Clarification appended

The Portland City Council approved a sweeping plan Thursday to guide downtown-area development for the next 20 years over the scathing objections of Commissioner Amanda Fritz.

The West Quadrant Plan, adopted 4-1, outlines broad policies that will help shape the city's skyline, although many key changes won't go into effect until the City Council approves new zoning sometime in coming months.

The council first considered the plan last month but delayed action. Fritz, a former planning commissioner, proposed 49 of the 72 tweaks considered by the City Council during a three-hour hearing Thursday.

But when Fritz couldn't get the council to pare back proposed height increases at the Hawthorne and Morrison bridgeheads, or to maintain zoning within Goose Hollow, she blasted the process.

"I'm absolutely disgusted with this entire hearing," she said. Fritz went on to say that the City Council was essentially authorizing spot zoning changes to benefit a handful of developers who are tight with members of the City Council.

Commissioner Nick Fish responded, without directly calling out Fritz, saying it was inappropriate to question motives or make "wild claims."

Commissioner Dan Saltzman said allowing more height on select properties will be good for the city.

"A skyline defines a city," he said. "There's nothing to be ashamed about."

The West Quadrant Plan is a 200-plus-page policy to guide development and growth for downtown Portland, including Old Town Chinatown, the Pearl District, Goose Hollow, the West End, the South Waterfront and south downtown hemmed in by Interstate 405. Planners have forecast about 31,000 new residents and 23,000 new jobs by 2035, compared with 2010 numbers.

The plan will eventually be combined with two other efforts for North/Northeast Portland and the Central Eastside to make up a new 20-year plan for the Central City.

The proposed changes created several head-scratching moments as officials lost track of what they were considering and what had been approved.

"I'm a little bit confused myself," Joe Zehnder, the city's chief planner, said at one point.

Much of the contentious debate Thursday focused on building heights, Tom McCall Waterfront Park and Goose Hollow.

Fritz objected to proposed height increases at the Morrison and Hawthorne bridgeheads, saying new limits of 250 feet or 325 feet are too high and don't offer an appropriate step down to Waterfront Park. Today's restrictions are 75 feet and 235 feet.

But the rest of the City Council and planners disagreed with Fritz, noting that Multnomah County is interested in building a new courthouse at the Hawthorne bridgehead, and Melvin Mark Development Co. wants to build at the Morrison bridgehead.

Fritz also scoffed at a proposal to increase height limits mostly along the Willamette River between the Broadway and Fremont bridges. The existing maximum is 175 feet; the new policy calls for up to 250 feet if developers offer some sort of public benefit.

That change would affect only a handful of properties, including land owned by the Portland Development Commission such as Centennial Mills, which could be redeveloped by the Schnitzer family's Harsch Investment Properties; property held the Naito family; land owned by developer Jim Winkler; and property owned by developer Yoshio Kurosaki.

As a point of reference, the new heights for the Pearl waterfront would equal the tallest condo towers directly along the greenway in the South Waterfront District, which are limited to 250 feet.

Mayor Charlie Hales, at time noticeably irritated with Fritz, said the council was authorizing only more study; zoning changes would need approval later.

"No one can build that (250-foot) building," he said.

Fritz also lost an effort to preserve residential zoning on certain Goose Hollow properties. Planners and the City Council prefer mixed-use zoning that allows for commercial and office development.

Fritz did get her way on one topic: She delayed creation of a new master plan for Waterfront Park from sometime in the next five years to sometime in the next 20 years.

Fritz, in charge of Portland Parks & Recreation, said Waterfront Park shouldn't be a priority ahead of more than a half-dozen parks in east Portland that have never had a master plan.

Hales, in closing Thursday's hearing, praised the West Quadrant plan, which took about two years to produce.

"Good work is being done here," he said.

Clarification: This story originally reported that the maximum building height in the South Waterfront District is 250 feet. That height limit applies to buildings directly along the greenway. For some property farther inland, the limit is 325 feet.

-- Brad Schmidt

503-294-7628

@cityhallwatch