City Council, January 10th - Fairview Addition and Center Street

Council assembles on Monday, and probably Councilor Nordyke's motion to advance a CAHOOTS type program will lead things for most people. Others will have more and better things to say. Our new Police Chief's slow-walking it is not very helpful.

There's also the Council-initiated review of the Meyer Farm proposal.

A minor item, but one of great interest here, is a moment in the ongoing redevelopment of the former Fairview site. Fairview Addition filed a revised phasing plan, and its approval is on the agenda as an information item.

Laundry building (2015)

There might be a few interesting details to pull out of it, as the whole continues to evince a gradual erosion from the original vision.

New phasing (right)

The new plan shows a slightly widened street segment at the old Laundry building (at #2). While it has never been certain that the building would be reused, the new round of conditions of approval imply there is a stronger chance the building will be demolished. (At #1 there is a new cul-de-sac instead of street connection to Pringle Creek Community, and at #3 there is a new street connection where there had been a building considered for reuse, but now demolished.)

The original Master Plan of 2004 indicated, all too optimistically it turned out, hopes the Laundry building might enjoy "full renovation within 5 years." Most everything has been demolished instead.

Laundry building in original 2004 reuse plan

So far, I think only Painters Hall at Pringle Creek Community and "the Possible Building" used by Heritage School have been successfully renovated. (Do you know of others?)

This difficulty in realizing one part of the vision is something that really deserves a stronger case study analysis by the City. As we look to stronger Climate Action, why has the "sustainable" part of the Fairview project been so difficult, and what changes do we need to make in citywide planning in order to be able in the future to do better? What seemed novel and visionary in the original plan document we might like to find banal and routine in the future - so how do we get there?

Problems with speeding already

Also in the approval is evidence that "cars [and their drivers] are already observed traveling over the speed limit...before it has been fully extended to connect to the large apartment complex across from the undeveloped area." The street's not even fully connected!

The City replies: "[T]he street doesn't meet the criteria for the installation of traffic calming measures." 

We have to change this. Speeding alone should be evidence that calming is necessary.

Additional photos of the Laundry Building:

• 2019 Clypian article
• University of Oregon collection, here, here, here
  

Center Street: in and out of City Limits

There's also an intergovernmental agreement for the County to manage a Center Street project:

discussions between ODOT, Salem-Keizer Area Transportation System, Marion County, and City staff concluded that Marion County would be best suited to lead the project because Marion County is responsible for approximately three-quarters of the project length and have staff available to provide the necessary services to complete the entire project.

This is an area where the boundary between City and unincorporated County land just makes no sense. It's a random drunk stagger.

The project is for "an interim three-lane section by adding curbs, sidewalks, a center turn lane, and bicycle lanes."

Showing the supersize section with five lanes (2019)

You may recall back in 2019 that the County still wanted to supersize it to five lanes, and the City's language here of "interim three-lane section" suggests the final fantasy of five lanes is still intact.

The plan includes provision that "The City will actively participate in the design process by reviewing design plans at 30%, 60%, and 90% levels of completion." Especially with our new Climate Action Plan, Council may need to watch this more closely and insist that the super-sizing to five lanes is not in any way smuggled into the plan. A three-lane configuration could be compromised if too much preparation for the supersizing is incorporated into it. The three-lane configuration should fully stand alone as complete so that we can abandon plans for the five-lane end state as we get more real about climate and driving.

Other Items

There's an update to the SDC list of projects eligible for System Development Charges. They look here like housekeeping, and just ratify decisions already made:

• Remove 12th Street SE at Fairview Avenue SE - Completed
• Remove Brown Road NE at Sunnyview Road NE - Completed
• Remove McGilchrist Street SE at 12th Street SE - Completed
• Add State Street at Greencrest Street NE - Required as a condition of development for [mushroom plant project]
• Remove Fisher Road Extension between Sunnyview Road NE and Market Street NE - Completed
• Add Aumsville Road SE from Deer Park Road SE to the Urban Growth Boundary - Required as a condition of development for a future multi-family development project, case number CPC-ZC-UGA18-04.
• Add Hilfiker Lane Extension from 12th Street SE to Pringle Road SE - Required as a condition of development for [that would be the Meyer Farm].

The annual report from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board is interesting, but did not seem to show anything new.

Demolished in 2013 (April 2nd, 1947)

A brief report on prospective sites for new and temporary micro-shelters. Two of the sites have been of particular interest here: Peace Plaza and the lot across the street from the Center Street Safeway, which had a medical clinic designed by Pietro Belluschi on it and was demolished in 2013. Both of these spaces are pretty dead, and using them temporarily for managed shelters seems reasonable. At least they will contribute to shelter for people instead of being empty nothings or surface homes for cars.

And later there may be something to say about an annual update from SEDCOR, but no information was published on Thursday or Friday.

Not just about learning to read; proximity matters, too

Separately, and not at all on Council agenda, but related broadly to Council's planning this year for a bond, there was a nice opinion piece in the Sunday paper advocating for branch libraries.