At the March 28 LNA General meeting, LNA board members presented views in opposition to and in support of the Historic District. The "oppose" view was presented by Joe Petrina, SW Quad rep. Joe helped defeat the historic district effort in the Buckman neighborhood and represents the opponents here. The "support" view was presented by John Liu, Newsletter Editor and Chair of the Exploratory Historic District Committee. The meeting was videotaped; if the video is made available, we will add a link to it. In the meantime, here are the slides shown during John Liu's "support" presentation. (Joe didn't have slides.) After the presentations, neighbors took turns making short statements in supp
How do developers look at a neighborhood like Laurelhurst? This video is of a developer talking about what he can build in the similar neighborhood of Eastmoreland, and how much money he can make by demolishing historic houses. Fortunately, this particular developer is one who respects historic houses. Instead of demolishing the Markham House, he saved it. He also explains what it is like to live and remodel in a historic district (Irvington).
Can Laurelhurst be protected through "easements" or CC&R-type "covenants"? In a word: no. This post will explain what easement and CC&Rs are, and why they don't work in our situation. Our thanks for the input of Oregon's leading historic protection organization, Restore Oregon, and three neighborhood attorneys with whom we consulted. Historic Protection Easements: Useful For Landmark Properties, Not For A Neighborhood. An easement is a legal document that gives certain legal interests (rights to) in your property to another person or organization. Typically easements are used to give the other person access to land, e.g. an easement to use the property in some way or run a road or pipeline
The SE Examiner continues to cover residential infill and historic district news in more depth than any other Portland news organization. Its latest article, "State Relaxes Historic Hurdles", discusses the new state "Goal 5" historic rules which will prevent demolitions of historic houses, while deferring review of projects for years. "For National Historic District nominations, the wind of opposition may have lost some sail. For homes in new districts, onerous required design reviews – the hard-sell against national HD designations – are gone, at least for now. Property owners in new districts will be able to renovate, remodel outdoors as well as indoors, build additions, ADUs, and other ex
The Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association (LNA) Exploratory Historic District Committee recently completed its report on Historic District. The full report is available online to read or download at this link. Here is the report's Executive Summary: "Executive Summary 1. Demolitions in Portland are increasing. The annual rate of residential demolitions in Portland has tripled since 2009, with 384 permits filed in 2016. At least 30 houses in Laurelhurst have been wholly or partially demolished in the past 10 years. 2. The Residential Infill Project is likely to increase the number of demolitions in Laurelhurst and the amount of incompatible redevelopment of the neighborhood with duplexes, tri
