PORTLAND, Ore. – Next month a citizen advisory group assigned to review development issues in Portland will present recommendations to city council regarding the city’s numerous recent demolitions.
Brandon Spencer-Hartle of Restore Oregon has detailed the demolition issues that will be addressed, as well as some of the history of how this “demolition epidemic” got started in Portland:
“Three months after being tasked by the Portland City Council to propose modifications to the City’s demolition code, the Development Review Advisory Committee (DRAC) on Thursday endorsed a slate of recommendations that would affect how demolitions are conducted in Portland’s neighborhoods. The package of proposed code revisions—ranging from notification processes to defining ‘demolition’—is scheduled to go before the Portland City Council on December 17. Despite the best intentions of City staff and citizen committee members, the recommendations fall short of what many believe is needed to protect neighborhood landmarks from the recent wave of demolitions…”
Read the rest of Spencer-Hartle’s article, which includes the reasons preservationists disagree with some of DRAC’s recommendations, at Restore Oregon.