Raise a glass to the future of Beaumont-Wilshire

For those concerned about the future of Portland neighborhoods, Beaumont Village is the place to be as neighbors toast their day in court: this week's hearing at the state Land Use Board of Appeals. Eight months in the making and finally reaching the necessary higher level of scrutiny, BWNRG's appeal on the code issues and impacts of Wally Rammers's 4-story, 50-unit building on Northeast Fremont between 44th and 45th avenues will be heard Thursday in Salem.

To mark this important milestone, neighborhood activists and supporters are holding a pre-LUBA rally that makes for a hearty send-off to Salem. In other words, let's party! Please join us from 7 to 9 pm Monday, Nov. 11, at Blackbird Wineshop, 4323 NE Fremont. It's also a fundraiser for our legal fund, so we're asking $50 per person at the door, by check to BWNRG or online through the links above and at right. Refreshments provided.

Looking forward to seeing you there, and soon!

We've looked at this building from all sides now ...

and it doesn't get any easier. The sheer scale and footprint dwarf the surrounding businesses and homes. Portland is famous for its urban planning, but where is evidence of that here? Even those who claim Wally Remmers's development is transit-oriented don't know or ignore the fact that the bus to this location doesn't run every day. Perhaps Remmers will become a transit activist who can use his considerable sway to restore daily service. While he's at it, maybe he can get the Fremont bus to cross the river again.

Cloaked in plywood, hopefully this is as bugly as it gets for Wally Remmers's 4-story 50-unit project. As footprints go, the mass is shoehorned into a landlocked site on a small block. Given that the only access is on Fremont and no parking is provided, congestion on the thoroughfare will increase.

Taxpapers funded a data quest by the city that found that 70-plus percent of households in similar apartment buildings own cars. Given that projection, Beaumont-Wilshire will see an influx of at least 36 more cars from the development—with zero on-site parking provided. Safety measures such as sidewalks in the vicinity, traffic controls, and more would help mitigate the impact, but we see none coming or promised.

If this is planning, it is just an example of the alternate reality being constructed by bureaus at the city of Portland, ones where this kind of project is called a remodel:

"Hey Neighbor, are you building a new house?" "Oh no, just a little reno work."

As long as you stick a few old floorboards in the air, what you build under, around, and above them isn't new construction. Blogger and keen city observer Bojack would have had a field day with this (he also sounded the alarm on the effects of Wally Remmers's building in Beaumont-Wilshire).

If, like us, what you really need after reading all this is a drink and a laugh, then come on out for a pre-LUBA rally 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Nov. 11, at Blackbird Wineshop, 4323 NE Fremont, with drinks and hors d'oeuvres. It's also a fundraiser for our legal fees; to reserve a spot, send a $50 check made out to BWNRG to WP Price, 4300 NE Fremont, #250, 97213; contribute via PayPal through the links on this page; or come support the cause at the door. Thank you to all our generous donors thus far; we couldn't have made it to LUBA without you, and we look forward—after eight months of trying—to our day in court.

Salem here we come

Hooray. After seven months of developer-led delays Beaumont-Wilshire neighbors have at last achieved our day in court. It begins 9 a.m. Thursday, November 14, at the state Land Use Board of Appeals in the DSL Building, 775 Summer Street NE, in the Land Board Room on the first floor, in Salem. See you there.

Stay tuned for a pre-LUBA rally in a few weeks!

Our brief is in; now it's time to get the word out

Join us Sunday, October 20, for an open house/work party where we will discuss the LUBA appeal, distribute fliers, and drum up dollars for our legal defense fund. All this to pave a brighter future for our neighborhood—and refreshments, too.

Details to come, or sign up for easy e-mail notification. (We'll never spam you on any other subject.)

Is new neighborhood landmark a bully's pulpit?

Wally's World on Northeast Fremont: Three stories high and rising.

While we prepare the brief for neighbors' appeal to the state Land Use Board of Appeals, the walls continue to go up for Wally Remmers's controversial project on Northeast Fremont between 44th and 45th avenues. He's at three stories now, eclipsing all other development on the street and the vicinity, but aims to get even higher.

The contested project begins to loom over Northeast Fremont on its way to 45 feet. If the building proceeds as designed and leases up, an additional 36 cars—as forecast by city data—will further drive up congestion along the thoroughfare.

Beaumont-Wilshire Neighbors for Responsible Growth, through the LUBA process, have tried to call attention to the project's issues since April. Numerous developer-led delays have stalled the appeal—but not construction—until now. 

As we delve deep into the issues behind the building, always wondering how the project was permitted from the get-go, the Bureau of Development Services grapples with a city audit that shows room for improvement.

The stumble toward Salem continues

A little light reading for LUBA, if it arrives.

When it seemed like the appeal to the state Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) was finally proceeding as normal, and that the permit would not be withdrawn by the city and developer a third time, it actually looked like we would sooner rather than later achieve our day in court.

After our third filed notice of intent to appeal, the next step in the process had been for the city to produce the record of its permit decision—the paperwork generated in issuing the building permit for the contested project, a four-story 50-unit building set for Northeast Fremont between 44th and 45th avenues. Twice before, as the deadline neared to deliver the record to LUBA, the permit was yanked, and Beaumont-Wilshire Neighbors for Responsible Growth had to restart the process from Square One.

It is unprecedented to experience so many roadblocks of this kind, and while the hammers ring at Wally's World on Fremont, we bemoan the delay in the chance to be heard at the state level, to ask that all developers follow the same code. Otherwise, why have one?

To make the long story longer, the good news is that we received the record. The bad news: LUBA didn't. Whether it's oversight by the courier or the city, the missed deadline brings another anomaly to an already interesting case.

Here we go again

Wally Remmers's contested development gets into the spirit of Fremont Fest earlier this month.

We couldn't have asked for a nicer day for the annual neighborhood festival.

Hundreds of people stopped by the Beaumont-Wilshire Neighbors for Responsible Growth's table to find out how the 50-unit 4-story project is far from a done deal.

We studied the revised plans for Wally Remmers's much-delayed project on Northeast Fremont between 44th and 45th avenues and are disappointed that they don't incorporate changes that would improve the investment in the neighborhood. That leaves us with the course of last resort, an appeal to the state Land Use Board of Appeals, and a list of items that are not to code. It's the only chance for neighbors' day in court, and something we've been asking for since April—before the permit was withdrawn twice for developer-led changes.

None of us expected to be working more than a year to defend the neighborhood, but it's worth it because this is a building we'll have to live with, and—as our membership made plain—if we have a glimmer of a hope of making it better, we better try.

Remmers dropped the Myhre Group, architects of the project on Fremont, for another building he has planned for Overlook. So that relationship is more tenuous than it's been—and/or these low-amenity high-impact buildings don't seem like such a great idea anymore. City Council effectively agreed by passing amendments requiring parking in these mondo projects.

Hopefully we can effect some change before Remmers starts printing up maps to the available parking in the neighborhood. In defense of all that perceived open space (of which there isn't much anyway) is that it deserves to exist, not something to be filled at every opportunity. We all need breathing room, Remmers's tenants, too, considering the hutchlike apartments designed for them, and especially so when tripling the number of households on the block in one fell swoop.

In even sadder news, veteran Northeast Portland journalist Lee Perlman has passed away. His willingness to delve into neighborhood issues big and small, attending meetings and hearings, and wrapping all of it up for community readers will be missed. I always looked for his byline first in the Hollywood Star. Hopefully he's at peace now, far from neighborhood debate and deadlines.

Another way to reduce parking in the neighborhood: park in the middle