Free Newsletter
Portland’s updated comprehensive plan is geared to respond to a mixed-use development boom expected to continue.
City planners this month released a draft of the 2035 Comprehensive Plan 鈥� a long-range look at anticipated growth and development in Portland over the next 20 years. The effort updates the current comprehensive plan, adopted in 1980, to reflect the increasing popularity of mixed-use developments along commercial corridors.
The updated plan is based on a Metro forecast that Portland will gain 200,000 residents between now and 2025. In response to that influx and shifting demographics, about 65 percent of construction in Portland is multifamily 鈥� mostly mixed-use buildings. That percentage is expected to increase to 80 percent by 2035, according to city projections.
The updated comprehensive plan will encourage more such development in areas like east Portland to create walkable urban neighborhoods. A focus on mixed-use development in neighborhood commercial districts, like Hillsdale and Hollywood, fits with city goals to promote more sustainable infill projects that provide housing for the city’s growing population, planners say.
“It’s much more about talking about the development in places than land use,” chief planner Joe Zehnder said. “We hope to guide the private investment.”
In parts of the city where mixed-use development has surged, such as Southeast Division Street, planners also hope to better respond to neighborhood concerns about the size and scale of projects with new zoning regulations.
The will create zones catered to recent development trends. It also refines the updated comprehensive plan’s emphasis on growing mixed-use centers.
“Our whole growth strategy relies on the development of mixed use,” Portland principal planner Eric Engstrom said. “There is not a lot of buy-in in neighborhoods about this type of development.”
The project is being paid for via a $380,000 construction exercise tax grant from Metro. The new zones should be ready to go before the Planning and Sustainability Commission in mid-2015 following hearings for the updated comprehensive plan in late September.
Currently, the city uses commercial and central employment zones that were created in the 1990s, when car-centric developments and lower-density commercial projects were more common. These zones allow for residential use, but are vague about the parameters, creating uncertainty among neighborhood residents about what sorts of mixed-use development city code allows, Engstrom said. A new palette of mixed-use zones will be more specific and incorporate community feedback on the preferred design of mixed-use projects, he said.
“Our general thought is (the zones) can be beefed up to better reflect what type of buildings that are happening today,” Engstrom said.
This could include design standards on building heights, floor plans of the residential stories and requirements for ground-floor retail and windows, Engstrom said. For instance, ground-floor retail could be required on core commercial streets like Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard or in areas like Multnomah Village in Southwest Portland, he said.
In the future, city planners may consider creating guidelines for the design of mixed-use buildings going up in different neighborhood centers, Zehnder said.
“We want to have a value package that comes with the center,” he said.
Last month, city officials hosted a series to community walks to gather feedback on mixed-use development. Neighborhood concerns included the height of mixed-use buildings and how they relate to strictly residential areas, the scarcity of on-street parking and a boom in mixed-use construction that has chocked up traffic in areas like Southeast Division, Engstrom said. During the walk along North Williams Avenue, residents voiced worries about gentrification and asked city officials to offer incentives for affordable housing development in the neighborhood, he said.
In addition to seeking community feedback, the city hired San Francisco-based urban planning firm Dyett & Bhatia to conduct a national survey of best practices in mixed-use zoning.
“There is a lot of innovation in new zoning code over the last decade, and I’m sure there is more we can learn from other cities,” Engstrom said.
2035 Comprehensive Plan
The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is collecting public input on a proposed draft of the 2035 Comprehensive Plan through a variety of means.
Public meetings:
What: Meeting focused on plan’s goals and policies
When: Sept. 23 at 5 p.m.
Where: 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave., Room 2500A
What: Meeting focused on plan’s maps
When: Oct. 14 at 5 p.m.
Where: TBA
What: Meeting focused on plan’s maps
When: Oct. 28 at 5 p.m.
Where: TBA
What: Meeting focused on citywide systems plan and transportation system plan
When: Nov. 4 at 4 p.m.
Where: 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave., Room 2500A
Hotline: People can call 503-823-0195, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays to ask plan-related questions.
Map app: People can view and comment on the plan via an interactive map app, which is available at www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/65337.
More information: .
