Campus plan for UPCC and the New Columbia neighborhood

 
 
 

Below is a brief description from a public meeting of 2005.

The structure was built over the course of a mere eight months during 1942, as part of the "University Homes War Apartments" - temporary housing to accommodate workers at the shipyards nearby. This was one of the projects that first established the Federal Housing Administration [FHA]. The current community center was built as…well… the "community center" for the temporary neighborhood and provided childcare, a central dining hall, a trading post, a gymnasium/auditorium, healthcare offices and even a barber shop. After the devastation of the city of Vanport during the flood of May 1948, the center became Vanport's temporary headquarters and city hall. Finally by the early 1950's, Vanport had been unincorporated and ownership of the facility passed to Portland Parks and Recreation.

Although the housing was removed, the "temporary" community center remained operational and therefore remained in a state of uncertainty until the mid-1990's. It had been the goal of Portland Parks and Recreation to construct a new recreational community facility in North Portland in an undetermined location at some unspecified time in the future. But with increased budget shortfalls that hope seemed far-removed. Instead of giving up on the existing facility, PP&R commissioned a structural investigation and discovered that both the foundations and the wood framing were still in good shape and could be renovated.

City Council helped start the renovation that was to ensue, by providing the first $1 million to start the upgrade process. That in turn triggered receipt of two federal grants for another million dollars. And, that in turn led to funding, through the 2002 Parks Levy...

As this project was getting underway in year 2000, the Housing Authority of Portland [HAP] received notification that its own proposal for rebuilding the Columbia Villa neighborhood had been accepted and was to be funded through a federal grant. Besides developing new housing and its infrastructure, HAP was committed to providing both recreational and educational facilities to the new model neighborhood.

Therefore starting back as early as 2001, Portland Parks and Recreation, the Housing Authority of Portland, Portland Public Schools and the Boys and Girls Club of Oregon, along with some other interested entities, worked together to develop neighborhood and facility plans that make sense - plans that assure maximum program opportunities with unnecessarily duplicating any services.

While design for the renovation and new addition was already in process, I worked therefore, as the Parks liaison, with the Housing Authority and the other public agencies, on the planning effort that was shaping the new neighborhood.  Highlights of that collaboration were: reconnecting to the existing street grid, pedestrian and bike cross-streets, the location of the elementary school contiguous to the community center and a credible new park central to the new neighborhood

The new larger gymnasium has been designed and located with the new elementary school and Boys and Girls Club in mind.  The new gymnasium and community room were developed so they can be used both by UPCC, the school, and the Columbia Villa neighborhood as a whole.