91ÊÓƵ

The Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission will continue discussing the draft update to the city’s comprehensive plan in an upcoming work session focused on housing needs, residential density and transportation infrastructure upgrades.

Commissioners are scheduled to meet Tuesday from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. at 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave. in Suite 2500A to discuss portions of the draft 2035 Comprehensive Plan – a long-range look at anticipated growth and development in Portland over the next 20 years.

for the work session published online recently include recommended amendments to the draft plan based on public testimony regarding housing issues, residential densities and the proposed Transportation System Plan.

Planned work session discussion topics include prioritizing transportation infrastructure projects to keep up with Portland’s growing population and meeting housing needs while addressing concerns about affordability, gentrification and displacement. Commissioners will also discuss increasing or decreasing the amount of residential density allowed in certain parts of the city as well as the impacts of infill development on established neighborhoods, said Eden Dabbs, spokeswoman for the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

City planners last summer released the draft comprehensive plan. The effort updates the current comprehensive plan, adopted in 1980, based on a Metro forecast that Portland will gain 200,000 residents between now and 2025.

Tuesday’s work session will be the fourth featuring discussion of the draft plan before a vote by the commission this spring whether to recommend its goals, policies and land use map to the Portland City Council for approval, Dabbs said. A fifth work session is scheduled for March 24 at 3 p.m. to discuss additional topics not covered in previous sessions, she said.

This summer and fall, the commission will review the plan’s proposed zoning changes under a separate approval process, Dabbs said. If the City Council were to adopt the updated comprehensive plan, it would need state approval to take effect, she said. The new zones likely would not go into full effect until 2017.