Take a stroll around Beaumont-Wilshire, and the transformation is striking: block after block of interspersed new homes, often built side by side, towering above an eclectic mix of existing homes. Reason for concern? Many homeowners think so, and not just in our neighborhood. Neighborhood associations around the city have been deluged with complaints, especially from longtime residents, and are doing what they can, mostly independently, to save this or that house from demolition or make this or that proposal for building code reform to the City. But what if concerned neighborhoods from around the city were to unite behind a single set of building code revision options for consideration by the Mayor and City Council? Wouldn’t that be a more effective way to proceed? BWNA has set the wheel in motion to find out. With logistical assistance from Central Northeast Neighbors, invitations have been sent out to the leaders of every neighborhood association in the city to attend a meeting on Tuesday evening, May 6th, from 7:00-9:00pm, at the Central Northeast Neighbors Community Room 4415 NE 87th Ave. The goal is to collectively draft a building code reform proposal to help mitigate the problem of runaway infill-demolition development in Portland.
In organizing this gathering, BWNA has made clear from the onset that the choice need not be between freewheeling development and no development at all. The purpose of the Infill-Demolition Summit is to find a responsible middle ground, one that permits remodeling and construction of new homes, but does so within the framework of a neighborhood’s heritage and architectural character. Other cities have successfully pioneered this kind of measured approach to development, and their examples will serve as a launching pad for exploration into feasible options for Portland. The endgame is to craft building code language that encourages revitalization of neighborhoods, but in a way that is not destructive to the charm that made these locations desirable places to live in the first place.