Overview of Community Engagement
This project centers the voices of those with historical ties to Lower Albina as well as the North and Northeast Portland community. The purpose of community engagement is to:
- Provide technical information in easy-to-understand formats to generate opportunities for meaningful feedback
- Build and leverage partnerships
- Ensure that the project's recommendations reflect community ideas, needs and desires
What is the project engaging the community on?
Community input will inform future development strategies across the project area, including the new land created by the Oregon Department of Transportation's I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project (I5RQIP) 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 broader 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 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 will 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?
Previous engagement opportunities
Pin it, Portland, Summer 2024 - Winter 2025
In an effort to collect early community feedback, project staff launched the interactive Pin It, Portland: Reconnecting Albina mapping tool.
Community members were encouraged to identify specific locations that represent opportunities or challenges across many different categories, including transportation, housing, and arts and culture.
View feedback collected from the Pin It Tool
Envisioning a Reconnected Albina: A Kickoff Celebration, Winter 2025
On Thursday February 27, the project team hosted a lively Kickoff Celebration with over 200 people in attendance. The event was an opportunity for the community to learn more about the project, meet project staff and ask questions, and offer feedback at interactive stations. People were able to come and go and explore the stations at their own pace.
The event was organized around three main themes: Public Spaces, Development and Movement. The event materials for Public Spaces, Development and Movement display boards were developed with the support of ZGF Architects.
The event showcased the following materials:
Goals and Objectives
The goals and objectives provide direction and a basis for decision making about key plan elements, and some of this guidance may be refined to become additional policy direction in the 2035 Comprehensive Plan and Central City 2035 Plan. Read the project's goals and objectives below.
Project Subareas
Project staff identified subareas to coordinate planning and development activities throughout the district. The subarea work will explore street and open space connections within and between subareas, as well as key development and redevelopment opportunities. A map of the project's subareas can be found in the document below.
Public Spaces
What are the new opportunities for open space?
This station showcased the existing and future opportunities for open space in the project area, including an opportunity to develop a neighborhood waterfront connection, a new open space on North Larrabee Avenue, and new open spaces on the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project highway cover. The Public Spaces and Views display board can be found in the document below.
The Lower Albina Waterfront Study
The City of Portland and Albina Vision Trust conducted a study to evaluate options for creating a publicly accessible Lower Albina waterfront on the east bank of the Willamette River between the Steel Bridge and Broadway Bridge. Learn about the scenario concepts in the document below.
Larrabee Waterfront public open space
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) showcased how transportation investments can support existing and new development in the district. A major reimaging of North Larrabee Avenue affords the City of Portland the opportunity to potentially provide a new public open space serving nearby redevelopment in Lower Albina. The Larrabee Waterfront is a component of the Lower Albina Streetscape Project led by PBOT. Learn more about the concept for this open space in the document below.
Development
What are the key community spaces and opportunities for growth?
This station showcased development opportunities in the project area, including underutilized land, as well as developments that are already in progress. This station also highlighted important development considerations, such as historic landmarks. Learn more about development opportunities in the document below.
Redeveloping the Dr. Matthew Prophet Education Center Site
Albina Vision Trust (AVT) shared a development concept of the Dr. Matthew Prophet Education Center - a 10-acre property on North Dixon Street that is currently serving as the Portland Public School’s headquarters. The proposed catalytic development transforms the site into a community serving mixed-use property of 1,000 units of affordable housing.
This site is in close proximity to other ongoing and future public improvements and developments – all of which will contribute to the vision of a walkable, mixed-use, and thriving community. Just west of the site in the envisioned public open space on North Larrabee Ave. To the east is Albina One – a development with 94-units of family-focused affordable housing, led by Albina Vision Trust and Elden & Co. The Rose Quarter area is also nearby, just south of the property.
Learn more about the development concept below.
Lower Albina highway cover: Cultural District Concept for the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project Highway Cover
Project partners also displayed the Cultural District Concept for the future highway cover that showcased the core values and priorities, including community-serving uses such as family-friendly open spaces, wealth-generating opportunities, and housing.
The concept is the outcome of an engagement design series during the Summer of 2024 with the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project’s Historic Albina Advisory Board (HAAB) and Community Oversight and Advisory Committee (COAC). Albina Vision Trust and Holst Architecture facilitated the engagement.
Learn more about the Cultural District Concept below.
Movement
What improvements are essential to reconnect people and places in this area?
This station showcased how people get around in the district, including the existing and planned pedestrian and bike network, public transportation infrastructure, and dynamic intersections.
Four boards highlighted how the transportation investments in the district are supporting development of the area. A summary of those boards is below.
- Development comes with transportation infrastructure of its on: When major sites within the district redevelop, new local streets are added to knit the grid back together and provide access to new homes and destinations. The board highlights future streets, existing and future pedestrian connection, and connections to development.
- The City is bringing upgrades to the major corridors and connections: Improvements to major corridors improve north to south and east to west connectivity, linking catalyst sites to nearby neighborhoods. The board highlights the funded and potential major projects.
- ODOT’s I-5 Rose Quarter Project stitches Lower Albina together: The Rose Quarter Project’s local street improvements enhance and restore connections across Interstate 5. The board highlights the improvements through the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project, specifically the new highway cover showing street connections, as well as the Clackamas Crossing.
- Putting all the transportation pieces together: The composite street improvements support development while enhancing and restoring connections across Interstate 5. This board shows how transportation investments in the district are coming together.
The Movement display boards can be found below.
Community Feedback
The event provided interactive opportunities for community feedback. This feedback will be used to inform the next steps of the project.
How we collected feedback
A Plant it Flag Activity: Event participants could write their feedback on flags and add flags to a location of their choice on a printed project map. The different flag colors represented the event themes – Places, Development, Movement and Big Picture.
- Note your Thoughts Activity: Community could write feedback on sticky notes or on precedent images from other cities to spark ideas for the district.
Community voices: what you shared!
Throughout the event, we heard powerful reflections on the neighborhood's history, past harms and displacement impacts, and the community's vision for the future.
A few things community emphasized:
- A strong desire for Albina to become a walkable, vibrant, inclusive mixed-use neighborhood.
- Reconnect displaced community and increase neighborhood affordability.
- Increase community serving opportunities
- Wealth-building and ownership opportunities
- Prioritize livability by focusing on safety, connectivity and accessibility.
“Preserve the remaining cultural and historical sites that reflect Black past and resilience” - Event Participant
Read a full summary of what we heard.