Last night was so chaotic with primary elections, it was easy to overlook the long-winded zoning hearing taking place before Portland’s Planning and Sustainability Commission. The hearing centered on the Residential Infill Project (RIP, a truly tragic acronym), and drew testimony from people eager to increase affordable housing across Portland, and others upset with new buildings ruining the look of their neighborhood.
Residential infill is a pet project of City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who is carrying on the torch from her predecessor Steve Novick. The proposed plan, which could affect the zoning of 60 percent of Portland, currently limits the size of new houses to 2,500 to 2,800 square feet for most lots and allows for houses to build two accessory dwelling units (ADUs)—aka “granny flats”—per lot. It also would permit duplexes, duplexes with detached ADUs, and triplexes on corner lots, and clarify rules to make building on narrow lots easier. Those in favor of the plan argue that it will provide “missing middle” housing, while those against it call the project a land grab for developers.
According to people who attended the well-documented hearing, a total of 88 people gave testimony, about half in favor of the project.
“Single-family zoning is one of those things from the 1950s that isn’t a good idea anymore, like meat jello,” said one supporter, Tanner Balldus.
The discussion around RIP stands at an interesting intersection of concerns: People’s hatred of massive, McMansion-style houses and the unyielding need for affordable housing. The caps on house size are controversial even on the pro-infill side, with housing advocacy group Portland for Everyone tweeting “let buildings get a little bigger for each [additional] home they contain… allow small homes everywhere, not just west of I-205.” Portland for Everyone also provided a letter explaining its support for RIP.
We’re tweeting highlights from tonight’s crowded planning commission hearing on re-legalizing duplexes & corner triplexes in Portland #HousingOptions pic.twitter.com/2gITdczgIy
— Portland for Everyone (@pdx4all) May 15, 2018
Other groups, like the Multnomah Neighborhood Association, are raising money for a legal fight against the pending RIP project.
The testimony from recent hearings will be incorporated into a recommended draft proposal which should appear before Portland City Council sometime this fall. There it will face more hearings, deliberation, and possibly amendments before going to a vote.
This project has been in the works for three years. It’s been led by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, which was led by Mayor Wheeler and before that Mayor Hales.
Commissioner Eudaly joined the City Council in 2017.
For better or worse this is absolutely not Eudaly’s project, it is kind of crazy to publish this article with that glaring of an error.
It’s not only the easily-checked factual error.
It’s also the lazy reduction of a complicated issue into a simplistic, binary horse race –1000 Friends versus the neighborhood associations.
This is the code for single family development for the next 20 years. There are at least half a dozen issues that are being discussed here.
Talking to one person who’s a simplistic “yes” and another who’s a reactive “no” and deciding that you know everything about this topic is just weak and disappointing reporting.
Maybe if the writer had attended all the hearings instead of just the final night it would have been helpful?
Mercury readers really deserve better.
Hey so my name is only 1 l. That’s just my fb name.
@manao Are you referring to the “nonscientific public engagement panel” where only ” 13 percent of respondents preferred an urban central neighborhood” to try and argue how to to zone our central urban neighborhoods?
Also single family homes in urban areas are out of reach for almost everyone. To pretend single vs multifamily units are just about preference is silly. It’d be like saying all planes should be first class only because everyone would prefer to fly first class. Some of us have to fly coach.
Also is my check from the Trumper in the mail with my Soros check? Haven’t gotten that one either.
Dunno why my comment disappeared, but just so the comments here make sense to everyone, and also the Residential Infill Project itself, I was just pointing out that Trumper money fuels the RIP push, manipulating earnest Portlanders that they’re working toward “housing options,” which basically are pricy units replacing smaller, cheaper, and more durable old-growth homes. More about the Trumper connection: https://unitedneighborhoodsforreform.blogspot.com; and here’s the link to the referenced Metro survey: https://www.oregonmetro.gov/news/innovative-study-examines-regions-housing-preferences.