We lost a beautiful 65-year-old house on our block to demolition in March, 2014. Two larger houses are planned to replace it. This experience spurred me to action regarding an increasing trend in Portland’s central neighborhoods.
When we attended a Portland City Council hearing on July 31, 2014, the two city commissioners in attendance told us that the total numbers of houses demolished in Portland were not that significant in number. I have observed that many inner Portland neighborhoods are being impacted by this development, and many Portland citizens feel that changes should be made in city policy.
To help the City Council understand the impact on neighborhoods, an opinion survey was developed by the Beaumont-Wilshire Neighborhood Association. So far, 364 people have answered the survey. 80% of respondents live in North or Northeast Portland, 63% have lived in their current homes more than 10 years and 16% more than 30 years.
Survey responses are as follows:
- Demolition of houses and replacement with new houses is a good trend for our neighborhood.
13% agree, 87% disagree
- Demolition and replacement of houses is GOOD for our neighborhood because:
- Removes houses in disrepair: 79%
- Builds more energy efficient houses: 41%
- Increases the value of houses in our neighborhood: 40%
- Creates jobs in our area: 29%
- Enlarges the property tax base for the City of Portland: 28%
- Demolition and replacement of houses is BAD for our neighborhood because:
- Wastes energy and material resources: 62%
- Destroys good buildings: 81%
- Prices first time home buyers out of our neighborhood market: 74%
- Destroys the character of established neighborhoods: 91%
- Demolition process affects the health of immediate neighbors: 53%
- Should there be any change in current City of Portland policy/code regarding demolition and replacement of houses?
- Yes: 91%
- No: 9%
- If you agree that the City of Portland policies should be changed to limit house demolitions and replacements, what changes in City code do you support?
- Automatic 120 day delay of all house demolitions: 62%
- Neighborhood notification of proposed demolitions and replacements: 78%
- Neighborhood review of proposed demolitions and replacements: 69%
- Establish new code regulations such as: increased set backs, restrict height of new houses to correspond to surrounding houses, limit footprint of new houses to correspond to the neighborhood: 93%
- Substantially increase landfill fees and permit costs to economically discourage demolitions and replacements: 56%
These survey response numbers are a good start, but we need more voices from Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest neighborhoods. Please let your friends and family around the city know about this survey so they can put in their two cents worth. And if you have not taken the survey yourself, please take a few minutes to complete it. You can find the survey on these websites: www.bwna.us or stopthedemolition.org.