Orenco Station is a neighborhood of the city of
Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County, Oregon, Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many High tech, high-te ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The planned urban town center was designed as a pedestrian-friendly, high-density community built in conjunction with
TriMet
The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) is a Transit district, transit agency that serves most of the Oregon part of the Portland metropolitan area. Created in 1969 by the Oregon Legislative Assembly, Oregon legi ...
’s
Westside light rail. It was built on land formerly owned by the
Oregon Nursery Company, land home around the turn of the 20th century to
Orenco, a
company town
A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...
. During the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, the company went out of business, and much of the nursery land became vacant until re-development began in 1997. Orenco Station is near the intersection of NE Century Blvd. (formerly NW 231st/NW 229th Avenues) and
Cornell Road
Cornell Road is an east–west street and traffic corridor in the Portland metropolitan area, in Multnomah County, Multnomah and Washington County, Oregon, Washington counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. It crosses the Tualatin Mountains (West ...
, centered on the
Orenco MAX Station.
History
The town of Orenco was named after the company, with OREgon Nursery COmpany becoming ORENCO. After the company closed, the town disincorporated in 1938.
[Hanberg, Lou. Orenco Heritage Series: Book One. 1992.] In 1993, construction on TriMet’s extension to its
MAX Light Rail
The Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) is a light rail system serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Owned and operated by TriMet, it consists of five lines connecting the Neighborhoods of Portland, Oregon, six sectio ...
system began, and planning for new high-density neighborhoods along the line continued, including plans for Orenco Station. The area near the old town of Orenco was labeled a “Town Center” by
Metro in its 2040 plan for the region.
[Mehaffy, Michael]
Orenco Station in Hillsboro, Oregon: UnSprawl Case Study.
Terrain.org. Retrieved on March 2, 2008.
Features
Orenco Station was developed on in the east-central area of Hillsboro.
[ The master developer, Pacific Realty Associates (PacTrust), along with its residential partner Costa Pacific Homes, designed it to mimic older neighborhoods and be more ]pedestrian-friendly
In urban planning, walkability is the accessibility of amenities within a reasonable walking distance. It is based on the idea that urban spaces should be more than just transport corridors designed for maximum vehicle throughput. Instead, it s ...
than traditional suburbs.[ Zoning ordinances were changed to allow narrower streets, side-yard easements, garages on ]alley
An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...
s, and measures to allow live-work homes, among other changes.[ The development was a mixed-used neighborhood combining both ]retail
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...
and residential
A residential area is a land used in which houses, housing predominates, as opposed to industrial district, industrial and Commercial Area, commercial areas.
Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include ...
along the light rail line and in the middle of high-tech employers.[ Residential options include apartments, single-family dwellings, condominiums, and town homes.][ Orenco Station also contains a large park named Central Park located just north of the retail core, along with smaller parks spread throughout the development as a trade-off for smaller yards created by the smaller lot sizes in the development. Homes in the development are situated closer to the street than in traditional developments, and all were built with ]Category 5 cable
Category 5 cable (Cat 5) is a twisted pair cable for computer networks. Since 2001, the variant commonly in use is the Category 5e specification (Cat 5e). The cable standard provides performance of up to 100 MHz and is ...
installed in the dwellings.[
During late spring through summer Orenco Station is host to a ]farmers' market
A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...
, featuring produce, crafts, and music.
Significance
Orenco Station is a case study of transit-oriented and New Urbanist
New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually in ...
development in a suburban context. Bruce Podobnik, a sociologist at Lewis and Clark College
Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1867 and is situated on the historic M. Lloyd Frank Estate in South Portland's Collins View neighborhood. It is composed of three distinct but adja ...
, completed a study in 2002 that showed comparatively high levels of resident satisfaction and "social capital
Social capital is a concept used in sociology and economics to define networks of relationships which are productive towards advancing the goals of individuals and groups.
It involves the effective functioning of social groups through interper ...
", or interaction between neighbors. Transit use was also relatively high in the study—22% for commuting, versus about 6% in the region overall. Use of other modes of transportation such as walking and bicycle were also relatively high. '' Governing'' executive editor Alan Ehrenhalt called Orenco Station "perhaps the most interesting experiment in New Urbanist planning anywhere in the country."
The development has won awards such as “Best New Burb” by ''Sunset'' magazine in 2005.[Levin, Rachel]
Best new burb: Orenco Station.
''Sunset
Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its Earth's rotation, rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it ...
'' magazine. Retrieved on March 2, 2008. Other awards include the Oregon Governor's Livability Award in 1998, the Best Masterplanned Community in America Award by the National Association of Home Builders
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is one of the largest trade associations in the United States, representing the interests of home builders, developers, contractors, and associated businesses. NAHB is headquartered in Washington, D ...
in 1998, the Ahwahnee Award in 1999, and Transit Communities Livable Design Award awarded by AIA/ULI/FTA/STPP in 1999.[
A new 57-unit apartment building that opened on June 29, 2015, is reported to be the largest passive-house apartment building in North America.] The building is the first of three phases of a complex named "the Orchards at Orenco Station", on which construction began in June 2014. Construction of the second phase is expected to begin in July 2015.
See also
* Cornell Creek Park
References
External links
Natural Resources Defense Council: Orenco Station
* ttp://www.planetizen.com/node/92 Planetizen: Making TODs Work - Lessons from Portland's Orenco Stationbr>Research Study: The Social and Environmental Achievements of New Urbanism - Evidence from Orenco Station
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Hillsboro, Oregon
Neighborhoods in Oregon
New Urbanism communities