What’s new from the Residential Infill Project?

Project staff are developing draft code and map amendments for community review in the fall.
Published

Since City Council approved a set of working concepts for the Residential Infill Project last December, the project team has been working with other City bureaus and local agencies to develop the draft Zoning Code and mapping amendments. Community members will get a chance to review and comment on those proposals in a few months.

Opportunities to review draft code and map concepts

Staff are planning a series of public review events this fall to share these draft ideas with the community before finalizing proposals for the Planning and Sustainability Commission’s public hearings. The updated timeline below is included in the latest project summary sheet.    

A timeline

Now, let’s clear up some misunderstandings …

We know this is a controversial project and some rumors have been circulating, especially on social media sites like Nextdoor. Because we don’t respond to questions or statements on these platforms, we’ve created a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to address some of the misunderstandings. Here are a couple rumors the FAQs hope to dispel:

  • “The Residential Infill project is a done deal.”

The project is not over; it is in midstream. Phase I: Concept Development has been completed, and we are now in Phase II: Code and Map Amendments. Phase I was completed last December when City Council accepted the Concept Report. The concepts in the report gave staff direction to develop a formal proposal as part of Phase II, which involves developing amendments to the Zoning Code and Zoning Map for public review this fall. After the community weighs in on a draft of code and map amendments during the summer, staff will prepare a Proposed Draft for the Planning and Sustainability Commission to consider and hold public hearings in the fall. The PSC will amend the Proposed Draft based on public feedback and their deliberations, then send a Recommended Draft to City Council for a decision in 2018. See the timeline above for the steps in each phase.

  • “Council will be holding public hearings on the mapping options (this summer).”

City Council will not be holding more hearings on the conceptual boundary of the Housing Opportunity Overlay zone. When staff met with newly elected Mayor Ted Wheeler to discuss the overlay concept boundary and mapping approaches, he gave staff new direction: Rather than go back to Council, he wanted the PSC to hold hearings on a refined overlay zone boundary and forward their recommendations to Council.

The Mayor also directed staff to use the conceptual boundary on page 14 of staff’s Concept Report to Council as a starting place to begin further refinement of the boundary. To accomplish the boundary refinement, staff is working with representatives from PBOT, Tri-Met, Water, Fire, Police, BES, BDS, Metro and Housing Bureau. Potential boundary refinements will be based on infrastructure capacity, physical barriers, natural features and potential equity impacts. Project staff will share a draft boundary to Portlanders in the fall, before a proposed boundary goes to the PSC.

For More Information

Morgan Tracy, Project Manager, morgan.tracy@portlandoregon.gov, 503-823-6879
Julia Gisler, Public Involvement, julia.gisler@portlandoregon.gov, 503-823-7624

For general information about the project, visit the website at www.portland.gov/rip.