Portlanders hold their iconic volcano—and the ability to see Mount Hood from city hilltops, neighborhoods and even the bank of the Willamette River—dear to the heart.

They’ve also increasingly demanded creation of lots of affordable housing as wages have stagnated and rental prices skyrocketed.

Portland's Central City Plan 2035 lays out the city's planned approach to zoning over the coming years, which will impact where flora-filled bike paths can go, include incentives for property owners to improve their buildings' earthquake resiliency and increase building height limits in an effort to make affordable housing development more feasible.

After the proposed height increases drew blowback, city council members offered some alternatives that would dial back or modify those increases.

Those proposals, up for a City Council vote on March 7, drew upward of 50 members of the public to testify at a hearing Thursday. Many argued in favor of limiting building heights to preserve views of Mount Hood and Southwest Portland’s Vista Bridge.

Below are the following viewpoints revealing iconic landscapes or architecture that Portlanders complained would get obstructed if the Central City Plan were to be adopted without the proposed amendments.

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Goose Hollow's views of Vista Bridge

In its current form, the plan proposes increasing building heights along the north side of Southwest Jefferson Street and Southwest 14th Avenue to support commercial development along Southwest Jefferson. Commissioner Amanda Fritz proposed keeping current height restrictions to preserve views of the Vista Bridge from Goose Hollow.

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Katie Currid/Staff/File

Views of the Willamette River near the Morrison bridgehead

Fritz also proposed an amendment that would keep the maximum building height at the western end of the Morrison Bridge at 75 feet. This would maintain the city’s practice of stepping down building heights as they get closer to the river to maintain views of it.

The plan originally proposed raising the maximum building heights near the downtown Transit Mall and the Morrison and Hawthorne bridgeheads to increase density near public transit.

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Steven Gibbons

RiverPlace

To alleviate concerns about the obstruction of river views by tall buildings at RiverPlace, Mayor Ted Wheeler proposed an amendment that would limit tower width and require specific orientation of and spacing between the buildings. The new specs would allow more light and air to pass between the buildings. They would also protect views of Mount St. Helens from Southwest Terwilliger Parkway and make room for public access to the waterfront.

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Image from city of Portland documents

Mount Hood views from Salmon Street Springs

Tourists and locals in the summer frequent Salmon Street Springs, a ground-level fountain at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Visitors can take in Mount Hood from the park along the Willamette River. Members of the public adamantly argued in favor of lowering building heights in the Central Eastside to protect this view.

Wheeler introduced an amendment to the Central City Plan. It would have allowed maximum building heights on the Central Eastside of 175 feet north of Main Street and 275 feet south of it. Wheeler now proposes to limit heights in a narrow swath of the Central Eastside that specifically lines up with Mount Hood as seen from Salmon Street Fountain to just 30 feet at riverside up to 100 feet east of Southeast 10th Avenue. This would limit development potential and job creation within that area, but the view corridor from this park would have the lowest impact on development and jobs compared to the five other places people can see Mount Hood from Waterfront Park, city documents said.

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Benjamin Brink/Staff/File

Old Town/Chinatown

Mayor Ted Wheeler introduced an amendment that would allow buildings in Old Town/Chinatown to stretch 350 feet tall, or up to 425 feet high in the blocks between Northwest Fifth Avenue, Northwest Broadway, Northwest Glisan and Northwest Everett. The city previously considered limiting the heights to 125 feet to preserve the historic neighborhood’s character, but property owners in the neighborhood complained.

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AP Photo/File

Wheeler pushed back against critics’ allegations that the city’s plans to permit taller buildings would “privatize views.”

“This isn’t done for developers,” Wheeler said. “This is done for more housing.”

He acknowledged there is a tradeoff between protecting views and making it easier to build affordable housing.

“I like the view too,” he said. “It’s a really iconic view. I also understand that we are in a housing crisis in this city that is going to continue into the foreseeable future.”

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Beth Nakamura

The Portland City Council will vote on possible changes to the proposed city development plan on March 7. While Thursday was the last public hearing, people can submit written testimony via email to until noon on Monday, Jan. 22.

To submit testimony, email cc2035@portlandoregon.gov with the subject: "CC2035 Testimony."

You can find more information on the plan here.

--Jessica Floum

jfloum@oregonian.com

503-221-8306

@cityhallwatch

@jfloum