Monday, February 10, 2020

Transportation at SCAN and Highland, Fairview at Morningside: In the Neighborhoods

The neighborhood association meetings this week are especially interesting. SCAN, Morningside, and Highland all have items that are worth mentioning and may be worth your notice.

SCAN

Cemetery connection in 1988 regional TSP
It was taken out in the 1992 plan
(a few more notes on the plan's bike system here)
On Wednesday at SCAN, they'll be talking about construction and managing traffic at South Salem High School.

From the January minutes regarding a December subcommittee meeting:
Scott Mansur of DKS described review of the Oxford – Church Street intersection. It may be made safer by installing a median barrier that would prevent left-hand turns from Oxford to Church and from Church to Oxford. In addition, Howard Street would be modified, getting new sidewalks, curb cuts, bump-outs and speed bumps. In response to questions about the traffic impact on Howard Street of the new parking lot, Mansur indicated that traffic models projected a minimal impact. The new parking stalls are needed to meet city code requirement; more new stalls would be required but for the use of on street parking around South High. He indicated a site survey showed that bike parking is under-utilized. Nevertheless, there would be 180 bike-parking slots to meet City alternative mode requirement.
Maybe, you know, if we weren't inducing more driving with more free parking, there would be more demand for the bike parking stalls. Just a thought, as they say.

Neither the City nor the School District should be inducing and accommodating more student drivers. They should be acting in ways to induce more walking, biking, and busing.

SCAN's agenda
Also from January:
[Councilor] Nordyke covered several topics....She wants to keep the Croisan Creek path the way it is. She noted the January 30th stakeholders meeting at City Hall concerning the Hoyt-Rural path. She hopes that both viewpoints concerning the Hoyt-Rural path will be represented. There was discussion of alternatives, including the path thru Fairmont Park at the west end of Rural.
It's nice to see talk about a connection through the Cemetery again. (It's been talked about for at least a generation, since 1988 and maybe longer, though it was not on this 1971 map. See previous notes here. And separately, skepticism about making the Croisan trail permanent.)

And in the January minutes there was an interesting proposal to amend the Mill Creek Urban Renewal Area to include housing, especially workforce housing, to serve the warehouses and the greater new employment center there. In the proposal was also criticism of the gerrymander in expanding the Fairview URA at the airport, since we should not be subsidizing air travel. Finally, it also included a proposal to fund a sidepath along Reed Road (some notes on that here in this bit on Hillcrest). Because the Fairview and Mill Creek URAs are outside of SCAN, the conversation was ruled "out of scope," but it was interesting anyway.

The South Central Association of Neighbors meets Wednesday the 12th at 6:30 p.m. in the Pringle Community Hall, 606 Church St SE.
  
Morningside

Also on Wednesday at the Morningside Neighborhood Association meeting there will be a presentation on a 72 lot project proposed for Fairview. Perhaps this would be part of the upper hill near Battlecreek and the tower? Later when this is formally scheduled for a plan review (subdivision plan or refinement plan, etc.) there will be more to say to say for sure.

View lots with Mount Hood at Fairview by the Tower
The Morningside Neighborhood Association meets at Pringle Creek Community Painters Hall,  3911 Village Center Drive SE on Wednesday the 12th at 6:30 PM.

Highland

The Highland Neighborhood meets Thursday, and there's an interesting item on the agenda that at least indirectly seems to allude to the SRC.

Highland agenda
It is interesting, maybe a little suspicious even, because Angelo Planning worked for the SRC and "Hickory/Commercial/Liberty" is right at the proposed landing for the SRC. So that is something to watch and learn more about.

Angelo Planning worked on the SRC
The Highland Neighborhood Association meets Thursday the 13th at 7:00 p.m. in the North Neighbors Resource Center, 945 Columbia St NE.

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