Sustainable City Year Reports 2020-21 (Troutdale)
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/26145
2024-03-29T04:46:42ZExploring Options for Wind Energy and Wildfire Hazard Mitigation
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/27002
Exploring Options for Wind Energy and Wildfire Hazard Mitigation
Buchanan, Ariana; Jannelli, Anthony; Adams-Schoen, Sarah
In Spring 2021, the University of Oregon School of Law’s Land Use Law class, led by Professor Sarah Adams-Schoen, was tasked with analyzing and preparing two sets of suggested amendments to the City of Troutdale’s Development Code—one set of draft code amendments to facilitate the development of small-scale wind energy conversion systems (i.e., small wind turbines) and another to increase the City’s resilience to wildfire. The class was divided into four student groups with two groups of students working on each project. The following report is a compilation of the groups’ suggested code amendments and analysis.
Approaches presented in the wind energy development section of this report are intended to provide Troutdale with information to assist the city in determining how to appropriately incorporate wind energy conversion systems into its development code and permitting processes. The suggested ordinance language was designed to properly regulate and site wind energy facilities and address potential complications that can arise. These potential complications include aesthetic and noise impacts, environmental impacts, socioeconomic impacts, and potential risk to wildlife populations and others. The Draft A ordinance also considers small- and medium-scale wind energy systems. Suggested best practices for regulating wind energy systems, relevant zoning and permitting considerations, and case studies of relevant examples from local communities around the country are also presented.
When assessing each proposed code, it became apparent the two wind energy groups developed distinct approaches, either of which may appeal to Troutdale. The two approaches are presented here as Draft Ordinance A and Draft Ordinance B.
Approaches presented in the draft ordinance establishing a Wildfire Hazard Overlay Zone are intended to balance the tremendous socio- economic benefits of implementing best practices against the socio- economic costs of implementing a robust hazard mitigation strategy. The students recognize that some of the proposed approaches may not align with Troutdale’s current scope or capacity; however, they are offered as possibilities that can be tailored to fit Troutdale’s specific needs. There are suggestions for language to use when creating a wildfire hazard overlay zone and supplementary development regulations to reduce or minimize the potential impacts of wildfire on properties, the occupants of properties, and the occupants of adjacent properties. Recommendations for how to implement robust hazard mitigation are also provided.
67 pages
2021-06-01T00:00:00ZSandy Avenue Conversion
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/26758
Sandy Avenue Conversion
Kristof, Evan
SE Sandy Avenue is located in a suburban neighborhood acting as a local collector street that serves as a secondary route to navigate a steep hill. Historically, Troutdale has been attempting to create a trail connecting Gresham and Troutdale with a 40 mile loop since 1903. SE Sandy Ave has been considered a candidate for one of the trail alignments. Other initiatives such as the Sandy River Access Plan have interest in completing the 40 mile loop, and improve the accessibility of underserved communities to this unique institution.A geotechnical study in 2018 conducted by the engineering firm Shannon & Wilson found that the hillside along SE Sandy Ave between SE 3rd Streetand SE 4th Street was unstable and susceptible to landslides. There is a distressed area of pavement near the SE 4th St intersection. The cracking likely began sometime prior to 2001.Shannon & Wilson recommended some form of treatment to be completed on the hillside to prevent catastrophic damage from occurring.However, due to the hillside conditions, a geotechnical solution involving mitigation of the slope would be a high expense.The 2021 Troutdale Sandy Ave Conversion (SAC) PSUCapstone group was tasked to propose alternative transportation and geotechnical solutions. Four transportation and three geotechnical alternatives are outlined in this report. With the City of Troutdale’s input, the SAC team's alternative analysis found that a conversion to a multi-use road featuring one lane of motor vehicle traffic and a two-way cycle track would best serve the community. This solution is a balance of cost, safety, and accessibility that allows local residents vehicle access to their homes while also enhancing the safety of cyclists. Three intersections would undergo changes to accommodate the new cycle track at SE 3rd St, SE 4th St, and SE 8th St intersecting with Sandy Ave. The Northbound motor vehicle travel lane would remain intact while the southbound lane would be converted into the cycle track. The direction of traffic was chosen due to the location of emergency vehicle facilities and their ability to gain access to locations along Sandy Ave. For the geotechnical solutions, a design roadmap is outlined in this report. The solution chosen was reinforcement to the distressed pavement using geosynthetic mesh along the segment of Sandy Ave between 3rd St and 4th St. Cost and client opinion drove the design decision. This solution enables the City of Troutdale to make a short term fix to fracturing pavement. A roadmap laying out the steps, expectations, concerns, and construction information is included within this report.This report outlines a preliminary design at 30% completion.The team acknowledges that the proposed design solution shall be revised and modified.
105 pages
2021-06-01T00:00:00ZTroutdale Observation Deck
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/26757
Troutdale Observation Deck
Kristof, Evan
The City of Troutdale has planned to construct Sandy Riverfront Park on a reclaimed site just north of downtown Troutdale, which previously housed an old water treatment plant. The park will be part of Troutdale’s Urban Renewal Project, which aims to create a natural space for walkers and bicyclists to enjoy the local flora and the Sandy River. The city requested a cantilevered deck designed at 30% to provide a commanding view of the river and serve as a rest area for park visitors. The design considerations include cost-effectiveness, minimal deck deflection, minimal obstruction to existing site conditions, and ease of access for long-term maintenance tasks. The proposed cantilever deck design was based on a “short and wide” layout, with a longer width parallel to the trail and a comparatively shorter cantilever length. After several design iterations and feedback from the City of Troutdale, the proposed design was restructured into a roughly square deck, with a width of 18’ and a cantilever length of 17’. The reasoning behind this ultimate design includes enhancing the view of the Sandy River and providing enough space for both visitors and amenities, such as benches. Materials involved in the design were chosen based on client preference, ease of maintenance, and overall resiliency. The decking material chosen was pultruded fiberglass paneling, the same material that will be used in the elevated walkway from the Sandy Riverfront Park Trail plan. These panels are a plastic product reinforced with fiberglass and are appropriately referred to as “fiberglass reinforced plastic” (abbreviated as FRP). The material is lightweight, weather-resistant, and manufactured to be ADA-compliant and slip-resistant. FRP can also be manufactured in grate panels, allowing easy maintenance and superb drainage. Six steel stringers support the decking; all six utilize the wide flange beam shape due to its universal application in most designs and high flexural strength-to-weight ratio. These stringers will be spaced 3.4’ on-center to keep the deflections of the deck panels within the allowable tolerance, while minimizing the number of stringers utilized. There will be two reinforced concrete girders below the steel stringers; these girders will span the 17’ cantilever distance and an additional 1.5 times the cantilever distance (25.5’), with a total girder length of 42.5’. The additional length extends behind the cantilever as the “backspan”, and acts as a balance against the bending force exerted on the cantilevered portion. This backspan will be buried below grade from beyond where the deck ends, and the weight of the topsoil will provide additional resistance against bending. Since the girders will be in contact with soil throughout their service life, they will be constructed of reinforced concrete. This material was chosen for its extensive corrosion resistance when compared to steel, as well as its great compressive strength. Since the site is sloped, a standalone retaining wall is recommended to prevent soil erosion from the loading on the deck. The retaining wall will be located at the beginning of the cantilever. The structure will be founded upon spread footings of reinforced concrete and connected to the backspan portion of the girders. This style of foundation was selected for its simplicity in construction. There was also a lack of deep soil data at the site - if more data was available, it could guide deep pile foundation design instead of spread footing design. Included in this report is the 30% design plan set and a construction cost estimate. This preliminary design report informs the City of Troutdale the magnitudes of cost and construction efforts needed to bring the project to completion. As such, the design may be modified according to the preferences and vision of the City.
105 pages
2021-06-01T00:00:00ZBridging Historic Downtown Troutdale and The Confluence Site
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/26756
Bridging Historic Downtown Troutdale and The Confluence Site
Kristof, Evan
Troutdale’s Town Center District was established in the 19th century by pioneering families and is considered the cultural heart of their community.The Town Center District is 270 acres located south of Interstate I-84, and west of the Sandy River.The City of Troutdale has a robust Capital Improvement Plan with goals for the city's growth, supportable employment, civic-use spaces, and future economic development of the empty Confluence site behind the Columbia Gorge Outlets Shopping Center. Currently, there is no safe or direct route for pedestrian traffic from Historic Downtown Troutdale to the Confluence site as an active main-line Union Pacific Railway creates a barrier between these two areas. The purpose of this project is to connect the Downtown area to the newly developing Confluence site using a pedestrian bridge. This proposed design would be inclusive to pedestrians, cyclists, and neighborhood electric vehicles (golfcarts). The scope of this project is a 30% Initial design along with costing estimates for design, permitting, and construction that could take place in
the next five years.The foundation design was performed in accordance with geotechnical standards of practice using resources available from previous nearby geotechnical investigations, United States Geological Survey (USGS) data, as well data gathered on-site.In all cases, conservative design values a reused in calculations and design as described herein. At this time, any design recommendations should be considered preliminary, and further geotechnical exploration and data collection should be done to verify the design recommendations of this report. A shallow foundation analysis was performed. A range of allowable vertical loads was determined for a variety of footing geometries, and the most reasonable geometries were selected and recommended herein as potential footing geometries for the loads calculated in the preliminary analysis. Preliminary CAD drawings andtypical detail are provided for these shallowfoundation geometries in appendix C. In general, the loads determined require relatively large shallow footing supports. Due to the space limitations of the project, it is likely that deep foundations will be preferred as they will take less space and perhaps be less costly. Cursory deep foundation analysis has been performed using SHAFT software, and those calculations and preliminary design recommendations are provided in section 3.4.1 and appendix C and D.
For the structural design, the truss of the bridge is made out of W18x86 I-beams, except diagonal members that are made of W18x158. The horizontal perpendicular and diagonal members are made of W12x53 and W12x87 respectively since they are only for the lateral stiffness of the bridge. This means that they have a small axial loading where similar ones are used in the Lafayette street pedestrian bridge. The loading condition sand calculations followed the AASHTO LRFD 2012 Bridge Design Specifications 6th Ed (US) code, as shown in section 3.4.2 and the appendix.The columns of the bridge are constructed of a cast-in-place reinforced concrete with rectangular cross-section 3 ft x 6 ft, concrete compressive strength of 4000 psi, and grade 60 reinforcing steel.The longitudinal reinforcement is provided by 26-#9bar and the transverse reinforcement is provided by overlapping closed-loop #3 ties, following the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Bridge specifications. For the slab design, corrugated steel was used as a reinforcement with a two-inch concrete cover.U.S. BRIDGE provided the tests for the designed loading using different spans. Through two load combinations, the max moment of the floor beams was found and used to determine adequate members. A W10x17 section was selected and placed at a 4.33 feet spacing and at a 3-floor beam per panel.
121 pages
2021-06-01T00:00:00Z