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After holding two open houses for the public and five meetings with stakeholders during the past two months, the city of Portland is close to finalizing new draft guidelines for the New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District.

The last open house was held last week and city staff is now refining the language of the guidelines, said Brandon Spencer-Hartle, historic resources program manager for the city鈥檚 Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

鈥淪taff is doing administrative refinement to background documents and guideline language to make sure we get it right and take what the stakeholder committee directed us to do to heart,鈥� he said. 鈥淓very guideline will have multiple options and we want to make sure the language is clear and defensible for the (Historic) Landmarks Commission review process.鈥�

The 10-member stakeholder committee for the new guidelines is composed of architects, members of the Historic Landmarks Commission, and representatives from historic preservation groups and neighborhood associations, Spencer-Hartle said.

After the proposed guidelines are released on Aug. 1, they will be available on the city鈥檚 web site for 35 days for review and public comment. The Landmarks Commission initially will consider the draft guidelines on Sept. 12 with a second reading on Sept. 26, Spencer-Hartle said.

鈥淭he proposed draft will look much like the final draft,鈥� he said. The draft will be updated following the Landmark Commission鈥檚 input and consideration of public input. Once the commission is happy, it will be forwarded to the city council around the end of the year.鈥�

Some aspects of the new guidelines will be affected by the 2035 Central City Plan, he said, which is being refined as an amendment to the 2035 Comprehensive Plan, adopted by Portland City Council last week.

In particular, height limits in the north part of the district, currently between 75 and 350 feet, will likely be lowered to a maximum of 125 feet, Spencer-Hartle said.

鈥淭hroughout the district there will be allowances for bonus heights, he said.

Current details on the new historic district guidelines are available

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