91视频

Work within Portland bureaus to achieve goals set forth in the city’s is proceeding, and the Historic Landmarks Commission on Monday was given a chance to weigh in.

The commission got a look at a draft of a letter that the Bureau of Development Services (BDS) will send to the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) outlining possible ways to revamp city codes to encourage owners to not tear down residential buildings in some of Portland’s oldest neighborhoods.

鈥淭his letter is a work in progress,鈥� BDS planner Benjamin Nielson said. 鈥淚t is a starting point for the final letter that we will be submitting on (the commission’s) behalf to the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.鈥�

Three main goals are being pursued via the proposed code changes. The first is to preserve not only properties listed on the city’s Historic Resources Inventory, but also those that add to the character of a neighborhood. The second is to define eligibility for incentives by targeting structures age 50 or older. The third is to determine the neighborhood compatibility of cottage clusters and the allowance for two detached accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as well as provisions for additional floor area ratio (FAR).

Most of the conversation on Monday centered on whether the incentive eligibility would be too broad. By making any house older than 50 years eligible for the incentives, regardless of historic status, nearly 70,000 of the 80,000 housing structures on the east side of the design overlay zone would be eligible for the incentives. The design overlay zone in question includes much of the inner city.

鈥淭hat doesn’t necessarily mean it is a bad thing to offer that incentive path to those older houses,鈥� Commission Vice Chairwoman Kristen Minor said. 鈥淏ut by setting a number are we getting houses that are worthy of preservation?鈥�

The 50-year mark was based on a number used by the National Park Service for eligibility on its National Register of Historic Places. There is nothing in city code that specifies the age a property can become historic.

鈥淚 think that 50 years is kind of arbitrary, but it is a starting point,鈥� Commission Chairman Kirk Ranzetta said.

鈥淚 would just offer that it is helpful to have that as a basis,鈥� Commissioner Wendy Chung said. 鈥淎t least the 50 number corresponds to some objective number, even if it is not ours. I don’t think we should pick a different number.鈥�

Defining eligibility for incentives is tough because Portland lacks a comprehensive inventory of historic residential structures, Ranzetta said.

鈥淚t’s incredibly difficult to craft a code to protect a resource we don’t know anything about,鈥� he said.

The commission indicated it is more comfortable with the idea of cottage clusters and additional ADUs within the design overlay zone.

The letter will be revised before being presented again to the Historic Landmarks Commission for approval. The final version will be sent to BPS, which will incorporate it into proposed code changes. They will go before the City Council as part of the Residential Infill Project.