Project purpose
The Reconnecting Albina Planning Project (RAPP) will create urban development strategies for Lower Albina that foster equitable and sustainable outcomes, centered on restorative development for Portland’s historic Albina and Black communities. Previous and ongoing planning efforts in the area will serve as a foundation on which to refine and build land use, urban design and transportation policies and tools.
Albina Vision Trust (AVT), the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS), Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), and Prosper Portland will collaborate to establish, align, and leverage partnerships and investments that support redevelopment opportunities in the district, including on the new I-5 highway cover being developed by the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Project goals and elements
Funded through a Federal Department of Transportation Reconnecting Communities grant, Reconnecting Albina is an approximately two-year project likely to be completed in summer 2026. The project will create an updated land use and transportation framework to support equitable urban development in Lower Albina. Deliverables include a Community Participation Plan (CPP) and a Development Framework Plan.
The CPP will center Black voices and the community of N/NE Portland and historic Lower Albina. AVT will lead the creation of the CPP with support from the City of Portland. The CPP will identify community partners and outline the planning and implementation of engagement activities that reinforce community-desired redevelopment, benefits, and complementary investments for the district.
To identify future development strategies within the project area and on new land and street connections created by the highway cover, project staff will consult the community on the following questions:
- What kinds of development should occur on the highway cover and in the RAPP project area in the near- and long-term future?
- How will the economic benefits of community ownership be achieved and shared with the broader public?
- What Comprehensive Plan and other City policy and/or Zoning Code amendments are necessary to facilitate the community’s envisioned developments?
- What implementation tools, funding mechanisms, governance structures, partnerships and agreements are needed to facilitate and sustain desired development and community stewardship of an equitable neighborhood?
- How do envisioned development scenarios for the highway cover and adjacent properties inform and coordinate with broader planning and development activities and City capital improvement plans for the area?
To help answer these questions, AVT and City partners are gathering community input about assets, opportunities and issues in Lower Albina with the Pin It, Portland mapping tool.
The Development Framework Plan will have four parts: three “framework plans” for land use, the public realm and streets, as well as community funding and financing strategies. Each will:
- Land Use Framework Plan:
- Describe the role of I-5 highway cover and reconnecting adjacent properties and broader district.
- Identify policies and catalytic projects to accelerate mixed-use development on the new cover, adjacent properties and across the district.
- Support the Black Historic Albina Community’s goals and objectives for the reconstitution of an active and vital neighborhood.
- Public Realm Framework Plan:
- Identify places and nodes around the location of I-5 highway cover, and shared street corridors, pathways, and connections to a broader open space network.
- Support community goals for public spaces and their use by Black Historic Albina Community and others and;
- Ensure alignment with environmental and other considerations involving the infrastructure and development planning process.
- Street Framework Plan:
- Inform capital construction projects and private development proposals improving connectivity to and through the I-5 highway cover and adjacent properties.
- Identify policy recommendations to guide the future form and function of the street network in Lower Albina to support the urban development strategy.
- Serve as the conceptual foundation for a future Master Street Plan and Right of Way Standards for the district.
- Community Funding and Financing Strategies:
- Assess and identify potential public/private/community investments and related equity outcomes associated with investments and potential cost sharing opportunities and economic benefits.
- Support programmatic goals for a mix of uses to maximize capital investment in and around the I-5 highway cover and adjacent properties.
Draft project timeline
- Summer 2024: Launch Community Participation Plan and develop existing Conditions and Policy Analysis; launch and publicize the interactive Pin-It, Portland mapping tool.
- Fall 2024: Publish Existing Conditions and Policy Analysis
- Winter 2025: Develop draft Urban Design/Land Use Framework; draft Local Street Network; draft Governance and Community Finance Concepts
- Spring 2025: Refine Urban Design/Land Use Framework, Local Street Network and Governance and Community Finance Concepts
- Summer/Fall 2025: Draft Implementation Strategy & Action Items
- Winter/Spring 2026: Begin legislative city adoption process
Related projects
The Reconnecting Albina Planning Project is coordinating with several key initiatives to revitalize Lower Albina and achieve restorative development for Black Portlanders:
The Albina Vision Trust Community Investment Plan
Reconnecting Albina embraces the implementation of the Albina Vision Trust’s Community Investment Plan (CIP). The CIP aims to transform the historic core of Lower Albina into an innovative, inclusive, vibrant, affordable, mixed-use neighborhood. The CIP envisions redevelopment in this area that reconnects and reclaims wrongfully condemned land for the restitution of a thriving, sustainable, resilient community.
I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project
The I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project (I5RQIP), led by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), aims to reconstruct the highway to support various operational and service goals for the Lower Albina area. It will also enhance multimodal connections and foster a more accessible, vibrant, and mixed-use area through the creation of a new highway cover that will accommodate future development of open spaces and buildings. The associated Independent Cover Assessment (ICA) was conducted to determine which I5RQIP alternative highway cover scenario provided the greatest potential for restorative justice for the Black Historic Albina community. The ICA engaged Black community members to identify land use and programming priorities, as well as the form and character that a reconnected Albina should establish.
Broadway Main Street Project
The Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Broadway Main Street & Supporting Neighborhood Connections Project (BMSP) will construct multimodal safety and streetscape improvements along portions of N/NE Broadway and N/NE Weidler between the Willamette River and NE 7th Ave. This effort will supplement local street improvements from the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project, creating a safer multimodal street, improving access and connectivity, and fostering equitable development and restoration in Lower Albina. The project will also help catalyze the AVT’s 10.5-acre redevelopment of the Portland Public Schools Administrative Headquarters site, which is right next to the project area. The BMSP is anticipated to begin in 2025.