Sunnyside Neighborhood Association

Hello neighbors!  Last month I became a new Sunnyside Neighborhood Board member.  This month, I’m excited to introduce myself as your Land Use and Transportation Committee (LUTC) chairperson. There hasn’t been a LUTC in Sunnyside Neighborhood for a while, so it will take some time to get up and running again. At the moment, I’m the only member of this committee, which is tasked with tracking all matters related to land use and transportation that affect the neighborhood and communicating that information to the community. I’m particularly interested in this topic: my professional background includes 20 years in land use and transportation planning and design for communities along the West Coast and across the country. If you are interested in getting involved, email me at [email protected] or attend our next neighborhood association meeting.  Meeting details are posted at sunnysideportland.org.

Until we get enough folks interested to warrant regular meetings, this column will be my way of sharing what’s going on. My plan is to share happenings in the neighborhood as well as items from around the region that may impact our community. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

In the Neighborhood

4738 SE Belmont St.

A new 3-story, mixed-use structure is proposed on the .13-acre site at the southwest corner of SE Belmont and SE 48th.  The proposed building includes 19 apartment units and ground floor commercial space. The ground floor will host 1,150 sf of commercial lease space along Belmont St. The building’s total square footage is 11,473 sf. A drywell on the south end of the site will dispose of stormwater.

We hope to have the architect present at the October neighborhood association meeting. Watch the website for a final agenda.

3114 SE Belmont St.

A new residential building is being proposed at 3114 SE Belmont. At our August meeting, William/Kaven Architecture shared design concepts for each floor of this five-story building. The building’s 24 units range from roughly 360 to 720 square feet, with 2 – 4 affordable units included. No commercial uses are proposed. The ground-floor of the building includes common areas, utility spaces, and some of the building’s bike parking. The building is set back and the height is stepped down adjacent to the single-family house on both the south and southwest sides. According to the architects, the building’s height and setback are similar to a typical 2-story house with a peaked roof.

Hawthorne Pave and Paint

The Hawthorne Pave and Paint project will repave and restripe the stretch of SE Hawthorne Blvd between SE 24th and SE 50th.  The City sees this as more than a routine maintenance project and has identified three key goals for the project: improving safety, supporting Hawthorne’s function as a Main Street, and connecting people to other parts of the city. See SNA President Dave Boush’s overview of the project and links to learn more and provide your feedback on page 1.

In the Region

Get Moving 2020 Transportation Measure

The Get Moving 2020 measure from Metro will be on your November ballot. This measure (26-218) proposes $5 billion in funding for a wide range of transportation improvements across Washington, Multnomah, and Clackamas counties. Watch this space for more information and learn more at at: https://www.oregonmetro.gov/public-projects/get-moving-2020/proposed-plan

Sunnysiders, it’s Jan Molinaro, Sunnyside NET (Neighborhood Emergency Team) Assistant Team Leader and Co-chair, Sunnyside Prepared! (a committee of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association)! Whoa, that’s a mouthful!

What is the work that I do in the neighborhood and how does that work affect all of you? In a nutshell, it’s my (volunteer) job to assist all of you to get ready for, and survive, an earthquake.

You can find out more about Sunnyside Prepared! at www.SunnysidePrepared.com. How can the resources listed on the site assist you in your preparedness journey? Reach out to me at [email protected] and I promise to support you in your efforts.

How prepared are all of you? Have you learned anything, or done anything, during this pandemic that has increased your resilience? Several members of the current SNA board are trained in emergency preparedness, including Russell Rinaldi and Lorraine Henriques. Dave Boush, the current SNA board president, is a NET applicant and will train as soon as in-person training can start again.

You don’t have to do this work alone, so reach out to your friends and neighbors and get prepared together. This is the same message I have been sharing with all of you for more than three years in the SNA newsletter. Now is always a good time to start.

Hawthorne at Home (https://www.hawthorneblvd.com/HAH), the online version of the Hawthorne Street Festival described in these pages last month, will now stay up year-round. The HBBA says it is not too late for Hawthorne businesses to develop their booth and it is free. Businesses “own” their booth and can use it for other online events too. The booths and other cool things on HBBA’s website are increasing weekly. There are now activities for kids, like a coloring page, a maze, and demonstrations from Echo Theater.  

The Hawthorne Plaza at 37th Avenue opened in September and should remain at least through October. There will be art in the street, places to sit and eat your lunch, to visit responsibly, and see the many shops nearby.  If you know an artist who would like to submit a design for the 11×100 center safety zone or for an 11×11 square, have them send their rough design to [email protected].  All pictures and no words, please.