Comments on: Accessory dwelling unit permits up in Portland

By: Zack at Hammer and Hand

Zack at Hammer and Hand — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:59:14 +0000

Nick,

Absolutely. Thank you for covering this! We’re pretty committed to ensuring that the waiving of SDCs isn’t merely a PR move but that it results in real projects on the ground. The current work is to find progressive lenders who will invest in ADUs so that homeowners don’t need to pay for these entirely out of pocket. Let’s stay in touch,

Zack

By: Nick Bjork

Nick Bjork — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:31:53 +0000

Zack,

You know, I have written about this SDC waiver a few times and my opinion about it has changed. At first I thought it was a PR move, take the SDC charge that never gets used, drop it and have a bunch of reporters write about it. But what Riley said, what you are saying, and what the Tribune article found, really proves that it’s a smart move. You don’t lose as much city revenue and you help a sector of the building industry out greatly. Also, you improve density and help out homeowners.

Lets talk in a few months and write an article about it.

Thanks for reading.

By: Zack at Hammer and Hand

Zack at Hammer and Hand — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:24:19 +0000

Riley Whitcomb is right on when he says that "waiving the fees has done its job." There's good logic behind waiving SDCs for Accessory Dwelling Units because 1. ADUs have a much lower impact on the City's infrastructure than conventional construction, and 2. given relatively small construction costs of ADUs, SDCs have been disproportionally large. Accessory Dwelling Units (aka granny flats or backyard cottages) meet all sorts of economic development and sustainability goals for our community - really critical stuff in today's climate. So the trade-off in lost SDC revenue is well worth the investment to encourage the development of Accessory Dwelling Units. http://hammerandhand.com/accessory-dwelling has more info, photos, links to other news stories about ADUs.