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The city of Portland plans to combine the Portland Planning Commission with the joint city-Multnomah County Sustainability Development Commission.

The new board, the Planning and Sustainability Commission, will consist of 11 members. These include the eight existing Planning Commission members, one Sustainability Development Commission member and two new members. Mike Houck, executive director of the Urban Greenspace Institute, will be the lone Sustainability Development Commission member to join the new board.

“The combination will help us coordinate the items and efforts of both commissions,” said Sandra Wood, project manager with the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. “But it’s actually more of a philosophical decision by the city to affirm that planning and sustainability are inseparable.”

The merger will save the city about $10,000 to $15,000 a year, but that wasn’t a driving factor in the decision to combine the two boards, Wood said.

The new commission will function like the Planning Commission in terms of meeting times and how the board votes on items, Wood said. The commission will assist the city with the long-term process and the .

Portland City Council will hold a hearing on the new commission at its Aug. 4 meeting, where the public is encouraged to comment. City council will then vote Aug. 13 whether to approve the new commission and appoint the two new members. The commission would be seated Sept. 13, and following a retreat, would hold its inaugural meeting Oct. 12.