North Macadam

North Macadam District
Urban Renewal Advisory Committee Meeting
March 20, 2003
8:30 am – 10:00 am
Portland Development Commission

Members Present: Rick Saito (Chair), Glenn Taylor, Will White, Nicole Peterson, Pasquale Pascuzzi, Barbara Walker, Abe Farkas (staff), Cheryl Twete (staff).

1. Welcome & Opening Comments

Mr. Saito opened the meeting at 8:40 a.m. by welcoming Committee members to the meeting.

2. Review & Approval of February 20, 2003 Meeting Minutes

Mr. Saito asked for questions or comments on the meeting minutes from the previous meeting. There were no questions or comments and the minutes were approved as submitted.

3. General District Updates

Status of Development Agreement Negotiations
Cheryl Twete began with a briefing on the current status of the Development Agreement:

• Significant progress is being made with completion expected in early May.
• Following completion of development agreement negotiations, a full briefing will be provided to the URAC.

Mr. White inquired as to whether major issues are taking more discussion. Ms. Twete responded that the delay has not been caused by major issues but by the complexity of the project.

Budget FY 03-04
Ms. Twete presented the North Macadam Urban Renewal Area Budget Summary (handout) noting the North Macadam Strategic Opportunities Fund, a new item on the current fiscal year budget. She also pointed out that for the first time the budget is showing significant growth in available resources. She reviewed the sources of funds including tax increment, short and long-term debt proceeds, and the land sale proceeds from PDC owned properties at RiverPlace.

Mr. Saito asked for information about the properties that are encumbered by Streetcar loan debt. Ms. Twete replied that three parcels are encumbered: parcels 3 and 8. Ms. Twete indicated that debt on these properties will total $5.25M, and that once the Streetcar is complete PDC will sell these parcels. Most of the proceeds from this sale will be used to pay off the Streetcar loan, but since the parcels are expected to be more valuable at the time of sale some additional proceeds are expected.

Mr. White noted the dramatic increase in the current fiscal year budget as compared with the last fiscal year. He asked if the budget will grow at a similar pace in the future. Ms. Twete responded that the amount of tax increment proceeds and other sources and uses will likely vary from year to year.

Mr. Pascuzzi asked about the nature of the Strategic Opportunities Fund. Ms. Twete replied that the Fund is for district-wide infrastructure improvements and said that more detail will be included in the budget adopted by the Development Commission in May.

Mr. White pointed out that Portland did not receive a New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation and asked if this would affect North Macadam. Ms. Twete responded that North Macadam does not meet the income tests necessary to receive a NMTC allocation. Because of these affordability requirements, an NMTC allocation was not an anticipated funding source for the district. She explained that the Portland Family of Funds (PFF) will have other new resources to bring into the District, the majority of which will likely be used for housing projects.

Public Information Materials
Kia Selley, Portland Development Commission, gave a brief description of the public information materials that PDC is preparing. The purpose of these materials is to provide information on the District to a broad audience (students, developers, general public) upon request as well as for economic development purposes - retaining and recruiting businesses.

4. Transportation Updates

Street Standards
Matt Brown, Portland Office of Transportation, reviewed a handout summarizing the interim South Waterfront Street Plan accepted by Council. He explained that PDOT will be asking Council to adopt a formal Street Plan. In the meantime, the interim standards will provide information on the South Waterfront Plan street grid and right-of-way widths to guide planning efforts.

Tram
Mr. Brown informed the URAC that on March 24th the Tram design competition finalist teams would present their proposals to the public and the Tram jury, with announcement of the winner two days later. A contract with the selected team will go to City Council for approval following execution of the Central District Development Agreement.

Mr. Brown also reported on the initiation of a Tram Community Advisory Committee (CAC), scheduled to meet for the first time on April 11th. Among others, membership of the committee includes property owners and neighborhood representatives. Committee meetings will take place the first Monday of the month, to allow the CAC to advise the Portland Aerial Transit (PATI) Board in advance of their regularly scheduled meetings.

5. Report to City Council on South Waterfront Greenway Development Plan

Susan Hartnett, Bureau of Planning, walked the URAC through the Bureau of Planning Report to Council on the South Waterfront Greenway Development Plan. She noted that the Greenway Development Plan Request for Proposal (RFP) that Parks is preparing would reference the report. She said that the Report was accepted by City Council on March 12, 2003, and that the next step in the development of the Greenway is the release of an RFP, by Parks, for the Greenway Development Plan.

Mr. Saito asked whether Parks or PDC would ensure that Greenway plan development and implementation are coordinated. Henry Kunowski, Portland Parks & Recreation, responded that PDC and Parks would work together to integrate the development and implementation plan.

6. Greenway Development Plan & Implementation Strategy

Mr. Kunowski began by describing the process that Parks has followed to involve several bureaus and private property owners in development of the Greenway Development Plan RFP. He said that Parks has received a very positive response from private property owners throughout this process. Mr. Kunowski said that the RFP is expected to be released within the first week of April 2003. He noted that Parks has received a significant amount of interest in the project with over 200 requests for information.

Mr. Kunowski expects that a consultant will be hired by the end of May/early June 2003, and that the project should take six to nine months to complete.

Mr. Kunowski explained that the Greenway Development Plan RFP requests a multidisciplinary team with expertise in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, engineering, history, and environmental and biological sciences. He said that the process will deliver schematic design for the entire South Waterfront Greenway and design development level design for the South Waterfront Central District.

Ms. Selley explained that the Implementation Strategy work program is in progress. She said that PDC staff will coordinate with Parks staff to ensure that the Strategy is well integrated with the Greenway Development Plan. Ms. Selley said that the timeline for the Strategy will be presented at the next URAC meeting.

Ms. Selley confirmed that a consultant will be selected to complete a small portion of the Strategy and asked for URAC members and others present at the meeting to contact her if they are interested in participating on the Strategy advisory group – called the Partnership Group.

Ms. Selley described PDC pursuits of alternative funding resources for Greenway implementation including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 206 Program which can provide up to $5M for projects that endeavor to restore aquatic ecosystems. PDC is pursuing other resource development efforts for Greenway implementation including private foundations and Oregon State Parks.

Mr. Kroker asked where the west boundary of the Greenway Development Plan work would be since the Greenway is intended to be integrated with the District.

Mr. Kunowski replied that designers would be required to consider the proposed redevelopment of the District to understand how the Greenway would be integrated with development and how far into the District this influence would extend.

Mr. Pascuzzi asked how Parks would instruct the consultant in terms of an overall implementation cost.

Mr. Kunowski noted that Parks maintenance staff would help address design costs and suggest material changes as the design process progresses.

Mr. Pascuzzi also asked if the cost of Greenway operations and maintenance would be taken into account during the design process.

Ms. Selley responded that the feasibility of operations and maintenance would be a criterion that is equal to the desire of achieving a high quality design. She noted that with Parks’ maintenance budget decreasing, consideration of operations and maintenance issues is a necessity.

7. EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant Update

Lois Cortell, Portland Development Commission, provided a briefing on the $200,000 EPA brownfields grant awarded to PDC last year for environmental assessments in the North Macadam Urban Renewal Area. Ms. Cortell explained that the purpose of the project is to “demystify” brownfields. The grant will be used to fund site-specific sampling of “ready to proceed” sites. A mailing to property owners will invite property owners to propose project sites.

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