Spring 2019 Exploring New Gresham Mobility Street Designs for a Suburban Downtown in Transition Tshewang Tamang • Rob Ribe LA 4/589 Spring 2019 Gresham Exploring New Mobility Street Designs for a Suburban Downtown in Transition Tshewang Tamang Report Author • Department of Landscape Architecture Rob Ribe Professor • Department of Landscape Architecture COLLEGE OF DESIGN Acknowledgments The authors wish to acknowledge and thank the City of Gresham for making this project possible. We would also like to thank the following City of Gresham Urban Design and Planning staff for their assistance and contributions that were instrumental to the completion of this report. David Berniker, Director of Urban Design and Planning, City of Gresham John Heili, Associate Development Planner, City of Gresham Katherine Kelly, Planning and Implementation Manager, City of Gresham Amanda Lunsford, Administrative Analyst, City of Gresham Carly Rice, Assistant Transportation Planner, City of Gresham The authors would like to acknowledge the partial support from the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC; grant number 1249), a U.S. DOT University Transportation Center, and the National Science Foundation (NSF; Grant number BCS-123456). This report represents original student work and recommendations prepared by students in the University of Oregon’s Sustainable City Year Program for the City of Gresham. Text and images contained in this report may not be used without permission from the University of Oregon. Contents 4 About SCI 4 About SCYP 5 About Gresham, Oregon 6 Course Participants 7 Executive Summary 12 Introduction 13 Key Assumptions 16 Study Area 17 Student Designs 18 Historic Downtown Study 20 Historic Downtown Gresham Redevelopment Strategy 31 Envisioning the Future of Streets in Historic Downtown Gresham 41 Street Study 42 Kelly Ave Revitalization / Kelly Avenue from Powell to 8th 68 Pathway to Hood / Hood Avenue from Powell to 10th 89 Third Street from Hood to Cleveland 125 Conclusion Spring 2019 Exploring New Mobility Street Designs About SCI The Sustainable Cities Institute (SCI) 2. Our Urbanism Next Center, which is an applied think tank focusing on focuses on how autonomous vehicles, sustainability and cities through applied e-commerce, and the sharing economy research, teaching, and community will impact the form and function of partnerships. We work across cities. disciplines that match the complexity of cities to address sustainability In all cases, we share our expertise challenges, from regional planning to and experiences with scholars, building design and from enhancing policymakers, community leaders, and engagement of diverse communities project partners. We further extend to understanding the impacts on our impact via an annual Expert-in- municipal budgets from disruptive Residence Program, SCI-China visiting technologies and many issues in scholars program, study abroad course between. on redesigning cities for people on SCI focuses on sustainability-based bicycle, and through our co-leadership research and teaching opportunities of the Educational Partnerships for through two primary efforts: Innovation in Communities Network (EPIC-N), which is transferring SCYP 1. Our Sustainable City Year Program to universities and communities (SCYP), a massively scaled university- across the globe. Our work connects community partnership program that student passion, faculty experience, matches the resources of the University and community needs to produce with one Oregon community each innovative, tangible solutions for the year to help advance that community’s creation of a sustainable society. sustainability goals; and About SCYP The Sustainable City Year Program learning courses to provide students (SCYP) is a year-long partnership with real-world projects to investigate. between SCI and a partner in Oregon, Students bring energy, enthusiasm, in which students and faculty in courses and innovative approaches to difficult, from across the university collaborate persistent problems. SCYP’s primary with a public entity on sustainability value derives from collaborations and livability projects. SCYP faculty resulting in on-the-ground impact and students work in collaboration with and expanded conversations for a staff from the partner agency through community ready to transition to a a variety of studio projects and service- more sustainable and livable future. 4 Section About Urbanism Next The Urbanism Next Center at the University of Oregon focuses on understanding the impacts new mobility, autonomous vehicles, e-commerce and the sharing economy are having and will continue to have on city form, design, and development. The Center does not focus on the emerging technologies themselves, but instead on the multi-level impacts — how these innovations are affecting things like land use, urban design, building design, transportation, and real estate and the implications these impacts have on equity, health and safety, the economy, and the environment. Urbanism Next brings together experts from a wide range of disciplines including planning, design, development, business, and law and works with the public, private, and academic sectors to help create positive outcomes from the impending changes and challenges confronting our cities. 5 Spring 2019 About Gresham, OregonExploring New Mobility Street Designs About Gresham, Oregon With over 110,000 people, Gresham is the fourth largest city in Oregon. Portland, the largest city in the state, borders it to the west. Gresham is ideal for families and businesses wanting to start something new and grow. Gresham is near the Columbia Gorge commercial, and retail mix; Historic National Scenic Area and Mount Downtown which offers a walkable Hood, the highest point in Oregon. It blend of shops, restaurants, and has a wide variety of neighborhoods service businesses; and Rockwood, including: the Civic Center, known for one of the youngest and most diverse its active transportation network, rapid neighborhoods in Oregon. transit connections, and residential, 6 Section Course Participants ASHLYN TAHLIER, Landscape Architecture, Undergraduate ERICA ANDRUS, Landscape Architecture, Graduate GLORIA GAO, Landscape Architecture, Undergraduate JESSE SIRKIN, Landscape Architecture, Undergraduate KELLI BARKER, Landscape Architecture, Graduate MING ZHU, Landscape Architecture, Undergraduate NADIA DE LA TORRE, Landscape Architecture, Undergraduate NOUR ALHARIRI, Architecture, Undergraduate REBECCA CRUZE, Landscape Architecture, Undergraduate REBECCA KIEFER, Architecture, Graduate SPENCER SANDELLO, Landscape Architecture, Undergraduate TOMMY CHEN, Landscape Architecture, Undergraduate TSHEWANG TAMANG, Landscape Architecture, Graduate WILLIAM LIEN, Landscape Architecture, Graduate 7 Spring 2019 Executive Summary Exploring New Mobility Street Designs Executive Summary The following report documents student work that explores the redesign of several streets and the historic core of Gresham’s downtown. Students in the University of Oregon’s Landscape Architecture 4/589 design studio worked with the City of Gresham as part of the Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP) to investigate how streets and related development could be planned and designed to meet and benefit from the emergence of new mobility options such as autonomous vehicles, ride-sharing, and micro-vehicles. Students were divided into teams of development upon taking the class. and tasked initially with studying their Students focused on finding solutions assigned areas and developing a to revitalize the historic downtown set of deliverables detailing existing core as a social and economic hub current conditions. Students then for downtown Gresham. Proposals worked, either in the same teams or include creating pedestrian streets and independently, to create incremental promoting multiple modes of mobility, design options for the near- and long- establishing connected transportation term. These designs were informed by hubs across the core area, and finally an initial set of parameters, discussed developing uniquely programmed between the studio instructor and plazas and streets. the City of Gresham. The design parameters varied and were specific NE Hood Avenue from E Powell to the identified study area but were Boulevard to NE Tenth Street generally concerned with issues such Students explored design solutions for as reducing the amount of on-street developing this street as a high-volume, parking, delineating traffic lanes and last mile traffic way. Solutions propose narrowing lane widths, and repurposing developing dedicated traffic lanes any reclaimed space for stormwater with strategic drop-off/pick-up nodes. management, planters, and other Here, interventions such as parklets creative spatial uses when viewed and plazas supported social interaction through the lens of these emerging while strategic crosswalks, dividers, modes of transportation. and planting promoted safety and accessibility. THE STUDY AREAS INCLUDED: Historic Downtown Gresham within NW NE Kelly Avenue from E Powell Miller Avenue to NE Hood Avenue and Boulevard to NE Eighth Street NW Second Street to NW Fifth Street Design solutions for this street focused These study areas were selected to on the entrance and exit thresholds create design problems of sclae, to the street and creating unique scope, and complexity within the experiences in between, taking capabilities of the students at their level advantage of the assumed low traffic 8 Section volume. Key proposals