03/26/1979 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Grant Seder, 2385 McLean Boulevard, said he was fairly sympathetic to the goals of the project. However, he did have differences of opinion regarding the density. He noted the need for new residential ~ construction as outlined in the 1990 Plan Update. He felt an attitude ~ that would allow this neighborhood to ignore the rest of the city, i.e., not allowing higher density in the area, would encourage other neighborhoods close in to the city to follow suit. That would lead to urban sprawl and be very irresponsible on the part of the neighborhood. He felt the medium-high density designation was appropriate. Second, he said 40 percent of the structures in the block north of 2nd Street are incompatible. He was in the process of a development which probably will be incompatible also. He said 2/3 of a block thus would be incompatible and felt it should not be included. He questioned the recommendations for remodeling or alteration of incompatible struc- tures to make them compatible. He also questioned site consideration, i.e., fencing. He noted there are already some high fences in the area and he felt the high fencing along sidewalks might help set out the old buildings better. He emphasized the fact that this is not a particularly unified historic area, but rather a scatterization of valuable and invaluable objects. To bring that together as an historic area, he felt the City needed to participate by taking care of its pUblic spaces. He felt by addressing paving, planning, street furni- ture, street signs, fire plugs, benches, etc., the City could contri- bute a great deal of historic value to this area. Otto Poticha, 1820 Kona, also spoke against the designation. He felt the City needed to address itself to distinguishing the differ- ence between historical objects and an historical district. He felt this area to be an historical district and it required a partnership ~ between the City and those in the neighborhood to develop the histor- ical district. The Council should be concerned enough to invest public money to make it truly a IIdistrict.1I Jan Mueller, Chairman of the Historic Review Board, emphasized the Council was dealing with general guidelines for the area, and felt it important to understand it is not the intention to create a little Disneyland. He said the Board would review individual structures. The guidelines were purposely left.flexibile to deal with each situa- tion. Regarding the boundaries, he noted the area north of 2nd Avenue has visual continuity with the Willamette River and was included also because that area was in the original city plat. He realized there would be problems, but said after 2-1/2 years of working with the developers and various property owners, he felt confident with the proposal. Public Hearing was closed, there being no further testimony presented. e 3/26/79--10 \b&