A PDOT Advisory Committee is being formed to help guide development and adoption of the Southwest in Motion Project .  The Committee will begin meeting in February and Homestead is interested in being represented.  This topic will be an item of discussion at our January 3 meeting.

From the implementation strategy....."The primary goal of SWIM is to develop a near term (5-10 year) implementation strategy for active transportation projects in Southwest Portland.  The strategy will significantly improve the efficiency of delivering small and large scale pedestrian and bicycle improvement projects by establishing project priorities as funding becomes available.  Encouraging active travel means creating a seamless network of major walking and bicycle routes by filling in key gaps and providing safe crossings opportunities."

View the Implementation Strategy document at http://www.portlandoregon.gov.transportation/72017

If you are interested in representing the Homestead Neighborhood Association by participating on this committee, contact Ed Fischer at [email protected] .

• Residential Infill Project

The approval by City Council was a disappointment to the Homestead Board.  The Board spent a lot of time reviewing the proposals, met with staff on a number of occasions and gave in-person testimony and written testimony before City Council against the blanket approach this project seemed to provide.

Homestead and many other neighborhood associations were not in agreement and asked that the City consider infrastructure, topography, stormwater issues within the neighborhoods.  Our concerns went unheard.

While the City emphasizes the issues of housing scale, demolitions and "housing choice" in its messages, the real controversy on the table is re-designation of single family residential neighborhoods/zones for construction of multifamily housing through the use of a blanket overlay (otherwise known as "residential infill or increasing density).