Neighborhood Notes

You knew this wasn't going away.

The garage at NW 23rd and NW Irving is back in the news—again. On August 11th, the Historical Landmarks Commission approved a new design for Richard Singer's proposed parking garage at 2317 NW Irving. The vote was 3-2, so it was by no means unanimous. Commissioner Harris Matarazzo wasn't happy that the project included the demolition of a historic house, while Art DeMuro, commission chair, felt the garage design was appropriate, sensitive, and necessary.

The neighborhood association doesn't like the location, because half of it is in a residential district—there's a nearby preschool, and the NW Irving/NW 23rd intersection is one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in the city.

Singer's latest design has fewer parking spaces (87 instead of 103), pushes back the entrance/exit from the street, and includes a mechanical arm and warning sounds (living next door to that would be a joy).

It's not like the neighborhood association hasn't tried to work with Singer and the City. The NWDA previously proposed a plan for parking meters with permits for residents, noting that many existing lots were under used. Their argument was that people would continue to opt for free on street parking and not pay for a lot. Installing parking meters would remove the incentive to find free street parking. A rationale I agree with, but the City didn't.

However this latest episode of the Irving Street garage turns out, let's hope that it is the end. Otherwise, the NW District will continue, like Bill Murray, in a perpetual ground hog day.

Here are some links to current and past articles about the garage:

The Portland Tribune

The Oregonian

Portland Mercury, here 

Permalink on the Mercury wasn't working for this post, so I included the entire post:

"NW Parking Garage Rolls Foward, Tues Aug 12, from the Portland Mercury

The Northwest's parking garage issue will never die. Developer Richard Singer has been battling neighbors for years as he tried a parking garage to capitalize on the trendy and traffic-clogged NW 23rd Street. Neighbors have a long list of concerns, mostly about the big garage infringing on a historic residential neighborhood. In February 2007, after fighting bitterly through layers of city bureaucracy, the neighborhood won out when the City Council squashed the garage made a tentative decision to uphold the appeal in a 3-2 vote. Then the developer and neighbors went through a controversial mediation process and in June, Singer's group withdrew the design from Council's consideration.

Now the developer's back from the drawing board with a whittled-down design that's won the somewhat reluctant approval of the City's Historic Landmark Commission on Monday. The 103-car garage is now 87 cars, the three-story lot is now only two plus a brick facade.

"It's less oppressive than the first design," said Landmarks Commissioner Harris Matarazzo, who voted against the project after noting that the project's proposed demolition of a historic home (the house of Julia Hoffman) upset him. Art DeMuro, chair of the Commission, disagreed with neighbors who showed up to speak against the project, saying he believed the revamped garage was "appropriate and sensitive" and necessary for the viability of the newly-posh neighborhood.

The debate among the Landmark's Commission was one that a lot of changing historic neighborhoods are having. Should the historic district guidelines of a neighborhood override the laws that allow developments like the garage? Apparently not - the Commission voted 3-2 in favor of the lot. Irvington has been raising a ruckus about the same question in relation to the Irvington Squire project which goes before the commission next week.

post updated 8/14/08 to clarify the 2007 process with the Council."