Waterbuffalo
09-30-2007, 08:42 PM
Here are some comments from the columbian after the bus from Portland saw what the Vancouver side of the river sees of the Portland Airport. Included is some nice statements about Vancouver Lake lowlands and Esther Short Park.
You might reference these Esther Short Park Comments to Boise Cascade Property that is really across the street..
They also got a brief tour of riverside drive and evergreen highway to see how close Portland airport is to them.
Source article can be found here:
Quote:
"PDX planners get a Vancouver's-eye-view of airport
Sunday, September 30, 2007
BY JUSTIN CARINCI, Columbian staff writer
As their tour bus rolled past homes both squat and sprawling on Southeast Riverside Drive and Evergreen Highway on Saturday, members of an airport planning group couldn't help but gape at the backyard: a thin ribbon of Columbia River and the huge, horizon-dominating Portland International Airport beyond.
The view, unlike any in Portland, revealed in an instant what tour guides might struggle to express: This is our airport, too.
As the city and Port of Portland work on a long-range development plan for the airport, the 30-member Planning Advisory Group will do what its name suggests. The group's first official meeting is Oct. 9.
Saturday, then, was a day of introduction. Members representing governments, businesses and communities got to know fellow members and their neighborhoods.
When the Portlander-heavy tour bus crossed northward on the Interstate 5 Bridge, guide Sean Loughran, a Port of Portland planner, showed off a redeveloping downtown. Loughran spoke of Vancouver's past and future, from Officers Row to the undeveloped Boise Cascade site, with a note of pride befitting his status as former Pearson Field manager.
Vancouver's potential seemed boundless to group members unfamiliar with the rapid growth around Esther Short Park. Mike Sloan, representing Vancouver's neighborhoods, offered a more cautious perspective: The sky's the limiting factor.
Can Vancouver continue a resurgence even as jets rattle its living room?
"Any time I'm in downtown Vancouver and there are planes taking off over Esther Short Park, I wonder," Sloan said, "how far downtown can go with that."
Airplane noise may be the most obvious effect of having an airport for a neighbor, but it's not the only effect. Bob Sallinger, conservation director with the Audubon Society of Portland, pointed to the importance of planning for the safety of both wildlife and airline passengers.
Where other airport authorities kill large birds in large numbers, Portland's more-scientific approach has had better results, Sallinger said.
Killing a resident pair of red-tailed hawks, for example, will cause more red-tails to compete for the area - hawks unfamiliar with the dangers planes pose, he said.
Just as the noise from activity centered on the airport reaches across borders, so can harm to wildlife habitat, Sallinger said.
If runoff from a new runway pollutes the Columbia Slough, it could compromise an entire chain of productive wetlands, including Clark County's national wildlife refuges and state wildlife areas.
"For people who are concerned about Ridgefield, Vancouver Lake, Shillapoo and Steigerwald," Sallinger said, "what happens to one affects the whole system."
You might reference these Esther Short Park Comments to Boise Cascade Property that is really across the street..
They also got a brief tour of riverside drive and evergreen highway to see how close Portland airport is to them.
Source article can be found here:
Quote:
"PDX planners get a Vancouver's-eye-view of airport
Sunday, September 30, 2007
BY JUSTIN CARINCI, Columbian staff writer
As their tour bus rolled past homes both squat and sprawling on Southeast Riverside Drive and Evergreen Highway on Saturday, members of an airport planning group couldn't help but gape at the backyard: a thin ribbon of Columbia River and the huge, horizon-dominating Portland International Airport beyond.
The view, unlike any in Portland, revealed in an instant what tour guides might struggle to express: This is our airport, too.
As the city and Port of Portland work on a long-range development plan for the airport, the 30-member Planning Advisory Group will do what its name suggests. The group's first official meeting is Oct. 9.
Saturday, then, was a day of introduction. Members representing governments, businesses and communities got to know fellow members and their neighborhoods.
When the Portlander-heavy tour bus crossed northward on the Interstate 5 Bridge, guide Sean Loughran, a Port of Portland planner, showed off a redeveloping downtown. Loughran spoke of Vancouver's past and future, from Officers Row to the undeveloped Boise Cascade site, with a note of pride befitting his status as former Pearson Field manager.
Vancouver's potential seemed boundless to group members unfamiliar with the rapid growth around Esther Short Park. Mike Sloan, representing Vancouver's neighborhoods, offered a more cautious perspective: The sky's the limiting factor.
Can Vancouver continue a resurgence even as jets rattle its living room?
"Any time I'm in downtown Vancouver and there are planes taking off over Esther Short Park, I wonder," Sloan said, "how far downtown can go with that."
Airplane noise may be the most obvious effect of having an airport for a neighbor, but it's not the only effect. Bob Sallinger, conservation director with the Audubon Society of Portland, pointed to the importance of planning for the safety of both wildlife and airline passengers.
Where other airport authorities kill large birds in large numbers, Portland's more-scientific approach has had better results, Sallinger said.
Killing a resident pair of red-tailed hawks, for example, will cause more red-tails to compete for the area - hawks unfamiliar with the dangers planes pose, he said.
Just as the noise from activity centered on the airport reaches across borders, so can harm to wildlife habitat, Sallinger said.
If runoff from a new runway pollutes the Columbia Slough, it could compromise an entire chain of productive wetlands, including Clark County's national wildlife refuges and state wildlife areas.
"For people who are concerned about Ridgefield, Vancouver Lake, Shillapoo and Steigerwald," Sallinger said, "what happens to one affects the whole system."