191063

The City of Portland ordains:

Section 1. The Council finds:

1. On September 8, 1977, the City Council through ordinance 144325 established the Lair Hill Conservation District to encourage the conservation and maintenance of the historical and architectural integrity of the district.

2. In October 1980, the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission adopted the Lair Hill Historic Conservation District Guidelines to support development and preservation within the district.

3. On July 1, 1998, a National Register of Historic Places nomination was approved by the National Park Service, expanding the boundaries of the Lair Hill Conservation District and automatically establishing the South Portland Historic District.

4. The South Portland Historic District is historically significant as a former gateway for ethnic groups arriving to the city of Portland, representing, in particular, Jewish and Italian immigrants.

5. The South Portland Historic District is also historically significant for exemplifying the characteristics of house, plex, mixed-use, and institutional buildings dating to the 1876-1926 period.

6. The 1980 Lair Hill Historic Conservation District Guidelines apply only to the smaller, original Lair Hill Conservation District geography, do not represent modern best practice for City of Portland design guidelines, and lack context and criteria related to the district’s multi-ethnic cultural significance.

7. In July 2018, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability received funding from a Metro 2040 Planning and Development Grant to update the design guidelines for the South Portland Historic District.

8. The South Portland Historic District Design Guidelines Project was initiated by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability in March 2019 to create a new set of district-specific historic resource review approval criteria that build upon both the 1980 guidelines and 1998 historic district nomination to provide greater historic resource protection and development opportunity in the South Portland Historic District prior to possible new transit investments being built in or near the historic district.

9. On July 9, 2019, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability appointed a nine-member Community Advisory Group comprised of area residents, business interests, students, and historic preservation professionals to guide the development of the design guidelines.

10. On June 6, 2022, the South Portland Historic District Design Guidelines Proposed Draft was released for public review. Bureau of Planning and Sustainability staff attended the regular meeting of the South Portland Neighborhood Association and provided emailed and mailed notice to interested persons to solicit feedback on the draft Guidelines.

11. The Historic Landmarks Commission held a public hearing on the proposed South Portland Historic District Design Guidelines on July 11, 2022.

12. The Historic Landmarks Commission conducted a work session on July 25, 2022, before voting to forward an amended version of the South Portland Historic District Design Guidelines to City Council on August 8, 2022.

13. On September 30, 2022, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability staff released the South Portland Historic District Design Guidelines Recommended Draft for public review.

14. On October 7, 2022, notice of the November 2, 2022, City Council public hearing was provided to those who presented oral and written testimony to the Historic Landmarks Commission.

15. The City Council held a hearing on the South Portland Historic District Design Guidelines Recommended Draft on November 2, 2022.

16. The Findings of Fact Report, attached as Exhibit A, includes additional findings demonstrating consistency with the Statewide Planning Goals, Metro Urban Growth Management Functional Plan, and the City of Portland 2035 Comprehensive Plan.

NOW, THEREFORE, the Council directs:

1. Adopt Exhibit A, Findings of Fact Report, dated October 2022, as additional findings;
2. Adopt Exhibit B, Historic Landmarks Commission Transmittal Letter, dated August 2022, as additional findings;
3. Adopt the design guidelines in Exhibit C, South Portland Historic District Design Guidelines Recommended Draft, dated September 2022, as approval criteria for historic resource review within the South Portland Historic District;
4. Adopt the background content included in Exhibit C, South Portland Historic District Design Guidelines Recommended Draft, dated September 2022, as legislative intent and further findings;
5. Repeal the Lair Hill Historic Conservation District Design Guidelines; and
6. This Ordinance and Exhibit C are binding City policy.   

Section 2. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect on January 1, 2023.

Section 3. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, diagram or drawing contained in this ordinance, or the map, report, inventory, analysis, or document it adopts or amends, is held to be deficient, invalid or unconstitutional, that shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions. The Council declares that it would have adopted the map, report, inventory, analysis, or document each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, diagram and drawing thereof, regardless of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases, diagrams or drawings contained in this Ordinance, may be found to be deficient, invalid or unconstitutional.