Project purpose
The Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment Package 11 (RICAP 11) of Zoning Code amendments is the most recent installment of an ongoing series of updates and improvements to Portland’s land use regulations. The purpose of this series is to remove barriers to development across the city. This project follows on the heels of the RICAP 10 package of amendments, which were adopted by City Council in June 2024 and went into effect in October of that year.
The RICAP 11 workplan contains over 50 items for possible regulatory improvement, with an emphasis on three themes: parking, exterior areas, and general regulatory improvement.
What's in RICAP 11?
The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) maintains the Regulatory Improvement Request (RIR) database, which is available to community members and implementation staff to enter requests for code amendments. The RIR database presently contains over 400 suggested code amendments. The RICAP workplans are developed using RIR items that are ranked to help identify high priority items.
The RICAP 11 workplan contains over 50 items, which represent minor policy (19 items) or technical (35 items) amendments, and are bundled into these themes:
- Parking and loading
- Minor policy (6 items)
- Technical amendments (7 items)
- Exterior areas
- Minor policy (7 items)
- Technical amendments (10 items)
- Regulatory improvement
- Minor policy (6 items)
- Technical amendments (19 items)
RICAP 11 project timeline (subject to change)
Winter 2024 - RICAP 11 workplan released
Spring 2025 - Project staff draft RICAP 11 zoning code amendment package
Summer 2025 - Discussion draft released for public review and comment
Fall 2025 - Planning Commission public hearing
Winter 2025 - City Council public hearing and adoption
March 1, 2026 - Effective
Project background
Portland’s current Zoning Code was adopted in 1990. Changing needs, new laws and court rulings, new technology and innovations, and shifting perceptions necessitate that the City’s zoning regulations be updated and improved from time to time. One path for facilitating minor and technical amendments to the zoning code is through the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability’s Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment program.
The Regulatory Improvement program began in 2002 to “update and improve City building and land use regulations that hinder desirable development.” One component of the program - the Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment Packages (RICAP) - was designed to provide an ongoing vehicle for technical and minor policy amendments to the City’s regulations. From 2003 to 2010, the City Council adopted eight packages of amendments (Policy Packages 1-3 and RICAP 1 through 5), which resulted in many amendments to city regulations. Most of the changes were to zoning code regulations. Following a suspension of the program due to budget limitations from 2010 to 2013, the program was reinstated in 2014 and RICAP 6 through 8 followed. Another suspension of the program occurred from 2016 to 2022, also due to budget constraints.
In 2022, the City’s Permitting Improvement Task Force highlighted the need for continuous improvement of the City’s zoning regulations and identified the value the RICAP program had provided while it was funded. As a result, the program was reinstated and RICAP 10 was adopted in June 2024 and effective Oct. 1, 2024. RICAP 11 is the next installment of the Regulatory Improvement program.