Want to help East Multnomah County? Consider light rail on Stark Street.

By Duke Shepard of Portland, Oregon. Duke serves on the Mt. Hood Community College Board of Education representing portions of east Portland and Gresham.

As the recent legislative transportation package has highlighted, we have many competing choices and opportunities for infrastructure investment. For the Portland metropolitan region, this is illustrated in the updating of the Regional Transportation Plan. In April I participated in Metro's exercise for visioning potential light rail development across the region - my personal focus was on east Multnomah County ("East County Must Push for Future Light Rail Lines", Gresham Outlook).

While interesting, the designs struck me as somewhat "top down"; that is to say, the lines are drawn for east county from a distant view at Metro HQ, rather than from east county with a focus on our economic needs and opportunities, albeit within an appropriately regional context of growth management. The proposed lines are largely about moving people around the edges of the area, without regard to existing development patterns, redevelopment possibilities, or economic development. Importantly, the fact is that the current Burnside alignment - the first and oldest light-rail line - has not produced great economic results for most of east county; it's primary purpose was really to move people to and from downtown Portland. A recent Oregonian story further solidified my belief that, for east county, a new and different light-rail line plan should be considered, one that builds on and connects Mt. Hood Community College, existing industry, "shovel ready" industrial land, multiple office and retail development sites, local cities' efforts, and the economically challenged area of Rockwood to the benefit of each.

In short, it's all about Stark Street. Lets start at Mt. Hood Community College and move westward:

Mt. Hood Community College is east County's key educational asset (full disclosure, I'm on the MHCC board, but am speaking only for myself), a major employer, and an institution with a special connection to east County's communities and our identity, particularly for longtime residents. MHCC also has forty acres of designated "shovel ready" industrial land, 62.6 acres of Metro owned and protected natural area , and a "100% corner" capable of supporting office/retail development at Stark and 257th/Kane. Working against the college is that it is isolated by location (at the far edges of Gresham and Troutdale) and design: the college is set well back from the street with acres of asphalt, large earthen berms, and a concrete bunker style of construction. Most importantly, the transportation connections are exceedingly poor. Light rail should have had its terminus at the college from the get-go, and it has long been the desire of many to rectify that mistake. As it stands, MHCC is auto-heavy with bus service that is often inadequate for student needs. Traffic around the college is brutal.

Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center is the only full service hospital in east county past 102nd avenue. Legacy Mt. Hood employs approximately 600 people and recently celebrated an expansion of its Emergency Department. It's located just a short walk from the college.

ON Semiconductor owns what used to be LSI Logic's fab and employs close to over 400 people. While the fab's address is on Glisan, it is easily accessible from Stark. Moreover, the real opportunity is the additional acreage still owned by LSI -- 250 acres of "shovel ready" land, designated as a "Strategic Investment Zone", and targeted by Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis for high quality job creation.

Microchip Inc. employs over 300 people in Gresham and is the area's other tree in the Silicon Forest. Years ago I was on the team (with lots of other people) that helped bring Microchip to Gresham to re-use the old Fujitsu fab. As we'd hoped, the micro controller segment of the market has proven less volatile than Fujitsu's product line, and the company has succeeded.

At multiple points between Kane and 190th, vacant lots and older buildings are for sale or lease, presenting a range of development possibilities.

Finally, we reach Rockwood, a community with serious needs and complex challenges - both human and physical. However, Rockwood also has the twin development assets of a voter approved Urban Renewal Area and the former Fred Meyer "triangle" site. As documented recently in the Gresham Outlook , this is a site that has proven very challenging, though not for a lack of effort or goodwill. In my view, a strengthened connection between Rockwood's future development and that of the rest of east county's assets and opportunities is the best bet for really making a difference. We need to connect this area to more jobs, more education, and more opportunity. Most importantly for this discussion, Rockwood also features a light rail stop.

All of the locations and economic assets I've listed are on Stark Street between Rockwood and MHCC, roughly between 181st and 257th/Kane street. What these locations lack is a purposeful vision of how the entire street connects them, rather than just running through or past them. It seems to me that, in the best case scenario, Metro, the east county cities, and Tri-Met should re-visit the current long-term plans for light rail extension and instead consider - in the near term - a spur from the Rockwood URA to MHCC.

This Stark Street spur would directly connect residents and potential development in Rockwood to some of east County's largest current and future employment centers. Moreover, it provides a direct link between development, employment, and education and begins to address the longstanding underachievement of the existing light-rail line.

At the very least, the following should be considered:

1) Pursue a designated Stark Street transportation investment between Rockwood's existing light rail station and MHCC, serving the employment centers and future developments in between. If the region is going to remain focused on light rail, then this connection should be a priority. However, if light rail is too expensive or difficult, there are other options that may be more cost effective while achieving the same ends, such as a Bus Rapid Transit line similar to the very successful EmX operating and continuing to build out in the Eugene-Springfield area, or possibly a Portland-style street car. Whatever it is, it should move to the head of the line, not tacked onto a plan for 30 years down the vision tunnel.

2) Start thinking of the Rockwood to MHCC section of Stark as a distinct, interconnected development corridor. There does not appear to be an plan that connects each of these individual assets and opportunities together. This could be as simple as branding and signage, or something bigger, but it should include a community engagement process with all of the interested residents, owners, businesses, and MHCC.

3) Leverage transit infrastructure to reconfigure the local view of MHCC from a spoke in east county's economic wheel to being the hub. While it's not an apples to apples comparison, the City of Portland has smartly linked its physical and economic development to PSU and (less smartly on the bio-tech pipe-dream, but I digress) OHSU. Certainly a community college is a different institution, but the range of current and potential offerings on the campus - and the vital connection to employers - is substantial. Besides, at one point PSU was simply the former Vanport College commuter school. Dedication, focused public policy (including rail/transit connections), and private sector demand have moved PSU to be more than it once was. The same can be true for MHCC. It is a unique east county institution that can be more relevant for more residents and businesses. Equally important is the demand-driven pressure this would put on MHCC to perform and evolve: if MHCC is expected to be a driver of the economy in a different manner than in previous decades, a different set of expectations for the college will emerge both on and off campus. The college will transform along with east County. A light-rail or other high volume transit line helps make this a reality by making the college more accessible, ultimately making the college a destination, rather than just a stop.

I hope that the willingness exists in east County and at Metro to look at a Stark Street spur option rather than adhering to the current light-rail maps. Looking decades out, a light-rail line to the 'Couv is a lot less useful to east County than would be a Stark Street spur. In the bigger picture for the Metro region, this spur would help to develop existing urbanized areas (perhaps in different ways than would otherwise occur) changing Metro's growth management choices on the east side and possibly relieving some amount of pressure on the Urban Growth Boundary.

It would be a shame to look back on Stark Street between Rockwood and MHCC 10 or 25 years from now (as we do with MHCC and the current light rail terminus) wishing we'd done something else and wondering why more progress wasn't made. I believe this kind of link presents the best hope for kick-starting and sustaining desperately needed economic opportunity and community enhancement in east County, while finally addressing some of the failures of the first light rail investment from the 1980's. Given federal funding cycles and the region's system of planning, time is of the essence.

June 03, 2009 Posted in guest column.