On Nov. 17, a panel of respected local experts in the fields of institutional real estate, financing, development and planning presented their findings and recommendations to the Metro Council on how to achieve more robust development in the region's centers and corridors.
The region's 2040 Growth Concept envisions compact development directed in centers and corridors to preserve farm, forestland and natural areas outside the urban growth boundary and protect single-family neighborhoods.
However, the current forecast shows that the region doesn't need to significantly expand the urban growth boundary for the next 20 years if locally planned growth is achieved in centers and corridors.
"Achieving Sustainable, Compact Development in the Portland Metropolitan Area: New Tools and Approaches for Developing Centers and Corridors" was developed by the twenty-one member panel convened by the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies at Portland State University at the request of the council.
Key considerations
The advisory group considered three key issues:
- do national trends point to compact, mixed-use development
- what barriers exist to this type of development and can they be removed
- what actions would improve the investment environment for center and corridor development.
The team shared its findings with the council and presented six recommendations in the form of an action plan for strategies to encourage more robust development in centers and corridors.
Findings and conclusions
Findings indicated that while current and future demographic, economic, social and environmental factors point to an increase in demand for compact, mixed-used development, the region must address significant market, physical, regulatory, financial and legal barriers to successful center and corridor development.
Highlights of the report presented to council identified the greatest obstacles in centers and corridors development as the current credit market; a lack of collaboration among key stakeholders involved in development projects; and inflexible and inconsistent development codes across jurisdictions.
Recommendations
Recommendations made to the council by the advisory group called for innovative approaches in collaboration, financing and gaining the legislative support needed to facilitate compact mixed-use development.
- Establish a structure for on-going cross-sector collaboration and learning between public, private and institutional sectors.
- Develop a diagnostic tool to assess the readiness of a center and corridor for development.
- Create a public-private toolkit with model agreements and design prototypes to simplify the development process.
- Develop a new approach to gap financing with creative lending tools and mechanisms for public-private collaboration.
- Create a mechanism for metropolitan infrastructure investments that supports compact mixed-use development.
- Address legislative barriers that currently make center and corridor development challenging and to better position the region for federal and foundation funding.
Next steps
The intention of the advisory group is to continue outreach to local jurisdictions to share their findings and recommendations and serve as a resource for further discussion.
Advisory group on centers and corridors
Convener/facilitator:
- Gil Kelley, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies
Members:
- Dennis Wilde, Principal, Gerding Edlen Development Company; residential, commercial and institutional developers
- Vern Rifer, Principal, Vernon L. Rifer Real Estate Development, Inc.; residential and commercial developers
- Jerry Johnson, Principal, Johnson Reid; economic and real estate development consultants
- Kate Allen, Housing Policy Manager; City of Portland, office of Commissioner Fish
- Matthew Stanley, Senior Relations Officer; Umpqua Bank
- Mark New, New & Neville Real Estate Services; real estate appraisers
- Abe Farkas, Principal, ECONorthwest, economic and planning consultants
- Kevin Cavenaugh, Principal, Cavenaugh & Cavenaugh, LLC and Ten-Pod Development, architects and developers
- Jim Irvine, Principal, The Conifer Group, Inc.; residential developers
- Dave Leland, Principal, Leland Consulting Group; planning and development consultants
- Steve Burdick, Principal, Killian Pacific; residential developers
- Beverly Bookin, Principal, The Bookin Group; urban planning consultants
- Don Hanson, Principal, OTAK; land planning and development consultants
- Ed McNamara, Principal, Turtle Island Development; residential developer
- John Southgate, Economic Development Director, City of Hillsboro
- Alice Rouyer, Redevelopment Director, City of Gresham,
- Ron Bunch, Community Development Director, City of Tigard
- Michael Mehaffy, Principal, Structura Naturalis Inc.; planning and development consultants
- John Spencer, Principal, Spencer & Kupper; planning and development consultants
- Tom Kemper, President, KemperCo, LLC
- Fred Bruning, Chief Executive Officer, Center Cal Properties, LLC