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Portland planning commissioners greeted the city’s proposed inclusionary zoning policy with sharp questions Tuesday.

Housing Bureau staffers gave Planning and Sustainability Commission members their first briefing on the policy, pulling together months of work by consultants, city staff and a panel of outside experts that included developers.

Some planning commissioners said they want more answers about the proposal before giving their seal of approval and sending it to the City Council in December.

鈥淲e’re being asked to move very, very quickly,鈥� said Jeff Bachrach, a Portland land-use attorney who serves on the commission, 鈥渁nd there are risks.鈥�

The policy is intended to prod developers to create affordable housing in Portland’s increasingly expensive real-estate market. But even the city’s consultants who are helping craft the policy admit construction could slow if the subsidies and incentives don’t fully compensate for reduced revenue from providing affordable housing.

The Planning and Sustainability Commission’s review of the policy comes as Commissioner Dan Saltzman’s office pursues an aggressive schedule for adoption. All signs point to inclusionary zoning policy going before City Council in December, with an effective date as early as Feb. 1, 2017.

鈥淚t’s been a huge amount of work on an incredible fast track,鈥� Bachrach said. 鈥淚 absolutely hope we get to an affordable housing or (inclusionary zoning) policy that works. I’m just concerned it’s not well-baked yet.鈥�

A key issue is whether the proposed incentives 鈥� including density bonuses, and property-tax and construction-excise tax exemptions 鈥� would preserve feasibility of developments.

The Housing Bureau’s policy aims to provide adequate incentives, but it wouldn’t be precisely revenue-neutral for developers, said Matthew Tschabold, the bureau’s policy and equity manager.

鈥淭he calibration was not a dollar-for-dollar process,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e did the best we could to get it about to where it was (before inclusionary zoning). In some instances, we’re marginally above. In some instances, we’re marginally below.鈥�

Tschabold acknowledged the city may need to sweeten incentives in mixed-use zones.

The inclusionary zoning policy would require developers of 20 units or more to set aside 20 percent of their units at rents affordable to families at 80 percent of the Portland area’s median family income. Developers could instead opt to set aside 10 percent of their units at 60 percent of area median income.

Incentives would include a density bonus of 3.0 floor-to-area ratio, or FAR, meaning developers could potentially add up to three more floors. They also could receive a 10-year property tax exemption on all units or on the affordable units, a construction-excise tax waiver on the affordable units and development fee waivers on affordable units.

The incentive package would vary depending on whether the site is in a zone with a FAR of 5.0 or more, and whether the site is in the Central City or a mixed-use zone.

The inclusionary zoning policy also would give developers the option of building new affordable units off-site, or dedicating existing units off-site. Those options require deeper affordability 鈥� 20 percent of total units at 60 percent of area median income, or 10 of total units at 30 percent of area median income 鈥� to encourage developers to include affordable units on-site.

Developers would also be able to pay the city a fee in lieu of building affordable units. The recommended fee would vary from $23.83 to $29.85 per gross square foot of residential development. That means a 50,000-square-foot residential building could easily lead to more than $1 million of in-lieu fees.

The fees are based on what it would cost the Housing Bureau to build affordable units, bureau officials said.

Portland’s in-lieu fee is designed to discourage developers from taking that route. City officials prefer developers build affordable units.

鈥淲e want the units,鈥� Housing Director Kurt Creager said in a meeting Tuesday with the inclusionary zoning panel of experts. 鈥淲hat am I going to do with the fee? Go out into the market, find land (and) compete with private developers. The money doesn’t do us that much good.鈥�

Other cities such as San Francisco have intentionally structured their fee-in-lieu option so paying the fee is more attractive than building affordable units, housing officials said. Portland is taking the opposite approach.

Portland is the first Oregon city to forge ahead with an inclusionary zoning policy after the Legislature in March rescinded a ban on local affordable housing policies.