At Council on Monday is final action on the compromise measure for the overlay zones along Commercial Street by Bush Park and the Cemetery.
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| Compromise on the overlay zones |
Broadly, Councilor Nishioka's motion looks like successful legislation and compromise:
To eliminate the Oxford-West Nob Hill, Oxford-Hoyt, and Hoyt-McGilchrist Overlay Zones and amend the Saginaw Street and Superior-Rural Overlay Zones to increase the maximum height to 45 feet and remove all other use and development standards in these two overlay zones.
It's an improvement and addresses some, though not all, of the objections. Because the Oxford-Hoyt overlay has split underlying base zoning, it already has a height limitation even without the overlay, so neighbors' objections to height there is already accommodated. This allowed the matter of height to be finessed in the Oxford-West Nob Hill overlay and in the Hoyt-McGilchrist overlay.
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| Apartment zoning across from overlay |
It was a little surprising, though, that it seemed necessary to retain height limits in the Saginaw Street overlay near Mission Street. That is mostly across the street from apartment zoning, and honestly seemed like the easiest overlay to delete altogether. But apparently that was not the case.
In any case, the resolution is incremental progress and it falls within the range of "what reasonable people can disagree on." On to the next thing!
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| New ramps at Winter and D Streets |
There's an update on the City's Sidewalk Repair Program. One report shows the work on sidewalk and ramp repairs done in 2023, and another lists locations planned for work in the next six months. It's nice to see the cracks, heaving, and gravel fixed up!
Somewhat related is a process proposed to select and prioritize sidewalk and crosswalk work funded by the bond.
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| Sidewalk and ramp projects absorbed with some savings into street rehab |
Also in the report is a list of sidewalk projects adjacent to pavement rehabilitation projects, which are now combined for cost savings and better coordination in design. These are on Liberty Street (pictured above), Silverton Road, and south Commercial Street.
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| Silverton Road |
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| Far south Commercial |
Silverton Road right there, the segment largely west of I-5, is a candidate for a 4/3 Safety conversion!
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| Do we need four auto travel lanes here? |
Will the City do it? They could add a paint-only bike lane also.
On all the projects, the City should narrow the auto travel lanes, which in Salem have generally been too wide and induced speeding.
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| Two rules on 10 foot lanes Jeff Speck, Walkable City Rules |
The City has not yet committed to making a standard for 10 foot lanes, and the pavement rehab and restriping is an opportunity that should not be wasted.
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| "Conceptual" at the moment |
There are two EV charging projects in process. One is an agreement for
a pilot program in which PGE installs Electric Vehicle charging stations [20 initially] on PGE-owned poles located in the public right-of-way.
The concept photo looks like the thing might need further hardening against vandalism.
It looks also like it is targeting apartments and other rentals, places "near an underserved community as defined in House Bill 2165." [link added]
All in all it looks like a worthwhile pilot and a concept that can be refined in later iterations.
Bullets for the rest (with the other charging project):
- The business development quarterly report is always interesting.
- One of the items in it, and also a separate agenda item, is a ground lease at the airport for a firm building an EV charging center for freight trucks.
- A couple of smaller Federal grants for more stuff at the airport.
- And "Public Review of Draft Updates to the City of Salem Floodplain Management Plan." This looks interesting, and hopefully others will have substantive comment on it.
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