Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette, left, and Oregon City Mayor Doug Neeley talk with Lents resident Cora Potter and PDC manager Bernie Kerosky about potential development on a vacant lot in the Lents Town Center. A full-service grocery store. More housing. Basic services.
Those are the key elements missing in the Lents Town Center area, according to a group of 25 elected officials and community representatives from the Metro Policy Advisory Committee, who gave their opinions after touring Lents on Wednesday evening.
The Lents Town Center is intersected by Interstate 205 and the MAX Green Line running north-south, and Southeast Foster Road and Woodstock Boulevard running east-west.
Organized by Metro and led by staff from Portland Development Commission, the tour wound through the main commercial and business district of Lents Town Center and covered topics ranging from affordable housing and traffic calming to economic development and floodplain restoration.
Creating a sense of place
About 20,000 cars drive through Lents daily on their way to other destinations. The challenge facing the Lents neighborhood, according to PDC Senior Project Manager Bernie Kerosky, is how to “create a sense of place, that you’re not just driving through but arriving somewhere.”
A combination of urban renewal and regional transportation funds created streetscape improvements, aimed at “calming” traffic while still efficiently moving cars through, and an additional $5 million project could begin in 2012.
Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz emphasized theimportance of programs that keep current residents in the community as the area develops, including home improvement loans. Cora Potter, a neighborhood resident and former chair of the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Advisory Committee, emphasized that “with lots of low-income home owners in this neighborhood, part of keeping that population in place is ensuring they have resources so they can stay in their homes.”
A case for jobs
Freeway Lands, an industrial area at the south end of the Lents neighborhood, sustains about 200 jobs but redevelopment could produce 50 to 60 net acres more of hard-to-come-by, close-In industrial land.
Lents offers light rail access on the MAX Green Line, bike and pedestrian routes along the I-205 bikeway and Springwater Corridor, and freeway access to Interstate 205. "This could be an interesting case study for MPAC," Fritz said. "What would it take to get the infrastructure to get this property developed?"
One of the primary new developments in the neighborhood is a retail/commercial building owned by Assurety Northwest. Vice President Bryan Ludwick credited the PDC with making the LEED Silver building possible, saying that the location has worked well for 50 employees.
He acknowledged, however, that it has been difficult to keep retail business in their leased facilities because of the lack of foot traffic at the site, about two blocks west of 92nd Avenue.
Farmers market thrives
Of basic human needs, access to food is one of the most important. With no grocery store in the neighborhood, Lents residents have to travel a distance or buy food from convenience stores. This has contributed to the success of the Lents International Farmers Market, which has doubled in size since its inception in 2007.
The farmers market, open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays, offers innovative programs for a community which ranks relatively high in both poverty level and percent of families not predominantly English speaking. Its “Healthy Rewards” program, sponsored by New Seasons Market and Bob’s Red Mill, matches food stamp dollars spent up to five dollars each week, and a collaborative business training program for immigrant families is offered at local Zenger Farm.