Demolition Issues Continue to Aggravate Neighborhoods

In case you missed it, last week there was a discussion at Concordia university about the ongoing demolition issues in Portland. The auditorium was packed, with many people even sitting on the floor. AHC executive director Cathy Galbraith was honored to be part of the panel discussion, following up on her recent Portland Preservation blog post about demolitions with suggestions for what the City might consider doing to address demolitions in Portland. The meeting has since been posted to YouTube, so if you were unable to attend, you can now watch the meeting here.

Sadly however, demolition concerns continue to grow in Portland. This week we all learned about the proposed demolition of a wonderful 1890s home in northwest Portland’s Willamette Heights – another instance where the home has no protections against demolition and the new owners claim that the repairs needed in the home are far greater than they are willing to spend. Their offer to have the home deconstructed before they build something new is being met with considerable opposition. If you haven’t kept up with this story, it has gotten quite a bit of press from local media outlets and even online petitioners, who are asking the homeowners to reconsider the demolition of this fine historic home.

If you want to learn more about this demolition story here are some links that might be helpful:

http://www.oregonlive.com/front-porch/index.ssf/2014/06/google_executive_kevin_rose_pl.html#incart_river

http://valleywag.gawker.com/kevin-rose-infuriates-portland-over-plans-to-demolish-h-1593525844/+aleksanderchan

http://www.kptv.com/story/25825760/plans-to-demolish-nw-portland-home-outrages-neighbors

Online Petition via Change.org

If you see any other news stories related to this demolition please email them to info@VisitAHC.org so we can add them to this list.

Demolitions in Portland continue to be a growing concern. We are doing what we can at the Architectural Heritage Center to help people better understand the situation and to come up with solutions that will conserve our wonderful neighborhoods for years to come. To accomplish this we need your help. Please consider becoming an AHC member or perhaps even a volunteer. Together, we can make a difference.

 

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Demolition of Single Family Houses – the Epidemic Continues

By Cathy Galbraith

If anything, the epidemic of demolition of single-family homes has only accelerated and concerns across the city of Portland neighborhoods are red hot. An estimated 389 demolitions took place in 2013; it’s rumored that a-demo-per-work-day is happening in 2014. It’s next to impossible to argue about the appeal to a home-owner looking for a quick and easy sale…all-cash offers for a house in “as-is” condition, saving any real estate commissions, no worries about underground oil tanks, dry rot, and poor insulation. Defects just don’t matter when demo-and-replacement is planned.

For the builder/developer, the economics are a sure bet. One single family home, whether exceptionally “modest” or “very nice” is purchased and then replaced with a much bigger and more expensive home (often more than one.) Given the great neighborhoods-with-character locations, these new high-end houses command top sale prices with guaranteed profit margins for the builders. They no longer need to worry about recouping the costs of a new subdivision, like installing utilities, access roads, and sidewalks. Instead, they are filling up the mail boxes of homeowners with enticing “quick sale – close in days” offers, looking for houses to buy and demolish.

So how can we counter the scraping away of a house that may be worth $475,000 if the replacement house can sell for $975,000 – – and there may be more than one new house? That’s the tough nut to crack and the City of Portland has made it exceptionally easy for the demo-and-replace builders – – while exceptionally disruptive on the surrounding owners and residents. The city’s impetus seems to be “density” (or maybe it’s conflict avoidance with the builders/proponents…) and trust me here – – it is definitely not the Urban Growth Boundary. Someone once told me that “planners don’t get paid to keep things the same” but I find it ludicrous when planning documents (and campaigning elected officials) talk about “Portland’s celebrated neighborhoods” and then proposes absolutely nothing to protect the character that makes those neighborhoods so celebrated! It’s the context of vintage homes that blend so well with one another, the consistent use of high-quality materials, the regularity of setbacks, and the mature landscaping and trees – – that’s what helps make up the character and it’s what disappears with demolition and replacement.

After much debate, discussion, and a very practical look at the many issues at play, we propose the following potential “fixes” as a start:

(1) While notice to surrounding property owners, in and of itself, is not much of a fix, it does let neighbors prepare for noise, dust, and the possible exposure to environmental hazards (like asbestos.) Right now, notice is only now (recently) required by the city when more than one new house is proposed. There’s no notice/delay when a demo application and the replacement house permit are filed the same day. Asking builders to provide notice voluntarily (under discussion at the City) doesn’t cut it, if few builders do it. Either the city should require notice across the board, or provide an incentive for notice – – like a reduction in the cost of a building permit.

(2) Change the definition of “demolition” in the city’s development code – a big problem is that any demolition that leaves any portion of a house still standing (such as a partial foundation wall) is called an “alteration” or “remodel”, not a demolition (which are seriously under-counted, as a result.) More typically, many other jurisdictions use “at least 50% of a structure remains standing” as the primary criteria for an alteration/remodel. If that’s reasonable enough for other cities and counties, it should be acceptable for Portland.

(3) Houses that are obviously historic (but unprotected) are those that have long been listed on the city’s 1983 Historic Resources Inventory, but many houses have reached the age of 50+ since then. We propose a mandatory 120 delay for houses on the HRI or at least 50+ years old. These are likely the ones that need time for investigating alternatives to demolition. (The historic-but-unprotected late 1800s Goldsmith House in NW Portland was purchased by a group of NWDA activists (including our board member Rick Michaelson) from the demo/developer, just in time to save it from certain demolition.)

(4) Require that existing front and side yard setbacks be maintained for the new house(s) –  One major concern is that after a demolition, a new house is not only usually bigger, but it covers much more of the lot, often changing the streetscape substantially. If the front and side-yard setbacks stay the same for the new house, the streetscape remains more like it’s traditional neighbors. Expansion in size of the new house should be allowed only at the rear of the site, minimizing impact on the street and to the side yards of its adjacent neighboring houses.

These provisions are a start at getting a handle on the demolition epidemic that’s only growing. We’ll be airing these on our blog and elsewhere as we look for the willingness of our elected officials to respond to the firestorm of concern that’s also only continuing to grow across our city and throughout “Portland’s celebrated neighborhoods”