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Identifying Alternative Sites for a New Cohousing Community in the

Portland Area

Lake McTigheGEOG 592

Portland State UniversityMarch 15, 2005

What is Cohousing?

• An intentional community with private homes and common facilities.

• Costs associated with housing, food, transportation, utilities, and childcare are shared.

• Created in order to work towards social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

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Project Problem

• The proposed cohousing community would consist of of five detached, single family homes, one common house with a library, kitchen, and child care facilities, a shared work studio, a community garden, and shared open space.

• Identify three possible sites for a new cohousingcommunity within the Portland area that fulfill several criteria.

Clackamas Co.

Clark Co.

Washington Co.

Multnomah Co.

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CountyUrban Growth Boundary

0 25 5012.5 Miles

Project Area

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Criteria

• Within the UGB• At least one acre of land (43,560 sq. ft./ or 13,277

meters)• Zoned SFR_R5 (1 unit/5,000 sq.feet or 1,523

meters)• Less than ¼ mile (1320 ft. or .4 km) from public

transportation (bus stop)• Less than ¼ mile (1320 ft. or .4 km) from a park

Criteria• Less than 1 mile (5280 ft. or 1.61 km) from a

public elementary school• Less than 1 mile (5280 ft. or 1.61 km) from a

public middle school• Less than 1 mile (5280 ft. or 1.61 km) from a full

service grocery store• Less than 1 mile (5280 ft. or 1.61 km) from a

library

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Data• Coalition for a Livable Future, 2005

– Full service grocery store, Equity Atlas• RLIS, 2004

– Develop, Vacant– Boundary, UGB– Land, Zoning and Parks– Taxlot– Slope_25– Transit, Bus Stops– Places, Schools and Library

Process• Clipped all data to the UGB fill layer using Clip Tool• Created new layers:

– From Zoning data “selected by attribute” SFR_R5; added as a layer

– From Vacant data “selected by attribute” vacant lots between the sizes of >=40,000 and <= 46,000 square feet (43,560 sq. feet =1acre); added as a layer

– From School data “selected by attribute” public elementary and middle schools; added as two separate layers.

• Joined the SFR_R5 layer and the 1 acre vacant lots layer to with Intersect Tool.

• Exported the SFR_vacant_acres shapefile into a geodatabase so that the shape area would be calculated.

• There were 18 sites at least 1 acre in size

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Clackamas Co.

Clark Co.

Washington Co.

Multnomah Co.

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CountyUrban Growth BoundarySFR_Acre_Vacant

0 25 5012.5 Miles

Potential Sites

Process• Used Near Tool to calculate the distance from the

18 SFR_vacant_acre lots to parks, schools, library, bus stops and grocery stores and saved each Near calculation in the SFR_vacant_area layer

• To use the Near Tool:– Converted the SFR_acre_intersect and park polygon

layers to points Using the Feature to Point Tool.

• Used a query in the SFR_vacant_area attribute table to select sites based on criteria.

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Query

Process

• Three potential sites were identified.• Taxlot data was used to identify ownership

and land value.

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Clackamas Co.

Clark Co.

Washington Co.

Multnomah Co.

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CountyUrban Growth BoundarySelected 3 Sites

0 25 5012.5 Miles

Selected Sites

Criteria Fulfillment for Selected Sites

$215,100$131,600$73,500Land Value

8728724,927(.9 mile)

Distance to closest Public Library in 5280 feet (1 mile or 1.61 km)

CityChurchLabor Assoc.Ownership

6816811,063(.2 mile)

Distance to closest neighborhood park 1320 feet (1/4 mile or .4 km)

2,2852,2852,042Distance to closest full service grocery 5280 feet (1 mile or 1.61 km)

2,0232,023(.4 mile)

6,230(1.8 miles)

Distance to Closest public middle school 5280 feet (1 mile or 1.61 km)

2,1842,8142,738 (.5 mile)

Distance to Closest public elementary School 5280 feet (1 mile or 1.61 km)

872872 (.16 mile)

603 (.1 mile)Distance to Closest Bus Stop 1320 feet (1/4 mile or .4 km)

44,58043,84044,417 Area of lot in feet and meters43,560 sq. feet = 1 acre (13,277 meters)

Site 3Site 2Site 1Original Criteria

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0 0.7 1.40.35 Miles

Sites 1 and 3 Community CoHousing Project Initial Site Analysis Portland, Oregon 2005

Selected S ites

# Library

k Elementry School

k Middle School

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Bus Stop

Street

Park

Commercial

Industrial

Mult i Family Residential

Mixed Use Center

Public Open Space

Rural

Single Family Resident ial

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0 0.5 10.25 Miles

Sites 2 and 3 Community CoHousing Project Initial Site Analysis Portland, Oregon 2005

Selected Sites

# Library

k Elementry School

k Middle School

") Grocery Store

Bus Stop

Street

Park

Commercial

Industrial

Multi Family Residential

Mixed Use Center

Public Open Space

Rural

Single Family Residential

.

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Conclusions• Site 1 is the most promising.• Site visits and availability of land next step.• Spend more time with the data before starting

the analysis.• Conduct more initial queries, with larger

parameters before focusing on the project criteria.

Questions