II. GOOSE HOLLOW DISTRICT URBAN DESIGN VISION AND GOALS
Introduction
The Goose Hollow District lies to the west of the downtown core of the Central City Plan area of Portland. The Westside light rail alignment runs through the Goose Hollow District and has three stations: the Civic Stadium Station, Kings Hill/SW Salmon Street Station and the Jefferson Street Station. The design overlay (d) in Goose Hollow extends over the entire District as shown in the map . The City's Goose Hollow station community planning team and the neighborhood have prepared a Vision and an Urban Design Plan for this District. The Vision is based on certain transit-oriented principles described in Tri-Met's Planning and Design for Transit Handbook (1993).
These fundamental principles of transit supportive development are as follows:
- Place moderate and high density housing and employment within walking distance of transit;
- Mix residential and employment uses with shopping opportunities and public facilities;
- Provide multiple and direct street connections to transit stops and shopping areas; and
- Design for pedestrians, without excluding the auto.
In the following section, the Urban Design Vision for Goose Hollow is outlined. Following the Vision is the Urban Design Plan and two sets of design goals. The first set of goals presented are those that exist today (in the Central City Fundamental Design Guidelines document) for the Central City as a whole. This is followed by goals developed from the Vision, specifically for Goose Hollow District. Both sets of goals are considered and weighed when reference to the goals is required. There are two circumstances in which these goals will need to be considered.
When changes are considered to the design guidelines these changes must enhance understanding of, or implementation of the goals. The second, and most common instance that will require reference to the goals occurs when an applicant requests waiver of one or more of the design guidelines. Requests for waiver of a design guideline will be granted when the applicant has demonstrated to the review body, in their application, that granting the waiver will better implement the goals than would a design that meets the specific guideline for which the waiver is sought. In cases where a waiver is requested the goals act as the approval criteria for consideration of the requested waiver. If the design does not accomplish each of the goals, waiver of the design guideline will not be approved. Both the Central City and Goose Hollow District Goals must be addressed when considering a request for waiver of a design guideline.
Urban Design Vision for Goose Hollow District
The Goose Hollow District is envisioned to be a predominantly urban residential, transit-oriented community located on the western edge of the Central City between Washington Park and downtown Portland. When riding light rail through the West Hills tunnel to the Central City, it is the first neighborhood experienced before entering downtown Portland. The Urban Design Vision celebrates the sense of arrival from the west at the Jefferson Street Station and Collins Circle, and from the north at the Civic Stadium Station and Fire Fighterıs Park. This is done by integrating the history of the community with its special natural and formal (man-made) characteristics.
Seen as a relatively dense urban residential community, Goose Hollow has three stations: the Civic Stadium station; Kings Hill/Salmon Street station; and Jefferson Street/Goose Hollow station. All three stations have areas of mixed use developments around them, with pedestrian amenities. Each station has its own identity, and together they create a transit-oriented station community. The Civic Stadium and Jefferson Street stations are two main neighborhood focal points. They are characterized by urban plazas and special Tanner Creek daylighting features, making them important and active centers. SW Jefferson Street is seen as a boulevard, connecting Washington Park in the west to the Park blocks in downtown. West Burnside Street is a linear edge and a focus that attracts people from both the Goose Hollow community as well as the adjacent Northwest neighborhood. Pockets of green parks nestle into the dense mid and high-rise residential developments that surround the stations, providing for the much needed neighborhood play spaces.
The Goose Hollow community is unique because of its diversity in population, land uses and building character. It supports a diverse resident population with various family structures. The District is interspersed with large activity centers such as the Civic Stadium, Lincoln High School, churches, and retail/entertainment nodes that draw people from the outside and make it a lively, active place. The vision for this area also conserves or reuses historically significant buildings and emphasizes the community's special architectural character through compatible infill developments.
Light rail integrates the distinct activity centers and retail/commercial cores of the community with its residential parts, to make it an active pedestrian-friendly whole. Therefore, the Goose Hollow District is pictured as a place for people to not only live, but also work and play.
Central City Plan Design Goals
The following set of goals exist today (in the Central City Fundamental Design Guidelines document) and were developed to guide development throughout the Central City. These goals are applicable in the Goose Hollow District as well as the other seven Central City Plan Districts and are outlined below.
- Encourage urban design excellence in the Central City.
- Integrate urban design and preservation of our heritage into the process of Central City development.
- Enhance the character of Portlandıs Central City districts.
- Promote the development of diversity and areas of special character within the Central City.
- Establish an urban design relationship between the Central City districts and the Central City as a whole.
- Provide for a pleasant, rich and diverse pedestrian experience in the Central City.
- Provide for the humanization of the Central City through the promotion of the arts.
- Assist in creating a 24 hour Central City which is safe, humane and prosperous.
- Assure that new development is at a human scale and that it relates to the character and scale of the area and the Central City.
Goose Hollow District Design Goals
The Goose Hollow Foothills League, the Goose Hollow Design Guidelines Committee and the Neighborhood Development Committee have assisted the City in promoting certain urban design concepts as described in the Vision. These concepts concern the design of housing, mixed-use centers, neighborhood retail, main attractions and activity centers, urban plazas and pocket parks, and pedestrian and bike connections to adjacent neighborhoods. The Goose Hollow District design guidelines are directed to address the following urban design goals and objectives specific to the Goose Hollow District.
1. Enhance mixed-use, transit-oriented development around the light rail stations to make it a pedestrian-friendly station community.
- Consider each station's unique qualities in design and its role in the region.
- Achieve appropriate density while ensuring good design of mixed-use buildings at each station area core.
- Promote pedestrian-friendly neighborhood retail at the Civic Stadium and Jefferson Street station areas to make them active neighborhood focal points.
2. Provide open spaces to accommodate active public life.
- Consider incentive programs for designing neighborhood-scale pocket parks in the residential areas to provide for play areas.
- Design urban plazas with art work and pedestrian-friendly amenities at the two neighborhood focal points of the Civic Stadium Station and Jefferson Street stations.
- Maintain a well designed transition between open spaces and built-up areas.
3. Strengthen connections to adjacent neighborhoods through light rail, bike and pedestrian access and assure a safe and pleasant bike/pedestrian environment.
- Maintain pedestrian-friendly treatment along the light rail alignment.
- Maintain safe and easy connections between housing, station area cores and major activity centers.
- Strengthen connections between Washington Park and downtown Park Blocks by developing a pleasant boulevard with active uses along SW Jefferson Street.
- Promote additional building setbacks and active retail along West Burnside to make it a corridor attracting people from both the Northwest neighborhoods and Goose Hollow District.
4. Preserve and enhance the community's history and architectural character.
- Integrate the history of the Community, symbolically, with its natural and formal (man-made) features.
- Consider using % for art funds for promoting art work related to the community's history and special design elements to emphasize gateways to the district and important centers and landmarks.
Ordinance No. 169824 39
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