project consultant Rick Michaelson said.
But, Commission Chairman Art DeMuro said, there’s already healthy development happening in the district, such as the new Mercy Corps headquarters and renovation of the White Stag Block.
“Why are we all running scared?” he said. “Oh my gosh, how are we going to get development activated?”
While several Portland commissions have a role to play in the process, they’re all charged with different tasks. The Design Commission’s role in the project is strictly advisory. The Planning Commission will helm decisions on code changes; the Historic Landmarks Commission will approve new design guidelines. All changes will ultimately go before City Council.
The breakdown means the height recommendation falls under the umbrella of the Planning Commission, which, in the past, has voiced support for more height, planner Karl Lisle said.
The fact that the planning commission will steer height decisions in a historic district baffles Historic Landmarks Commissioner Peter Meijer.
“That’s like us making decisions out of the purview of the planning commission,” he said. “It’s ridiculous.”
The Portland Design Commission joined in the conversation last week, with discussion of under-development guidelines for new construction. Discussion centered on ideas of “background” and “foreground” buildings, with commissioners leaning toward encouraging “quieter” architecture. A rich range of responses, Commissioner Tim Eddy said, is possible within the background scope.
“Those buildings can be far more interesting and intellectual than the ‘look at me’ buildings,” he said.
But the distinction between foreground and background, commissioners said, isn’t something that necessarily translates to guidelines.
“When it works well, you can’t tell which one is which,” Commissioner Gwen Millius said. “And it doesn’t matter because they’re playing off each other.”
“It should be both. It should be neither. It should be great architecture,” Eddy said.
Guidelines can, Millius said, encourage quality and permanence of new buildings. Commissioners also pushed for thoughtful, carefully built buildings that respond to the existing fabric of the neighborhood.
Height’s a part of that picture, too. The cap in the district may be 75 feet, but there’s a gap between what the limits are and what gets approval to build, commissioners said.
“Right now, I think you’d be hard-pressed to put a 75-foot building up in that district,” Commissioner Jeff Stuhr said.
And that, Commissioner Andrew Jansky said, may blur the vision of high-quality construction.
“When was the last time we saw a really short building that had really high-quality materials?” he said.
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