Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC and Community discuss proposed exit road on 185th Avenue

Photos and story by Christine Egan

As PCC moves forward with planning for its Rock Creek Campus, college representatives and members of the community have maintained an open line of communication regarding bond-funded improvements at the campus and the potential impacts on surrounding neighborhoods.

At the local citizen participation organization’s (CPO7) February meeting, Wing-Kit Chung, District Vice President of Administrative Services, Barbara Linn, Rock Creek Campus Bond Project Manager, and Jason Miller with Opsis Architecture, outlined final plans for campus improvements.

 

• Improve parking lot drainage and storm water management in 2011.
• Develop enhancements to the farm in 2012.
  Expand Building 7 in 2012-2013.
• Expand Building 5 and re-purpose three buildings in 2013-2015.
• Develop an egress and service road to NW 185^th Avenue in 2012 for primarily emergency purposes.
• Install a traffic signal at the Springville Road entrance to accommodate eventual widening of Springville Road in 2012.

CPO7 represents the Sunset West, Rock Creek and Bethany neighborhoods in Washington County. One of the goals of the group is to monitor and address planning and development activities in the area that could impact neighborhood land use, community development, traffic and public safety.

“Over the past several years, PCC has been excellent in their outreach to CPO 7.  Our group is PCC’s community partner at other campuses as well,” said Kevin O’Donnell, the Chairman of CPO 7.

During the February meeting, several CPO7 members were eager to hear about the plans for a second exit. Some hoped that in the future it would become the main entrance to campus and encouraged PCC staff to consider that as a more immediate option. Linn and Miller shared concerns about 185^th Avenue as a primary entrance due to issues of grade and sight line on 185th Avenue. PCC representatives acknowledged that further consultation was needed regarding the group’s suggestions and that PCC is planning for the long term.

“CPO 7 encourages PCC to continue recognizing their neighbors as part of their campuses, and work more closely with Washington County residents to make our shared neighborhoods a better place to learn, work, and live,” said O’Donnell.

Since 2008, Rock Creek Campus representatives have attended CPO7 meetings regularly, and last summer PCC and CPO7 co-hosted a community outreach event for bond planning at the Rock Creek Campus.