BLOG: Open Letter to Community Members Regarding the St. Johns Racquet Center

Dear St. Johns Community Members,

It is my pleasure to send this update regarding the downtown St. Johns Brownfield project.

The City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) has performed environmental site assessment and cleanup at 8735 N Lombard St In downtown St. Johns. BES is also taking ownership of the property from the Portland Development Commission (PDC) in order to facilitate public involvement, issue a public Request For Proposals (RFP) and sell the site to a selected developer. To date, two public meetings have been conducted, information collected and a steering committee is being formed.

This site is adjacent to the St. Johns Racquet Center owned and operated by the City of Portland's bureau of Parks & Recreation (PP&R).

Portland Parks & Recreation is dedicated to the provision of quality open space and recreation opportunity for the people in St. Johns. The facility provides a valuable resource to the community. However, it requires facility improvements and together with operations the costs exceed current resources. To facilitate these improvements and the highest quality recreation opportunity in St. Johns, PP&R requested proposals for concessionaire operation of this facility in November 2006. No responses to the request were received. Continuing its efforts to provide St. Johns with adequate opportunity, PP& R has decided to include the St. Johns Racquet Center in the process and eventual redevelopment currently managed by BES for the adjacent brownfield property if certain guiding principles can be met.

The list of principles below outline the conditions for involvement by PP&R in this process:

The public should be involved in decision making, where appropriate and feasible, including open, public meetings that involve a diverse spectrum of individuals and ideas.
PP&R will explore the selling of the SJRC property, if there are compelling proposals which are strongly supported by the Steering Committee and the St. Johns community.
PP&R believes that recreational use for the SJRC property should be retained, however PP&R would be open to considering recreational uses other than racquet sports as well as non-recreational uses that meet other important needs, as identified by the local community.
P&R is very interested in working with BES on determining the best use for the City-owned site upon which the brownfield and SJRC sit.
PP&R will play a supportive role in BES's development of a resident/business Steering Committee and RFQ process.
The RFQ should stress addressing the needs of the tennis patrons, other recreational interests of the St. Johns community, and PP&R.
PP&R would be pleased to participate with BES and the Steering Committee on a recommendation to both bureau directors (and Commissioner's Offices, if appropriate), on the most intriguing and potentially successful RFQ concept.
PP&R will collaborate in the realization of the ultimate concept

Commissioner Sam Adams Commissioner Dan Saltzman

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Posted Tue, 04/03/2007 - 2:16pm.

St. John's redevelopment

Submitted by Toby Q. on Mon, 04/23/2007 - 3:44pm.

I want to thank Commissioners Adams and Saltzman on coordinating the redevelopment of the public property in St. John's. I think we as St. John's residents have an exciting opportunity to create something special in downtown. We could just sell it to a developer that makes a mixed use storefront/apartment complex, which might be nice, but let's expand on this boring idea. What about creating a space for a weekend open air market, gardens and courtyards with native (and maybe even rare) plants, and yes, maybe businesses around the perimeter. I'm thinking of a quiet (non rectangular) plaza found in parts of Europe with more gardens. I think we need to keep most of this property in public hands and have a forward thinking design that will attract the community and be a vibrant focal point long after the primary businesses change hands. We should retain some community control of this space and create something innovative, attractive, and sensitive to the st. john's community. Thanks!

Toby

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selling off our parks and recreation properties to developers

Submitted by craig michaels on Thu, 08/09/2007 - 9:02pm.

I have patronized the parks and recreation facility in st johns and must admit that the usage level seemed low, considering the size of the property. BUT, demographics are changing in the area and i foresee a time when the current usage will be fully utilized. Already in the few years i have been acquainted with the faciltiy, wait times have increased dramatically. Although tennis is a space hungry sport usually reserved for the liesure class, I'm sure that many influential people are players and would look disprovingly upon the demolition of this facility in the name of business-as-usual "condos and retail space", further erosion of Portland's offbeat culture. Here's an idea: knock down some of the seedy bars on the main drag and erect your developer wetdreams there!

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