Neighborhood Notes

The City Council's decision on the fate of Colwood Golf Course — preserve it as open space or rezone it for light industrial — will be delayed until November.  Mayor Potter cannot attend tomorrow's City Council meeting and "scheduling conflicts" among the other commissioners push the date for a vote into November.

Testimony will still be heard at tomorrow's meeting, so it's important to attend. In May, the land-use hearing officer assigned to the Colwood case issued a report in favor of retaining the open-space designation for the property.  The report noted that changing the zoning would lead to increased air pollution, noise pollution, and energy usage.  It also noted that the change would be bad for the Whitaker Slough and Columbia Slough, which run through the property. There are plenty of good reasons to keep this property as open space. On top of that list is the lack of open space in Northeast Portland.

Jack Bogdanski talks about the hired gun — Steve Janik — the owners of Colwood have hired to lobby the City Council.  Given Janik's track record, it's not encouraging for those who want Colwood to remain open space.  When someone is paid by the hour there is a big incentive to put a lot of hours into a job.  Wearing down a volunteer opponent is a tried and true strategy.  This news leads one to wonder about all those "scheduling conflicts" among commissioners between now and November. 

Today's Oregonian article points out that the land is currently assessed at $6.6 million, but if it were rezoned as industrial it would be worth $25 million.  $18.4 million is strong incentive for the owners to hire someone like Janik—not to mention those who want to develop the land. 

Without a doubt, it's going to be a tough battle.  

Related stories and posts:

Portland Tribune

Oregonian

Neighbors, Please Help Keep Colwood Green!

Keep Colwood Green Coalition Meeting

Join the Keep Colwood Green Google Group

Colwood Strategy Meeting 

Colwood Hearing

Cully residents lobby for park

Neighbors and developers disagree about future of Northeast Portland golf course

Colwood Rezoning Request Denied

Keep Colwood Green!