However, Nurse Amanda does apparently approve of adding toxic chemicals to our drinking water!

Totally wrong assessment of what actually happened.
Univ of Portland (UP) recently purchased the 'triangle property' below its property on the bluff. They do hope to build a parking garage, some classrooms and more on the new property and the parking garage will also serve as a way to access the river level property 100' lower in grade more easily.
When they raise the money, when the get this planned out, when their new Master Plan gets trotted out someday.
I am not a fan of the UofP. In the past they have been conniving, duplicitous neighbors. They seem to try a little harder to build consensus in recent times, so 'trust,but verify' is the byword.
What this open house was about is to change their environmental requirements to allow them to do some of the work prior to their someday construction process.
UP will have to raise over 60 million to start the next construction phase. Perhaps the next Harry Merlo will want to part with the cash for naming rights of the next project, but a parking garage and classrooms aren't as heady as a stadium, name-wise. At the same time, removing invasive plants, planting native shrubs and trees and everything prior to construction is what the meeting is about.
Some groups worry about the loss of habitat. I don't have a sense of that, so cannot comment. Some remember UPs past heavy handedness and are wary. Most, I think, are not so worried about this and see the project, which the open house was really NOT about, as something inevitable, and would just want to weigh in and make sure the project is realistic, and not an albatross to the community. At the same time, this project would provide better access to the river and allow folks who have accesibility issues a chance to get to the river.
I don't see the open house as anything more than a first step, and when UP is ready for the next step, there will be more process than you can shake a stick at.