We want to share with you draft ideas about land use, transit and transportation, and opportunities for future development. We would like your feedback about which transit alignment, or which elements of each concept alignment, you think best support community and project goals. Please review the background materials and conceptual alignment alternatives, and then complete the survey below to share your comments.
Welcome!
You are invited to review and provide feedback on several different alignment alternatives for future development and transit service in the Northeast Portland portion of the MP2H study area. Please take a few minutes to review the background information below, the project goals, equitable development discussion, and the alignment alternatives pages, then share your thoughts through the online survey.
Background
The Montgomery Park to Hollywood Transit and Land Use Development Strategy (MP2H) will explore opportunities to create an equitable development plan for transit-oriented districts in NW Portland and NE Portland. The MP2H study will identify land use, urban design and economic development strategies, as well as opportunities for community benefits possible with a transit-oriented development scenario, including a potential streetcar. The project will also consider how such opportunities could support the City’s racial equity, climate justice, employment and housing goals. The work is funded in part by a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant.
For Northeast Portland, the project will explore the feasibility to extend Portland Streetcar to the Hollywood District along three alternate street alignments. A streetcar line to Hollywood is viewed as a long-term possibility – in the 10-15 year time horizon. The main goal of the MP2H study on the eastside is to identify a preferred alignment for future study and more detailed planning. The alternatives for review include information on nearby land uses, transportation, and opportunities for future development.
Project goals
- Support Portland’s 2035 Comprehensive Plan and Climate Action Plan goals for improving economic prosperity, human and economic health, equity and resilience, and for reducing carbon emissions.
- Focus growth in centers and corridors with high levels of services and amenities.
- Increase opportunities for employment and housing, particularly middle-wage jobs and affordable housing.
- Improve access to affordable housing, middle-wage jobs, nature and recreation through high quality, reliable, and frequent transit service and other multi-modal options.
- Ensure that under-served and under-represented communities and those potentially most impacted from land use and transportation proposals have an opportunity to meaningfully participate in the planning process, and benefit from project outcomes.
- Advance equitable outcomes by developing community benefits strategies to accompany land use decisions and transportation investments.
Additional information
More background, including information about existing land use, transportation, economic and demographic conditions can be found in the linked reports below. You can also review the first MP2H open house information and summary, as well as other supporting materials.
Portland Streetcar Ridership Fact Sheet
Portland Streetcar Development and Ridership Info Sheet
Alignment alternatives
Three future Alignment Alternatives for the Northeast study area are proposed for your review and feedback. These alignments illustrate alternate ways to provide streetcar access to the Hollywood Town Center, and each alignment would serve existing land uses and populations along the alignment. In addition, each alignment and related transit investment has the possibility to catalyze future development along the line and on several key ‘opportunity sites’ identified in the alignment maps. These privately owned sites may be future opportunities for supportive development. All three alignments are intended to support Portland’s 2035 Comprehensive Plan and Climate Action Plan goals for improving economic prosperity, human and economic health, equity and resilience, and for reducing carbon emissions. Each alternative alignment accomplishes this in different ways. Each alignment includes maps, images, and descriptions to highlight the features of each scenario and show how they are different.
- Alignment A: Sandy Boulevard
- Alignment B: Irving Street to Sandy Boulevard
- Alignment C: Broadway/Weidler
Definitions
- Mixed Use – Buildings that typically contain a combination of residential, commercial, and office uses, generally in a multi-story structure.
- Multi-Dwelling Residential – Typically apartments and other residential structures with multiple units. Dwelling units generally share common walls or floor/ceilings with one or more units. The land underneath the structure is not divided into separate lots.
- Historic and Conservation Districts – Areas listed on the National Register of Historic Places or identified in city code as places preserved for their historic qualities. Redevelopment may be constrained in historic or conservation districts.
- Plan Districts – Areas with regulations that have been tailored to a specific area of the City. Both overlay zones and plan districts are applied in conjunction with a base zone and modify the regulations of the base zone.
- Overlay Zones – Areas with regulations that address specific subjects that may be applicable in a variety of areas in the City. Both overlay zones and plan districts are applied in conjunction with a base zone and modify the regulations of the base zone.
Equitable development
A key consideration for all the scenarios centers on who benefits and who is burdened by any future changes in policy or investments. Each scenario assumes some degree of change in land use policy to allow different kinds of development not currently allowed. Changes in policy that result in changes in zoning and land use allowances can result in significant increases in development potential with larger buildings and more flexibility for allowed uses. In turn, these can result in benefits such as higher values for development and land. Changes can also result in burdens, such as displacement of lower income individuals, or a reduction of low barrier to entry jobs.
The MP2H will evaluate the potential benefits and burdens of land policy and transit investment choices to determine if excess benefits can be shared more broadly with community members through actions such as creation of affordable housing and commercial spaces, investment in transportation facilities, brownfield cleanups, or other similar approaches. As you review the scenarios, please think about how benefits and burdens can best be addressed. Learn more.
Take the survey
We want to hear what elements of each alignment you support and which alignment you think best supports project and community goals. Your input will help us identify a preferred alignment or help us combine the best elements into a future direction for area. Further detailed planning would follow. The survey has key diagrams and images from the alignment alternatives, but you may find it helpful to open each alignment in a separate tab so you can compare them side-by-side and reference them as you complete the survey.
The survey is now closed.
What's next?
Your feedback will be used to help us identify a preferred alignment or alignments for the area. Look for a public open house this fall when project staff will share early drafts of a proposed preferred alignment, along with ideas for future land use or transportation changes that can support the alignment and equitable community development ideas.