Code Evaluation Public Forums
Summary of Public Comments
On March 1 and 2, 2022, the City of Portland hosted two public forums to solicit community feedback on recommendations for updating the city’s land use code as presented in the land use code evaluation . Each public forum consisted of three 45-minute sessions focused on key topic areas in the evaluation: housing, climate change, transportation, complete neighborhoods, the built environment, and economic development. Each session provided a variety of opportunities for feedback, through real-time polling and idea/question generation, as well as through a more traditional “question and answer” period. Here's a summary of what we heard.
March 1 Public Forum
The public forum held on March 1 addressed the topics of housing, climate change, and transportation. 72 individuals registered to attend. Of those in attendance, 36 participants chose to use the forum's interactive polling and feedback tools. The summary provided below is based on those attendees who answered the polls, submitted comments, or asked questions during the forum.
Housing
The forum began with a presentation on the housing-related recommendations of the code evaluation. Following the presentation, attendees were asked to rank their top three recommendations from the evaluation in terms of importance. Collectively, attendees ranked adjusting dimensional standards and uses to support more housing in mixed-use zones, allowing a greater diversity of housing types in residential zones, and rezoning certain areas, particularly off-peninsula as most important.
Attendees were also asked if they felt any key ideas related to housing were left out of the code evaluation. Responses generally focused on modifying dimensional standards (such as densities and heights) to support more housing, diversifying housing types (e.g. co-housing, rowhouses) supported by the code, adding housing as a permitted use where it is currently not allowed (or eliminating use provisions from the code altogether), and modifying parking regulations to support housing.
Some attendees raised concerns about going too far with dimensional and use permissions, suggesting that past amendments to the code should be studied for lessons learned, and any future changes should be carefully tailored to ensure that they produce the intended results.
Climate Change
Recommendations pertaining to climate change were presented, and attendees were asked to rank their top three recommendations in terms of importance. Altogether, meeting attendees ranked encouraging transit oriented, mixed-use development along transit corridors, supporting more intensive growth in areas with no (or low) flood risk, and planning for less intensive growth in areas of high flood risk as most important.
Attendees were asked if they felt the land use code evaluation missed any key climate change-related ideas. Attendees who responded suggested that carbon impact analyses should be incorporated into the review of new development projects, that the land use code should consider new forms of transit, and that a regional perspective should be taken in thinking about residential development and greenhouse gas emissions.
Transportation
Transportation-related recommendations from the code evaluation were presented. As with other topic areas, attendees were asked to rank their top three in terms of importance. From the results of the poll, encouraging transit-oriented development along transit corridors again emerged as a top priority of attendees. Establishing parking maximums in locations proximate to transit and consistently addressing the design of off-street parking were also deemed particularly important by attendees.
Attendees were asked if they felt any key ideas related to transportation were missing from the code evaluation. Respondents' ideas generally focused on policies that support carsharing, ridesharing, rapid transit, rail, and other evolving ‘alternative’ modes, including increased residential density.
March 2 Public Forum
The public forum held on March 2 addressed the topics of complete neighborhoods, the built environment, and economic development. 62 individuals registered to attend the sessions. Of those in attendance, 28 participants chose to provide feedback using the interactive tools provided during the forum. The summary below is based upon those attendees who answered the polls, submitted comments, or asked questions.
Complete Neighborhoods
Complete neighborhoods-related recommendations were reviewed, and attendees were asked to rank their top three in terms of importance. Collectively, meeting attendees ranked adding neighborhood-scale retail uses to residential zoning, adding pockets of mixed-use zoning to neighborhoods, and eliminating distinctions between on- and off-peninsula densities in mixed-use zones as the most important recommendations.
Attendees were asked if they felt the code evaluation missed any key ideas around complete neighborhoods. Responses included suggestions about adding neighborhood-scale commercial to all zones, adding denser housing forms, clarifying the definitions of neighborhood-scale commercial uses, improving pedestrian, bicycle, and transit connections within and between neighborhoods, modifying parking requirements to reduce or consolidate parking supply, and supporting the planting of additional trees within a neighborhood context.
The Built Environment
The code evaluation recommendations pertaining to the built environment were presented, and attendees were asked to rank their top three in terms of importance. Among attendees, adjusting dimensional standards to encourage a more walkable environment, integrating elements of the Pedestrian Activities District (PAD) into base zoning, and developing dimensional and design standards that encourage visual and physical access to the waterfront were most commonly identified as important.
Attendees were asked if they felt any key ideas were left out of the code evaluation. Responses included moving to a more form-based approach to dimensional standards, reducing setbacks, modifying height bonuses for affordable housing, and reducing the overall amount of regulation as a means of encouraging building across the city.
Economic Development
Recommendations pertaining to economic development were presented, and attendees were asked to rank their top three in terms of importance. Among meeting attendees, adding pockets of mixed-use zoning to neighborhoods, adding creative uses to the list of permitted uses, and encouraging transit-oriented, mixed-use development along transit corridors received the highest rankings.
Attendees suggested that the code should address micro-retail spaces (both outside and within a neighborhood residential context), add uses within the western waterfront, and support additional housing as an economic development tool.
Throughout the forums, attendees also asked numerous questions and made many general comments. All of these questions and comments have been compiled in a summary here .
So what are the key take-aways?
The forums provided valuable public feedback on the land use code evaluation, including strong support for many of the evaluation's recommendations. As with other public engagement around the code evaluation, participants expressed support for land use policy that encourages affordable housing production and housing production in general, provides a foundation for transit and other 'alternative' modes of transportation, facilitates neighborhood-scale commercial, and promotes sustainability.
If you missed the forums but you're interested in watching them, you can still view them here! Follow these links to watch the March 1 forum , which focused on the topics of housing, climate change and transportation, and the March 2 forum , which focused on complete neighborhoods, the built environment, and economic development.
