BPS and PBOT launch latest planning effort, Lower Southeast Rising Area Plan

News Article
Woman walking 2 dogs on an unimproved street with no sidewalks
City bureaus will address the historic lack of infrastructure investment in this area of Southeast and East Portland; seek community input to guide healthy community development.
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The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) and Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) are collaborating with community members to assess land use and transportation issues for Brentwood-Darlington and portions of the Lents, Ardenwald-Johnson Creek, Mt Scott-Arleta, and Woodstock neighborhoods. This new planning effort is called the Lower Southeast Rising Area Plan.

The bureaus recognize the historic lack of infrastructure investment in this area of East Portland. So they are seeking community input to guide healthy community development for the area, which has many unimproved roads, sidewalk gaps, limited street networks, poor transit service, and few neighborhood commercial amenities. 

A new Lower Southeast Rising Area Plan will identify ways to improve amenities and accessibility within these neighborhoods, so residents can meet more of their recreational and commercial close to their homes without a car. It will also develop recommendations to better connect these neighborhoods to the rest of Portland by improving transit and bicycle routes.

City staff are working with a local Project Advisory Committee, a Technical Advisory Committee, community-based organizations, neighborhood associations, and neighbors for input and engagement to guide the plan’s recommendations with an emphasis on anti-displacement and affordable housing strategies.

The project was launched in January 2021 and a final plan is expected to go before City Council in early 2023.

Want to learn more and get involved?

About the project

This map shows the Lower Southeast Rising project area. There is a special focus on the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood. The larger project area from west to east includes SE Cesar Chavez Boulevard to SE 92nd Avenue and south to north from approximately SE Overland Street to SE Holgate Boulevard and SE Foster Road.
The Lower Southeast Rising Area Plan analyzes the residential and commercial areas highlighted in the map with a core focus on the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood. Map by PBOT.

The Lower Southeast Rising Area Plan is made possible by grant funding from the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Land Development (DLCD) and the Oregon Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Transportation and Growth Management (TGM) Program. The grant is intended to bring the focus areas of the project into alignment with Portland’s Transportation System Plan (TSP). This will include land use and zoning recommendations “to create vibrant, livable places in which people can walk, bike, take transit, or drive where they want to go” and “to reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, improve safety, increase multi-modal transportation opportunities, and improve livability and economic vitality for City residents” (Ordinance No. 189519, passed by Portland City Council May 29, 2019). Improved bus and sidewalk connectivity recommendations as well as potential land use changes will link affordable housing, economic development, and access to green spaces.

Later this summer, PBOT and BPS will conduct an analysis of community needs that will be available to community members via online reports and interactive surveys, through neighborhood canvassing, and at participating community events.

Contact

Bill Cunningham

Senior City Planner, Planning and Sustainability

Shane Valle

Senior City Planner, Transportation