Library Site Selection

Portland, Oregon

The Multnomah County Library (MCL) is one of the busiest library systems in the United States, but has an extremely small physical footprint in comparison to the population it serves. To help better serve the community, the Multnomah County Library is planning to open 2 new branches by 2035. This is a long process (outlined in the MCL Framework for Future Library Spaces document) and one of the first steps is identifying suitable parcels to acquire for future library development. For the purposes of this exercise, a “suitable” parcel will be defined as:

o   Vacant parcel

o   Zoned commercial[ACNL2] 

o   Not within 1 mile of an existing library

o   Lot is larger than .5 acres, less than 1.5 acres.[ACNL3] 

The goal of this map is to develop a workflow that will correctly identify suitable parcels based on these parameters.

 [ACNL1] Portland 2035 Comprehensive Plan Goals

 [ACNL2] Zoning information

 [ACNL3]Site selection, spatial requirements