Planning Workshop Projects 2009

1. Group Name: New Leaf Planning

Ray Delahanty, Cathy Cibor, Mallory Atkinson, Brendon Haggerty, Talia Jacobson, David Amiton

Client: Washington Park Alliance

Project Title: Washington Park Access & Circulation Pla n

Project Description: Portland's Washington Park is home to many of the region's most popular educational, recreational, and tourist attractions. As demand for these attractions continues to grow, the quality of transportation services offered at the park increasingly contribute - in ways both positive and negative - to the quality of the overall user experience. Recognizing the interplay between transportation and user experience, New Leaf Planning has worked closely with its client, the newly formed Washington Park Alliance, to identify transportation challenges and opportunities for improvement within Washington Park. This partnership will culminate in a Washington Park Access & Circulation Plan, which will outline a set of recommendations for guiding transportation improvements at Washington Park in the years to come.

2. Group Name: Community Food Concepts

Kim Armstrong, April Chastain, Stephanie VanRheen, Steve White, Elizabeth Chapin, Julia Person

Client: The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability

Project Title: Foodability

The Portland Plan will consider current physical and socioeconomic conditions and trends and help establish shared visions, goals, and policies to guide the efforts of BPS and other city agencies over the next 20 years. BPS is interested in addressing food access issues in the Portland Plan, but does not have a defined, stakeholder-supported vision for food access. The Foodabilty project is developing a vision, goals, and strategy recommendations for food access in Portland that can be used to ground and direct future actions by the City and other organizations. It is supported by a set of maps displaying the contours of the City's current geographies of food accessibility.

The final vision statement and evaluation criteria will be used to evaluate the goals for implementation that may be used to move Portland closer to its vision for food access. The final report will include a matrix evaluating the effectiveness and appropriateness of recommended strategies for BPS and other organizations.

3. Group Name: Locus Lab

Becky Dann, Beth Somerfield, Emily Rice, Briana Meier

Project Title: No Vacancy

Also see the How To Guide

Movie by Ben Popp

Client: Central Eastside Industrial District

Vacant lots and buildings, whether in stages of redevelopment or decline, are spaces in flux. Left unused, these empty spaces can pose difficult challenges for their owners and surrounding neighborhoods; however, the uncertain futures of vacant sites also present unique opportunities for a variety of temporary uses. In partnership with the Central Eastside Industrial Council, LocusLab is exploring the potential to enliven the Central Eastside Industrial District by activating vacant spaces with temporary activities and developments.

We've worked to:

uncover potential benefits of temporary use

find ways to overcome barriers faced by temporary projects

and initiate a conversation between property owners, potential space users, neighbors and supporting organizations about the future of temporary use of empty spaces in the District

4. Group Name: Mosaic Planning

Sara Bedinghaus, Nikolai Ursin, Morgan Masterman, Mark Gilbert, Lizzy Warren

Client: Humboldt Neighborhood Association

Project Title: Humboldt Community Action Plan

Mosaic is working to develop an action plan that will enable the community to better address their concerns. The Humboldt neighborhood is one of the most diverse and rapidly changing areas in the Portland area, constantly challenging the neighborhood association's efforts to reach a diverse, representative population of residents. Through concerted outreach, interviews, and workshops Mosaic Planning has identified a series of goals the neighborhood hopes to one day realize. By thoroughly researching methods to achieve these goals, the group will provide a series of action items to the community, which can be implemented by residents. This plan will help them address neighborhood issues, identify city and local resources, and provide ways to build a stronger community within Humboldt.

5. Group Name: C-Change Consultants

Hannah Dondy-Kaplan, Erica Timm, Beth Cohen, Dyami Valentine, Mariah VanZerr, Devin Moller

Client: Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Coalition

Project Title: Neighborhood Climate Action Planning Handbook

The City of Portland and Multnomah County are developing new plans and policies to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals of 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. To meet these new steep reduction targets, actions will be needed at every level of society. While neighborhoods have historically received little attention as a means of addressing climate change, they are ideally suited to bring people together to bridge the gap between individual actions and higher level government policies. To help neighborhoods develop strategies and actions to address climate change, C-Change Consultants worked with the Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Coalition to create a Neighborhood Climate Action Planning Handbook. Through the course of developing the Handbook, C-Change consultants found that southeast neighborhoods see taking collective action on climate change as a way to build stronger communities, save money, and increase neighborhood involvement. The Neighborhood Climate Action Planning Handbook features three main sections: 1) a process section that includes various strategies for how neighborhoods can address climate change, 2) an actions section that includes examples of successful projects that neighborhoods can use to reduce their carbon footprint, and 3) an appendix that includes useful tools and resources neighborhoods can use as they move throughout the neighborhood climate action planning process.

6. Group Name: Columbia Ridge Planning

Daniel Costantino, Lani Edghill, Mary-Rain O'Meara, Jason Wallace

Client: Cully Main Street

Project Title: Cully Main Street: A Plan for Community-Serving Improvements

The Cully Main Street is defined by Metro's Region 2040 Plan and includes parts of NE Cully Blvd and NE Killingsworth St. Our missionis to provide the Cully community with a plan to encourage the location of more and better neighborhood businesses and services within
a short distance of their homes and in a walkable and bikeable environment. Our approach is grounded in the belief that economic development at the local level should benefit the current community, by maintaining and promoting neighborhood livability and safety improvements. The major product of this project will be a set of zoning, infrastructure, design and business development recommendations for the Main Street.

7. Group Name: Intersect Planning

Ali DeMersseman, Dana Dickman, Nuin-Tara Key, Laura Spidell, and Sara Wright.

Client: West Portland Park Neighborhood Association,

Project Title: 20 Minutes in West Portland Park

Exploring the planning concept of the "20-minute neighborhood" and analyzing the feasibility of applying the concept to the West Portland Park neighborhood. We also seek to engage the community in a meaningful discussion about the future of West Portland Park in order to help the community begin to build the connections and tools necessary to play an active role in future planning efforts."