Many hands went up. Safe pedestrian and bicycle access to the site for neighborhood residents from both SMILE and Ardenwald was a big concern. People were also concerned about the visual impact of the four-story 1000-car parking structure that will be located on the site. There was discussion about habitat impact and, as a site located in the Johnson Creek Plan, there was a good point about the station area needing to have 50% permeable surfaces. Which explains why the parking is going up, not out, so that more rainwater can go directly back into the ground and not end up as parking lot runoff later.

Attendees also asked non-station-specific questions about the height of the train as it enters Milwaukie. By the time it leaves Milwaukie, the train will rise over 20 feet into the air to be able to clear the Union Pacific tracks and move to the East side of them as it continues southbound across Mcloughlin toward its final destination at Park Avenue Station, in unincorporated Clackamas County/Oak Lodge.

There were some tertiary concerns, like the really steep bicycle access ramp onto the Springwater Corridor at SE 37th. It’s not currently part of the scope of this station project, but improvements to that access path had gotten left out of some of the Springwater 3-Bridges project. Whether or not that will enter the scope of the rail project remains to be seen, but it was generally agreed that particular bike access spot, although functional, is sub-optimal.

The next Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail meeting will be the Citizen’s Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, May 21st at 17th and Holgate. Details are on both the SMILE Calendar to your right (hover your mouse over the event for more detail) as well as the Calendar page.

The closest one to Sellwood is on March 10, 2009 from 5:30pm – 7:30pm at St. Philip Neri Church at 2804 SE 16th Ave., Portland, OR. It’s in the SMILE Calendar as well.