1) OKNA summer at the Lab (Tuesday)
2) North Portland Sunday Parkway (June 25)
3) Sign up for the Overlook Yard Sale and Free Share (July 22-23)
4) Save the date for Overlook Ice Cream Social (Aug. 6)
5) Renters now receive notification of land use proposals
6) Earthquake practice (July 15)
7) Take your emergency skills to the next level
8) New development rules proposed for Interstate Avenue
1) OKNA summer at the Lab (Tuesday)
The June general meeting of the Overlook Neighborhood Association will take place on Tuesday at the Lucky Labrador Tap Room on N Killingsworth. (Don’t go to Kaiser Town Hall!) The OKNA Board hopes you will come out to socialize, eat some pizza and share your thoughts about Overlook. The meeting agenda features an update on good neighbor agreement mediation with the Hazelnut Grove homeless camp.
OKNA General Meeting (agenda)
Tuesday, June 20, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Lucky Labrador Tap Room (1700 N Killingsworth St.)
2) North Portland Sunday Parkway (June 25)
Next weekend, thousands of people will take to the streets for the North Portland Sunday Parkways. Community members are invited to bike, walk or glide along the scenic 9.5 mile double loop that takes a trip to the Willamette Boulevard and over to Peninsula Rose Garden, Overlook, Arbor Lodge, Kenton, and McCoy Parks. There will be many points along the route to enjoy a spot of good food, good laughs and good music. View the brochure for a full list of events.
3) Sign up for the Overlook Yard Sale and Free Share (July 22-23)
Sustainable Overlook is organizing a neighborhood yard sale and free share again this year. Dozens of homes will make their yards and garages available to sell treasures, oddities and more Saturday June 22. Anything left over can be set out for neighbors to take for free on Sunday. Mark your calendars and come on out.
If you would like to participate in the yard sale and have your house shown on the map that will be advertised to the broader public, Sign up on online by July 16. If you simply want to join in the Yard Sale and Free Share as a deal-hunter, you will be able to view a map showing all of the participating households online starting July 20.
If you have questions, please e-mail Josh at sustainable@overlookneighborhood.org.
Overlook Yard Sale and Free Share
July 22-23
Overlook Neighborhood
4) Save the date for Overlook Ice Cream Social (Aug. 6)
Join your neighbors for this year’s Overlook Kids’ Bike Parade and Ice Cream Social for All on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2-6 p.m.
Kids can decorate their bikes and join the parade. It will begin at the Overlook-Shaver-Castle triangle at 3 p.m. After the parade, head over to the Overlook House for prizes, the annual ice cream social and entertainment provided by Penny’s Puppets and Tallulah’s Daddy for the kids. All Overlook and surrounding neighbors are invited to the event. Stay tuned for more details closer to the date.
The event is being organized by Friends of the Overlook House. They are looking for a number of volunteers to assist in making this a successful event. Please contact Michelle at the Overlook House at 503-208-7312 or coordinator@historicoverlookhouse.org if interested.
5) Renters now receive notification of land use proposals
Notifications of land use proposals are required to be mailed to the property owners of surrounding lots. The Bureau of Development Services has expanded those notifications to include renters.
Sending land use proposal notifications to renters increases their opportunity to participate in the process, and provides advanced notice of proposed changes before construction starts.
Some examples of land use proposals include large projects such as the design of a new downtown building, subdivisions, or the expansion of a school in a residential zone, as well as smaller projects, such as a request to build a house closer to a side property line than the zoning code would normally allow.
Approximately 800-900 land use applications are processed each year.
To learn more about land use regulations, or view land use proposals, visit the Bureau’s Zoning/Land Use webpage.
6) Earthquake practice (July 15)
The Neighborhood Emergency Teams (NETs) of Overlook and Arbor Lodge/Kenton invite you to test your family and community emergency plans during a joint call-up exercise on Saturday, July 15.
NET members are trained to provide neighborhood emergency disaster assistance. They will save lives and property until professional responders can arrive.
At the joint call-up exercise, the NETs will conduct a practice run of the operations plans for about two hours. The exercise will help everyone assess the staging area, set up medical and other stations, and work with the residents who will gather after a disaster. Teams will account for new site conditions, new learning, new neighbors and new NET members. They’ll also seek input from new participants. You might have important information and insights to contribute, and Overlook NET hopes you’ll join the exercise.
Neighbors will get to meet one another and talk about what preparedness means to various people. You do not need a backpack full of stuff, a barrel of water or an underground bunker. You do need to be interested in the survival and resiliency of your family and community and to attend with eagerness and questions. Stop by one of the staging areas 10-noon.
With more than 13,000 residents in Arbor Lodge and Kenton and more than 6,000 in Overlook, there are far too many people for the NETs to help if a disaster strikes. We need everyone to participate in making our community more resilient.
The Overlook NET holds monthly meetings. If you can’t attend the call-up exercise, we hope you can join us at one.
In case of a real emergency, meet at the staging area closest to your home. View a map of the staging areas and Overlook’s NET operations plans.
NET call-up exercise/Earthquake practice
Saturday, July 15, 10-noon
Three staging areas:
- Overlook Staging Area #2, Beach School (1710 N. Humboldt St.)
- Overlook Staging Area # 4, Intersection of N Omaha Avenue and N Jessup Street.
- Overlook Staging Area #5, Fire Station 24, SE corner of the station (4515 N Maryland Ave.)
7) Take your emergency skills to the next level
Are you ready to become more involved in the Overlook Neighborhood Emergency Team and to learn the skills you’ll need in a disaster? New training opportunities have just been announced. These free training sessions are offered by the city and are very worthwhile. They are open to anyone.
Seventy-five seats have become available in the Hillsdale class that begins on Tuesday, June 20. This is a long-format class that meets every Tuesday night, 6-9, into early September. Learn more and RSVP online.
Meanwhile Portland State University has 25 seats open to the community in their intensive format class that runs all day on June 26, 27, 28 and 30. More information and RSVP.
8) New development rules proposed for Interstate Avenue
The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has proposed zoning changes for N Interstate Avenue. The proposal would place a Main Street overlay on and adjacent to a number of properties in the Interstate Corridor. The intense public investments in the corridor have not consistently resulted in the most desirable development. This change may encourage more pedestrian friendly developments.
The Main Street overlay zone regulations encourage higher density residential uses by allowing greater building heights, reducing required building coverage for residential development; and allowing more flexibility in site design. The intent of the zone is to provide transit-supportive levels of residential uses between centers of commercial and mixed-use activity.