Role of Design Review: Good Density Multi-Family Housing 4.30.26

Session Two. Series Summary. In late 2025, the City Council requested a report on ways to revise and improve Design Review, including suspending it, based on an assumption that Design Review could hamper housing production. Believing that Design Review is essential to good stewardship of our urban environment, the AHC launched a series of programs to explore its public benefits. The series of sessions is intended to create advocates for good changes to the Design Review process. It is also intended to help advocates and decision makers understand the public benefits of a Review and Regulatory Framework that includes Design Review. It also emphasizes that without an Incentives and investments strategy, adaptive reuse of existing buildings will not be financially viable. Oregon planning requires an active public to review and comment on the plans as they develop. To create places that belong to us, public engagement is also needed for implementation through projects both public and private. Today, Design Review and Historic Review are how that happens. Session Two. This session takes a deep dive into two types of design review projects. The first speaker, Kristen Minor, will discuss two contributing building projects in historic districts. One is a “simple” remodel. The second, within the Alphabet district, has a much more complex review history. It involves both the adaptive reuse of an existing building as well as new adjacent buildings. The Historic Landmarks Commission and city staff were responsible for these reviews. The second speaker, James Santana, presents a case study of the Conway site in NW Portland. During much of the 20th Century it was an industrial trucking business. Today, it is commonly called Slabtown. The mixed use development was reviewed by the Design Commission and city staff, both as a Master Plan and for the individual buildings. While there are existing buildings on the site, none of them were considered historic. Speakers: Kristen Minor. Kristen was educated at Rice University where she earned two degrees in architecture. 1988 and 1990). She has worked as an architect in New York City and Portland. Following that experience she worked for the City of Portland in planning and in development review for about 10 years. Since the 2000’s she has focused on historic and cultural architecture. First with Peter Meijer and since 2019 with her own firm. She also taught Historic Resource Survey & Inventory Methodology at the U of O. Her work has included working with architects on the renovations of the Albina and North Portland Libraries, nominations for the Memorial Coliseum and other buildings. From 2015-2023 she was a member of the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission. James Santana. LEED AP BD+C (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional Building Design + Construction). Principal at Cairn Pacific. Cairn Pacific is a full service development company with experience ranging from neighborhood infill projects to large downtown high-rises, with a special focus on multifamily mixed-use projects. Born and raised in Portland, James earned his Bachelor’s degree from Seattle University and his Master’s from Yale. He began his career in 2005 working to develop a 32-acre mixed-use neighborhood that eventually went on to win the National Association of Homebuilders “Green Land Development of the Year.” As a graduate student, he worked as a Teaching Fellow and served on Yale Law School’s Community & Economic Development Clinic. Prior to returning to Portland to join the Cairn Pacific Team in 2014, James worked in London to achieve planning consent for a £60M residential project in Kensington & Chelsea. He is a member of Urban Land Institute.