Oregon Public Broadcasting

The unofficial gateway to Portland is due for a facelift.  The City Council approved final amendments Wednesday to the Hayden Island plan. As April Baer reports,  residents are looking forward to the changes.

If you’ve ever traveled north from the Willamette Valley to Washington State, it’s very likely you sped over Hayden Island, maybe without even noting the thousands of people living below.

If you live in Southwest Washington, you’ve almost certainly visited Hayden Island, to do a little tax-free shopping. But those who stop in for quick trips often see this unofficial gateway as -- well -- kind of a doormat.

Bob Sallinger: “When you come across the bridge from Washington what you see is some of the most poorly planned development in the region, and the Hooters sign. There’s a real opportunity to make things better out there.”

Bob Sallinger with the Portland Audubon Society is among several hundred people who’ve attended recent public meetings on the future of Hayden Island.

The Island is like no other neighborhood -- laden with big box stores that draw spending dollars from two states, sandwiched together with an undeveloped western half that’s a refuge for wildlife.

It’s also a haven for the sort of person who loves to live on the water.

Peg Johnston has been living on a houseboat on Hayden Island for 17 years.

Peg Johnston is one of the 50,000 people living in Hayden Island. Her cottage’s tidy red trim and lush container garden wouldn’t look out of place in any part of the Willamette Valley. Except that it floats.

Peg Johnston:  “I love being on a houseboat. I’ve been out here for 17 years.”

Johnston’s living room window sports a  panoramic view of industrial docks on the other side of the Columbia. Her neighborhood’s not quiet -- with the constant dull roar of cars racing by on I-5, and planes taking off from PDX just a few miles away. But she loves being so close to nature.

Peg Johnston “I was just at our moorage board meeting last night, where beavers were a big topic.”

Johnston’s overjoyed the city is finally planning improvements. Much of the Island’s infrastructure was made before the city annexed the east side.

She’s looking forward to road improvements, more small shops to serve local residents, and safe paths for her bike.

She also notes the community is bisected by I-5. Some locals hope for a bridge connecting east and west residential areas. But conservationists have concerns about what that would do to habitat on undeveloped West Hayden island.

The Audubon Society’s Bob Sallinger, may depend on what a separate planning group decides.

Bob Sallinger “That bridge is anything but assured, that’s going to be contingent upon whether development is appropriate, and we’re not going to know that until this committee that’s meeting gets done with its work, and in fact that work is just beginning.”

Just as Hayden Island survives in the shadow of the Interstate Bridge, the plan for revitalizing East Hayden Island lives under the looming shadow of the massive Columbia Crossing bridge project currently in the works.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams, who’s been deeply involved in both the bridge and the plan, promised residents that changes coming to the neighborhood would not leave them behind.

Sam Adams  “Well, this has never been an easy project, it started with 6-month development moratorium in October 2006. The residents have persevered, and we’re making progress. For those of you residents in the room, we will get it done.”

As for the proposed Wal-Mart store that precipitated interest in Hayden Island all those years ago -- it’s not part of the plan.