July 2024 – BPS Long-range Planning Project Updates

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July 2024 highlights

• Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment Package 10 (RICAP 10) unanimously adopted by City Council on June 13; changes take effect Oct. 1. Read more.
• Montgomery Park Area Plan (MPAP) wraps up series of work sessions; gets Planning Commission recommendation on July 9. Read more.
• Land Division Code Update heads to City Council for public hearing on July 17 at 2:45 p.m. Read more.
• LGBTQ+ Historic Sites Project successfully adds two new LGBTQ+ sites to the National Register of Historic Places. Read more.
• Trio of new code amendment projects launched: the Housing Adjustment Compliance Project, the Odor Code Update Project, and the Rose Quarter Sign Code Project.

Columbia Corridor-Industrial Lands Ezones Project

What: Evaluating changes to Environmental overlay zones (ezones) in the Columbia Corridor and other industrial areas to better align with rivers, streams, sloughs, wetlands, floodplains, forests, and wildlife habitat. Policy proposals under consideration will aim to ensure needed lands for future industrial and other economic growth while also preserving natural resources that serve as green infrastructure and help to make Portland resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Status: An online interactive Columbia Corridor / Industrial Lands Environmental Zoning Project map of preliminary draft ezones is available for review, based on the Natural Resource Inventory. The natural resource mapping is subject to onsite verification at the request of property owners, and the draft ezones mapping may change as the project progresses. Project staff are coordinating their work with the citywide Economic Opportunity Analysis to ensure adequate protection for natural resources and sufficient industrial and employment land to meet future needs.

Next opportunity to engage: Property owners can request a free site visit to confirm or correct natural resource mapping through the interactive Columbia Corridor / Industrial Lands Environmental Zoning Project map. To request a site visit, enter your property address and click the “Request Site Visit” link in the upper right corner. Property owners may qualify for free wetland determination, learn more about draft wetland mapping, and check if your site qualifies. Check the project website for updates and if interested sign up for email updates.

Housing Adjustments Compliance Project

What: This project amends the Zoning Code, Title 33, in compliance with the provisions of State Bill 1537, to allow more adjustments to development and design standards that were previously prohibited for residential projects. While much of the city’s current development standards are already adjustable, some specific standards related to lot sizes and maximum heights and bonuses are not. The project will create a temporary option for small deviations required by the bill, that will be allowed until 2032.

Status: A Proposed Draft of zoning code amendments is being drafted and is expected to be released in late July. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the project, tentatively scheduled for August 27.

Next opportunity to engage: Written public comments on the Proposed Draft will start being accept by the last week of July in advance of the Planning Commission hearing. The public will also have the option to give verbal comments during the hearing. Check the project website for updates and if interested sign up for email updates.

Housing Needs Analysis (HNA) and Housing Production Strategy (HPS)

What: The Housing Needs Analysis analyzed the status of Portland’s housing supply, housing affordability issues, and the City's ability to meet projected housing demand through 2045. The Housing Production Strategy addresses how Portland will accommodate future population growth with strategies that support the development of needed housing. These actions consider impacts on low-income households, communities of color, people with disabilities, and other state and federally protected classes.

Status: BPS is leading the development of a Housing Production Strategy (HPS) with other City bureaus and the community. Through extensive engagement, the HPS identifies strategies the City can take over the next five years to support needed housing development. The HPS Recommended Draft will be available for public review later in July.

Next opportunity to engage: A public hearing at City Council is tentatively scheduled for August 28. Community members are invited to testify in writing and in person at the public hearing.Check the project website for updates on the draft plan and upcoming events. Those interested can sign up for email updates.

Land Division Code Update

What: The Land Division Code Update aims to encourage new housing development by streamlining the review of residential land divisions, reducing regulatory barriers, and uncertainty in the application process, while continuing to provide benefits to the community.

Status: On April 23, the Planning Commission voted to recommend the Proposed Draft with seven technical clarifying amendments and one substantive change. The substantive change expanded the ability for land divisions located in multi-dwelling zones to be eligible to meet the transportation impact standards as opposed to having to meet criteria. The Recommended Draft, incorporating the Planning Commission’s amendments, is now available for review. Read the full announcement.

Next opportunity to engage: A public hearing at City Council is scheduled for Wednesday, July 17 at 2:45 p.m. Community members are invited to testify in person at the public hearing, in writing via the Map App, or by mail. Read the full announcement. Check the project website for updates or if interested sign up for email updates.

LGBTQ+ Historic Sites Project

What: The City of Portland’s LGBTQ+ Historic Sites Project seeks to identify, document, and preserve historic resources associated with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+ histories.

Status: The project team is preparing a historic context statement, historic resource survey, and individual National Register of Historic Places nomination forms for resources significantly associated with LGBTQ+ history. Erv Lind and McMenamin's Crystal Hotel (historically Hotel Alma) were accepted by the National Park Service, marking the second and third LGBTQ+ landmarks in Portland, Oregon. Read the full announcement.

Next opportunity to engage: None currently. Check the project website for updates.

Montgomery Park Area Plan (MPAP) and Montgomery Park to Hollywood Transit and Land Use Development Study (MP2H)

What: The Montgomery Park Area Plan (MPAP) is an outcome of the Montgomery Park to Hollywood (MP2H) Strategy, a joint effort between the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) and the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) to explore options for a successful land use and transit system, including potential future streetcar links to Montgomery Park in NW Portland and Hollywood Town Center in NE Portland. The study considers affordable housing, as well as economic development and business stabilization opportunities associated with potential transit investments, including the possible extension of the Portland Streetcar. While a proposed plan for the northwest area is moving forward, study of the northeast area has concluded.

Status: The Proposed Draft of the Montgomery Park Area Plan (MPAP) is being considered by the Planning Commission and Design Commission. The MPAP proposes land use and transportation changes to establish a new transit-oriented district in Northwest Portland, west of Highway 30, between NW Vaughn and NW Nicolai Streets. The plan envisions the area as a mixed-use employment district that supports job growth and housing development. Land use changes to promote equitable, transit-oriented development and complements a future extension of the Portland Streetcar. The changes include proposed amendments to Portland’s Comprehensive Plan map, zoning map, zoning code, and design guidance.

The MPAP Proposed Draft is being considered by the Planning Commission and the Design Commission. In May, two joint public hearings were held. Testimony from those hearings can be reviewed through the Map App. The Planning Commission held work sessions June 11, June 25, and July 9. The Design Commission held work sessions June 6 and June 20 with another session scheduled on July 18. No additional public testimony will be taken at the work sessions.

Next opportunity to engage: None currently. The Commissions’ recommendations will be forwarded to City Council for consideration. There will be opportunity for additional public testimony at the City Council hearing later this year. Check the project website for updates, upcoming hearings, and to sign up for email updates.

Odor Code Update Project

What: The City of Portland’s approach to regulating and enforcing odors is outdated and in need of workable, more equitable rules. The Odor Code Update Project will make changes to the City Code for off-site odor impacts, providing flexibility for retail businesses to operate. Read more about the Odor Code Update Project.

Status: Zoning code amendments are being drafted and will be published in a Proposed Draft to be released in late July. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the project, tentatively scheduled for August 27. Check the project website for updates.

Next opportunity to engage: Written public comments on the Proposed Draft will start being accept by the last week of July in advance of the Planning Commission hearing. The public will also have the option to give verbal comments during the hearing. Check the project website for updates and if interested sign up for email updates.

Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment Package 10 (RICAP 10)

What: The RICAP packages are an ongoing series of minor technical updates, clarifications, and refinements to Portland’s zoning regulations. RICAP 10 amendments include 83 items grouped into three themes: housing production, economic development, and regulatory reduction. Some items are minor policy changes, while others are technical amendments or clarifications with little policy impact. Cumulatively, the amendments support a more efficient and better functioning zoning code.

Status: On June 13, City Council unanimously voted to adopt a set of code amendments to help increase housing production and economic development as well as reduce regulatory barriers. The 83 items in the Regulatory Improvement Code Amendments Package 10 (RICAP 10) package become effective on October 1. Read the full announcement.

Next opportunity to engage: None. The project was adopted and takes effect October 1.

Rose Quarter Sign Code Project

What: The Rose Quarter Sign Project amends the current Sign Code, Title 32, to provide greater sign allowances and flexibility for signs within a mapped designated area called the Rose Quarter Entertainment subdistrict. The project is the result of two resolutions passed at City Council which directed BPS staff to bring Council Title 32 code amendments allowing for increased flexibility in developing signage at the Rose Garden and reducing the need for adjustments or modifications.

Status: Code amendments are being drafted and will be published in a Proposed Draft to be released in late July. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the project, tentatively scheduled for August 27. Check the project website for updates.

Next opportunity to engage: Written public comments on the Proposed Draft will start being accept by the last week of July in advance of the Planning Commission hearing. The public will also have the option to give verbal comments during the hearing. Check the project website for updates and if interested sign up for email updates.

Ongoing projects (active projects with no updates this month)

Anti-Displacement Action Plan

What: The Anti-Displacement Action Plan (ADAP) aims to increase the resiliency of the city and our communities to deal with racial and economic disparities that contribute to displacement.

Status: A cross-bureau team of City staff continues to work internally to develop tools that better align City bureau strategies and actions to combat displacement and produce more equitable outcomes for communities. Staff is also working with the Anti-Displacement Coalition to support development of a civic leadership curriculum to identify community priorities.

Next opportunity to engage: None currently. Check the project website for updates.

Economic Opportunities Analysis (EOA)

What: The purpose of the EOA is to analyze and forecast growth in Portland’s industrial and other business districts, then designate an adequate 20-year supply of developable land for businesses and jobs.

Status: BPS staff are working on the draft employment forecast and industrial buildable lands inventory. BPS also has received a Metro grant for an Industrial Land Readiness Study, which will identify development-ready sites suitable for target cluster industries and other industrial sectors; conduct a development feasibility analysis on a broad range of sites; and identify strategic actions to expand Portland’s development-ready supply of constrained industrial sites.

Next opportunity to engage: The draft EOA will be available for public review later in 2024. Check the project website for updates and if interested sign up for email updates.

Fossil Fuel Terminal Zoning Amendments

What: This ordinance readopts the remanded zoning code amendments that restrict bulk fossil fuel terminals to address the policies identified by the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) that require additional findings.

Status: The City Council adopted the ordinance in August 2022. On Sept. 29, 2023, the LUBA denied an appeal by the Portland Business Alliance, Working Waterfront Coalition, Western States Petroleum Association, Oregon Business and Industry, and Columbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades Council. This LUBA decision was appealed to Oregon Court of Appeals, which upheld the LUBA decision to affirm the City Council’s adoption of reasonable limits on fossil fuel infrastructure. The Court of Appeals decision has not been appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court; however the ordinance has been challenged in federal court by the State of Montana, Western Energy Alliance, Pacific Propane Gas Association, Idaho Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, and Christensen, Inc. The federal case is still pending.

Next opportunity to engage: None currently.

Adopted projects (pending effective dates)

Floodplain Resilience Plan

What: The plan updated floodplain regulations throughout the city to ensure that new development in the floodplain addresses flood risk from a changing climate, does not jeopardize threatened and endangered species, and allows Portlanders to continue to obtain federally backed flood insurance.

Status: In October 2023, City Council voted unanimously to adopt zoning code amendments that reduce the impacts of future flooding on those who live or work in or near Portland’s floodplains. City Council added several key amendments to the package. Most of the requirements went into effect on March 1 and the remaining items go into effect Oct. 1. Read the full announcement.

Lower SE Rising Area Plan

What: The Lower SE Rising (LSER) Area Plan addresses the historic lack of neighborhood commercial services, diverse housing options, and infrastructure investment in the Brentwood-Darlington Neighborhood and nearby areas, including parts of the Mt Scott-Arleta, Woodstock and Lents neighborhoods. Informed by two years of community input, the plan includes zoning map changes and recommendations for transportation projects to implement the community’s aspirations for more neighborhood businesses and housing options, supported by transportation improvements, to make it easier to meet daily needs locally and help address affordability.

Status: On May 2, City Council voted unanimously to adopt the Lower SE Rising Area Plan’s land use map amendments and a directive to include the plan’s transportation projects in the in next update to the Transportation System Plan. The land use changes expand zoning for commercial and residential uses along the plan area’s major corridors and in mixed-use centers. The land use map amendments will go into effect on Oct. 1. Read the full announcement.

Next opportunity to engage: None. Project is adopted and becomes effective on Oct. 1.

Useful resources

• Planning Commission
  • View tentative agendas and upcoming meeting schedules.
  • Planning Commission meetings are held in hybrid format. Meetings are open to the public to attend in person, live-streamed and available on-demand, and broadcast tape-delayed on Channel 30.
  • Check individual project pages or the meeting schedule for details on testifying.
• City Council
  • View upcoming City Council agendas or subscribe to receive agenda notifications.
  • City Council meetings are held in hybrid format, broadcast live, and past meetings are available on-demand.
• Map App
  • Look at interactive maps, submit testimony during testimony periods, and read submitted testimony through the BPS Map App interactive tool.
• PortlandMaps
  • See existing zoning, building permit, transportation, natural resource information, and more on PortlandMaps.com.
• Sign up for BPS email updates
  • Do you like these monthly project updates from BPS? Subscribe to receive email notifications when these updates are published.