If you have ever wanted to send comments to the City of Portland regarding historic preservation issues or development in your neighborhood (or anywhere in the city for that matter), it is important to understand the process and to respond in a coherent manner with a well supported argument. Last year, the Bosco-Milligan Foundation/Architectural Heritage Center compiled a brief outline on how to comment on such issues. Of course it’s no guarantee that your comments will be taken to heart and implemented, but following these steps should help you make your case clearly and concisely, without the emotion and rhetoric that can diminish your claims.
Here’s a link to a PDF of the document: How to Comment
Many development proposals have specific criteria to meet. For example, in the ongoing case of the Galaxy Restaurant project, the developer must meet design guidelines for Portland’s Central City and Central East Side. It is important to review these design guidelines because you should be prepared to make you argument in favor or against the project’s design, based upon them. You can download PDFs of design guidelines for various parts of Portland here. The PDFs do not cost, only a print version will cost you.
If you have any questions about this process, feel free to contact the Bosco-Milligan Foundation/Architectural Heritage Center. We’ll be glad to help you where we can.