Draft Minutes of April 5, 2010
Southeast Uplift Board Meeting, 7-9pm
Members present:
Marianne Colgrove, Ardenwald-Johnson Creek, Chair
Jeff West, Buckman, Secretary
Julie Ratcliff, at-large
Pete Jacobsen, at-large, Treasurer
Roy Hartley, Richmond
MJ Coe, Laurelhurst
Bryan Agee, Mt. Scott-Arleta, Vice Chair
Paul Leistner, Mt. Tabor, Past-Chair
Moshe Lenske, Woodstock
Tim O’Neal, SE Uplift, xx position
Anne Dufay, SE Uplift, Director
April Burris, North Tabor
Mary Louise Ott, South Tabor
Louisa Lakos, SE Uplift, Office Coordinator
Dan Weiland, Sellwood-Moreland
Joanna Beatty, Montavilla

Outside attendees:
Lee Perlman, Freelance Writer
Doug Klotz, Richmond (Land Use Chair, NA)
Trang Lam, PDC
Geraldine Moyne, PDC
Elizabeth Erickson, facilitator of upcoming Board retreat
Jim Hanna
Kathryn Notson, South Tabor resident
Mary Ann Schwab, Sunnyside
Erica Bjerning, Foster-Powell (Chair, NA)
Michael Whitmore, KERNS (Land Use Chair, NA)
Katie Bretsch, Sunnyside
Chris Eykamp, HAND
Hannah Kappell, Creston Kenilworth (board member not yet seated)
Laura Vail, HAND (board member not yet seated)

Quorum established at 7:00pm and meeting called to order by Marianne.

Seat New Directors (Marianne Colgrove):
None
Minutes from March 1st, meeting (Marianne Colgrove):
Moshe moves to approve minutes from March 1st meeting, Pete seconds.  Motion passes with one abstention (April).
Burnside Bridgehead Update (Trang Lam/Geraldine Moyle, PDC):
Geraldine Moyle hands out informational sheet and gives history background of development of the Burnside Bridgehead location with the help of Michael Whitmore (KERNS, Burnside Bridgehead Citizen Advisory Committee).
Highlights include:
•    8 months ago a group of consultants were brought together to develop a guidebook to re-develop the site
•    Beam Development is currently acting as a strategic advisor
•    The vision for the Framework Plan is to create a strategic design approach that will identify the Central Eastside as an “attainable, productive and sustainable” district
•    The goal will be to embrace existing nature & style of central eastside, not to maximize the FAR the site is currently zoned at
•    Framework plan almost completed – expect to be taken to PDC board in early May for adoption & announce the initiation of phase I
•    The “Framework Plan” currently being put together is designed to be “catalytic” – in other words something that can happen in 1-5 years and serve as the catalyst for further development.   Ideas being considered for Phase I of this process include the renovation of the Convention Plaza building, improvements to 3rd avenue, connection to the new streetcar stop on MLK Blvd and adding some smaller new re-development at the Bridgehead site.
•    MJ inquires about the previous Beam Development proposal; Geraldine notes that the memo of understanding (MOU) with Opus Northwest to develop the site was dissolved in 2008, and that Beam Development approached the CAC last year.  Their current MOU – which allows them the opportunity to submit a proposal to develop a portion of the site - is posted on the PDC website.
Geraldine notes CAC meets third Thursday (next April 20th) of every month.
•    Michael Whitmore notes that Beam announced they have a waiting list of 50 tenants that would like to move into Convention Plaza.  A potential renovation of the building could restore components of the original building (which was Sears & Roebuck warehouse) and it looks promising for Convention Plaza to act as catalyst for the whole project.
 
Revisit Powell Boulevard Medians (Doug Klotz, Land Use chair, Richmond):
Marianne provides (via handout) a brief timeline of events surrounding the issues of median improvements and the removal of mature trees during the pending re-paving project occurring on Powell Boulevard.
The SE Uplift Board previously voted to support a petition presented by Jim Hanna in June 2009 to examine whether installing new pavers (while keeping existing trees) could be included in Tier One improvements.  The petition included areas on Powell Boulevard in the South Tabor, Foster-Powell and Richmond neighborhoods.
Doug Klotz gives background on the existing Inner Powell Streetscape Plan:
•    Tier 1 projects in this plan be done in coordination with re-paving and include adding two new crosswalks at 57th and 75th, which will include the removal of only a handful of mature trees.
•    After Jim Hanna’s petition, the City determines that installing pavers would mean removing many existing trees and that not all trees can be re-planted under current ODOT standards.
•    Jim Hanna’s project is on a list of second round of candidates stimulus money
Doug Klotz opposes Jim Hanna’s plan, for the following reasons: Hanna’s plan will kill approximately 70 mature trees, ODOT has “new standards” for street trees and it is very likely that many of the trees could not be replaced at all if they are removed, and the proposal is not necessary for pedestrian safety as high crash locations are clustered from 7th to 39th, which is not in the area covered by Jim Hanna’s proposal.
Paul asks if affected neighborhood associations have been contacted and if they could weigh in with their opinion – Mary Louise (South Tabor) notes the feeling of the South Tabor board is that they would rather keep trees and not do pavers;   Erica Bjerning (chair of the Foster-Powell NA) notes neighborhood has consistently taken a stance to keep trees.  Several residents from South Tabor and Sunnyside weigh in regarding history of efforts to maintain trees on Powell Boulevard and strongly advocate for keeping the existing mature trees in-place.
Jim Hanna notes that he feels the timeline presented by Marianne is inaccurate, that he does not support the removal of trees, but advocates for the installation of pavers even if it meant replacing the existing trees with smaller trees.   Jim also notes that the existing mature trees are not the correct type of trees that should have been planted in the medians and he feels are a negative impact on pedestrian safety.
Pete makes a motion clarifying that “the SE Uplift Board of Directors does not now, and never has favored the removal of trees from the medians along Powell Boulevard. We oppose median actions that would require removal of trees other than those required for the two new pedestrian crosswalks.”  Bryan seconds.  The motion passes with one abstention (Moshe).
Roy makes a motion the SEUL Board of Directors rescind their endorsement and signature on the original petition presented by Jim Hanna.  Dan seconds.  The motion passes with four yes votes (Roy, Paul, April, Dan), one no vote (Moshe), seven abstentions (Bryan, Joanna, Pete, Julie, Mary Louise, MJ, Jeff)
SERA/Solarize Portland Update (Tim O’Neal)
Tim O’Neal gives update and answers questions on Solarize Portland and also presents background letter for board approval supporting grant proposal from SERA architects.  SERA is submitting grant proposals re: their “Civic Ecology” concept, which is described as a community-based approach to sustainability, and are looking to do several “pilot projects” throughout the state.  One area is the “Tabor to the River” area, which includes the Mount Tabor, Richmond, HAND, Sunnyside and Brooklyn neighborhoods.   Tim notes there are several tentative agreements already in place with affected NAs.  
Pete moves to approve the letter as written, Bryan seconds.  Motion passes w/o dissent.
Approve ONI Grant (Anne Dufay):
Anne presents new SE Uplift grant ONI Grant for board approval.  She notes the grant represents several positive changes, including being re-organized and improved clarity in language used re: missions/directives.   There are no new significant additions to the grant, the term of the grant will hold for five years (although the budget process will remain annual).  She also notes all coalition grants are the same, and that numerous hours were put in my all coalition directors to streamline and improve the new grant document.
Pete moves we approve the grant as presented, April seconds, the motion passes with one abstention (Paul).
Retreat/Neighborhood Updates (all):
Marianne gives background on upcoming Board retreat, which will be used to develop SE Uplift strategic plan and produce work plan for staff for next fiscal year.   She will send out “homework” to the Board, which will include reviewing SE Uplift mission and vision statements, as well as reviewing the results collected in a previous survey of board members (in 2008) that identified organizational strengths, weaknesses, areas for development, etc.     All NA representatives take time to highlight one over-arching issue for consideration in their neighborhood.  Issues presented include diversity, public safety, participation, land use, etc.