PORTLAND, Ore. – A 108-year-old house is located on property proposed to be divided up for six lots and new construction that would likely see the demolition of the existing house.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
The 1907 house, located at 3322 SE 39th Ave. in the Richmond neighborhood of Southeast Portland, is 1,632 square feet in size and is built on a 19,575-square-foot lot.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
On Feb. 19 the Bureau of Development Services received an early assistance application for a six-lot land division on the site which would see the addition of a new street at the property. While it does not specify whether the existing house would be demolished, the history of attempted land use actions on the site suggest it could.
In 2013 the city had received a proposal to change the property’s Comprehensive Plan designation from its current single-dwelling attached residential R2.5 zoning, which allows for one residence per 2,500 square feet of land. The property owner asked for it to be re-designated as multi-dwelling residential R1, which would allow one residence per 1,000 square feet of land.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
That designation would have allowed the would-be developer a maximum of 19 residential units on the 19,575-square-foot property.
The application also called for the demolition of the existing house.
At a later public hearing on the case, Kathleen Stokes, a BDS staffer, recommended the proposal be approved, as did the applicants’ attorneys. Neighborhood residents opposed the proposal, citing the out-of-character allowed 45-foot height limit the new development could have, the shadow that height would cast across the neighboring lots, the loss of privacy for neighbors and parking and traffic problems stemming from the relative increase in density.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
The Richmond neighborhood association recommended approval of the zoning changes, with the understanding that the development would be subject to design review, would be limited to 35-feet in height and that the 1907 house would be subject to a “modified version of demolition delay,” as per Stokes’ recommendations.
The house on the left was proposed to be demolished for a potential 19-unit development. Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
City Council opted to deny the proposal, finding the neighbors’ arguments persuasive. Generally Comprehensive Plan designations are allowed to be changed if councilors find the updated designation to be more supportive of the Plan’s goals. In this case, they found that the “requested designation is not equally or more supportive of the Comprehensive Plan as a whole than the old designation.”
On Nov. 18 city auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade sent out the final notice of the City Council to deny the developer’s request. Three months later the applicants applied for the six-lot partition.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
County records list the last sale involving money taking place in 2001, when Robert Cushman purchased the property for $215,000. In 2013 it transferred ownership to Jeffrey Evershed with no dollar amount listed. City information lists William-Allen LLC as an affiliated owner.
William-Allen LLC is registered to both Evershed and Cushman. It lists an address in Lake Oswego as its principal place of business. The early assistance application also lists Cushman’s affiliation as RWC Development Inc.
The application for a six-lot land division is under review.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle