Portland city councilors indicated on Thursday they will support a proposed construction excise tax when it goes to final vote next week.

Much of the discussion at the council meeting involved specifics about the tax: how the money will be spent, whether developers of brownfield property would be taxed and whether multifamily property would be classified as commercial or residential.

The tax as currently devised would assess developers of residential and commercial properties 1 percent of total assessed value. It would generate between $47 million and $57 million by 2035, according to Kurt Creager, director of the Portland Housing Bureau.

Under a plan proposed by Commissioner Dan Saltzman, 100 percent of that revenue would go toward efforts to build more affordable housing for families earning 60 percent of the area’s median family income. Previously, a different plan proposed by Mayor Charlie Hales called for the proceeds to also go to police and programs fighting homelessness.

Supporters of affordable housing who crowded into City Hall on Thursday waved papers that read, “Dear City Hall, Do the Right Thing on CET – Keep it 100,” to encourage councilors to not divide the tax’s revenue among other budget areas.

“I think this is a momentous day,” Commissioner Nick Fish said. “My sense now is there is strong support up here on dedicating the full 100 percent.”

The tax was enabled by a new state law that came out of the 2016 legislative session. The package, which struck down a 17-year ban on inclusionary zoning, also included a law allowing construction excise taxes.

The proposed Portland construction tax was supported by everyone who testified at the Thursday meeting, including developer and Portland Housing Advisory Commission member Dike Dame.

Fish said he had gotten some letters from some trade associations opposing the tax.

“What is your reaction to some of this pushback?” he asked Dame.

Dame responded that he “wasn’t interested in listening to people gripe – this is something we have to do.”

“We all live here,” he said. “We all have an obligation to help our community be a good place to raise a family, and if we are going to push people out because they can’t afford to live in the same city they work, then we’re not really doing that.”

Commissioner Amanda Fritz returned repeatedly to the question of whether multifamily developments – traditionally classified as residential properties, could be considered commercial in this instance. Fritz said doing so would potentially send $778,000 per year to the city, rather than the state.

According to the city’s comprehensive plan, which the council approved earlier in the week, Portland has 13,500 affordable units, with 1,500 in production. There’s a shortage of 24,000 affordable units, and 10,000 more will be needed by 2035.

The post Construction excise tax proposal may soon be approved appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A plan to streamline and simplify Portland zoning rules for accessory dwelling units hit a bump last week, with a potentially restrictive new provision now before the city council.

An amendment proposed by Commissioner Amanda Fritz would make it more difficult to build ADUs near property lines.

“The purpose of setbacks is to allow light, air and privacy; it’s right there in the code,” she said.

Fritz is worried that the draft rules as written could allow a wall of ADUs to fully enclose a property owner’s backyard.

Fritz said that at a public forum Monday at Portland Community College‘s campus on Southeast Division Street, between 50 and 60 people expressed their agreement with her on the issue, and only one person raised a hand to show opposition. (She also sought input on Mayor Charlie Hales‘ proposed $25,000 tax on home demolitions; the crowd’s feelings on that issue were evenly split, she said.)

“Once people are made aware of it, they were like, ‘No, I do not want a new home on my property line,’” she said.

After Fritz proposed the amendment at last week’s council meeting, two of the five commissioners – Hales and Commissioner Dan Saltzman – spoke in opposition.

The updates to the Portland Zoning Code have already passed first reading by the council. It will consider the amendment at Wednesday’s regular meeting. Fifteen minutes has been requested, and no public testimony is scheduled to be taken. If the council approves the code update as written – and no new amendments are proposed – they will take effect Jan. 4, 2016. Then a window of sorts would be open for ADU builders. With a waiver on system development charges (representing possible savings to builders exceeding $10,000) set to expire in July 2016, planner Phil Nameny said his office has been contacted by many people who hope to submit plans before SDCs are reinstituted.

The city has worked since January to update its zoning regulations regarding accessory structures as part of a larger effort to modernize the city’s land use code. In this instance, a major goal was to plan based on an accessory structure’s “form” over its “function,” and took aim at the regulations permit-seekers most often contest. The proposed changes, developed with assistance of a citizen focus group and approved by the Planning Commission, would treat residential outbuildings more like garages, Nameny said.

Under the proposed changes, a one-story accessory structure could be built closer to setbacks and property lines. In another, the uniform height maximum for all detached accessory structures would be raised from 18 feet to 20.

The post Amendment could be tacked onto zoning code changes appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

As an architect with 30 years of experience, Don Vallaster has presented more than a few projects to the Portland Design Commission over the years.

Now he’s sitting on the other side of the table as the newest member of the panel tasked with helping shape the city’s skyline.

Vallaster was nominated to the design commission by City Commissioner Dan Saltzman. He was approved by City Council on Aug. 5 and attended his first meeting Aug. 20. He joins fellow architect Julie Livingston; Tad Savinar, who represents the area of urban design; David Wark, who represents the Regional Arts and Culture Council; at-large representative Jeffrey Simpson; and Ben Kaiser, the land development representative who this week was reappointed to serve on the commission for another four years.

Even with the addition of Vallaster, though, the design commission is still short a member. Keeping the panel’s seats full has been a problem in the past, and filling the position now occupied by Vallaster took longer than originally anticipated, according to Matt Gumm, senior policy adviser for Dan Saltzman, the city commissioner who oversees the Bureau of Development Services and its related commissions, including the design panel.

City Commissioner Amanda Fritz was in charge of the bureau this past May, when Livingston and Vallaster were recommended to her as candidates to fill two empty seats on the panel. Fritz approved adding Livingston, but she rejected Vallaster.

“I’m holding that (second) vacancy because I really wanted someone from an under-represented community to round out our commission membership,” Fritz said at the time.

Vallaster’s name resurfaced for the empty seat, though, when Mayor Charlie Hales appointed Saltzman to oversee the Bureau of Development Services.

“When Commissioner Saltzman was assigned the bureau, he told the mayor the design commission had multiple vacancies and getting a quorum was a challenge,” Gumm said. “So he asked the bureau, ‘Who do you have that would do this challenging volunteer job?’”

After carefully considering applications, Grumm said, Vallaster’s name rose to the top of the pile again.

“He has great experience, has done a lot of professional work and has been before the commission many times,” Grumm said. “It’s got to be a careful process and we need to make the process work and come to decisions in a good way.”

Vallaster said he hopes to bring more sensitivity from a development perspective to the commission, whose members serve on a voluntary basis with no financial compensation. One of the ways he hopes to achieve that is by limiting those notoriously long design commission meetings, which have been known to stretch five hours or more, to a more reasonable duration.

“That’s what made me most nervous about accepting the position,” said Vallaster, who is a founding member of Vallaster Corl Architects. “I have to commit more time than I have, but I’ll see if I can make it work.”

He also would like to find a way to allow projects to move through the entire approve process more quickly

“I would love to see it speeded up if that’s possible to do,” he said. “That would be good for development and good for the city, for both sides of the equation.”

The post Don Vallaster joins city design panel appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The Central Eastside Industrial Council opposes the possibility of moving a homeless camp from a Northwest Portland property to one across the Willamette River.

The council recently sent to Mayor Charlie Hales a 10-page letter claiming that the city’s efforts to negotiate for the Right 2 Dream Too camp at Northwest Fourth Avenue and Burnside Street are not proper. The city has been negotiating to have the tent city moved to property owned by the Oregon Department of Transportation at the intersection of Southeast Third Avenue and Harrison Street in the Central Eastside Industrial District.

“The city’s current path contains none of these safeguards because the city skipped the required process,” the letter states. “Until the city follows the right process, the city is jeopardizing legitimate enforcement and degrading the trust of the rest of the community.” The letter is signed by council president Debbie Kitchin and president-elect Brad Malsin.

Most of the letter is devoted to citing various city codes regarding campsites and short-term housing. In conclusion, the letter states, “the council should direct BDS (Bureau of Development Services) to respond to this request in the same way it would respond to any other request of a previously prohibited use: amend the code to regulate homeless camps within the city.”

Commissioner Amanda Fritz said that the city wouldn’t be looking at the property if it wasn’t compliant with the city’s zoning code.

“We haven’t decided if we are going to move forward with the purchase,” she said.

Fritz said that if the city decides to buy the property, there will be an ordinance on the council’s agenda to do so – along with a zoning confirmation.

“Everything we’ve done is according to code,” she said.

City Council is waiting for an environmental review of the property before deciding its next step. Fritz said no timeline has been set for putting the issue on the City Council meeting agenda.

The post Potential move of homeless camp objected appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The Portland City Council, in a split vote, this week approved a hike in system development charges (SDCs) on new development to support the city’s parks system.

Commissioner Amanda Fritz, in charge of the city parks department, said “development needs to pay its own way” and defended the increase.

But Commissioners Dan Saltzman and Steve Novick both objected.

“I still don’t understand why there has to be such a tremendous revenue increase, especially when we’re facing a crisis for middle-income earners in the city,” Saltzman said. “This is the wrong move at the wrong time.”

Both the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland and the Portland Business Alliance criticized the plan to at least double fees for new commercial construction and increase rates for residential construction greater than 700 square feet. Low-income or affordable housing and college dormitories will be exempt under the new fee system, which will take effect July 1, 2016.

Novick said he objected to the methodology for the new fees and would have liked to have had more time for study.

“I think it makes sense to delay this decision until we take a longer look at housing affordability,” he said, indicating that higher costs would be passed on to renters and homebuyers.

But Mayor Charlie Hales said the methodology for the new fees is sound, and voted in favor of the change. Commissioner Nick Fish also voted to support the new fees.

More about SDCs for parks is available at: www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/article/520092.

The post Costlier SDCs approved for Portland parks appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Julie Livingston, an architect and senior project manager with affordable housing provider Home Forward, is the newest member of the Portland Design Commission.

The Portland City Council last week unanimously approved a Bureau of Development Services staff recommendation to appoint Livingston to serve a four-year term on the volunteer commission that reviews major developments within city design districts.

Livingston fills an architect position that’s been vacant since Lango Hansen Landscape Architects principal Jane Hansen stepped down last fall. City staffers are still seeking another architect, design or land development professional to fill a second vacancy created when THA Architecture principal David Keltner left the seven-member commission in March.

Tim Heron, a senior planner with the city, worked closely with Commission Chairman David Wark to review more than 20 applications to fill the two vacancies. Although city staffers also nominated Vallaster Corl Architects founding partner Don Vallaster to fill one of the vacancies, City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who oversees BDS, recommended that the council appoint only Livingston.

“I’m holding that (second) vacancy because I really wanted someone from an underrepresented community to round out our commission membership,” Fritz said before the council voted to appoint Livingston. “Julie certainly adds a lot of value in the scope of work that she’s done, and I really appreciate her service.”

Heron said BDS will repost an announcement seeking design and development professionals interested in serving on the commission with the aim of attracting a more diverse pool of applicants. City staffers also are anticipating an additional vacancy when Commissioner Guenevere Millius, whose second term ended late last year, resigns at the end of this summer, he said.

Livingston filled her new role as design commissioner for the first time on Thursday. She said she become familiar with the commission through her work managing the planning of new affordable housing projects for Home Forward. She admires Portland’s design review process.

“It’s a gift to our urban environment,” she said. “Developers, architects (and) contractors are all willing to go through this. I think that’s truly remarkable. It’s an amazing process.”

Serving on the commission seemed like a great way to give back to her community by promoting quality architecture and urban design, she said. As a design commissioner, Livingston said she would especially like to promote design equity.

“It’s been very important to me to raise the bar for everyone: Better design, better construction that serves everybody who lives in our city,” she said. “Everybody deserves to live in an environment that meets our needs.”

The post Architect appointed to Portland Design Commission appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The Portland Design Commission in the coming months will gain three new members to replace departing ones.

David Keltner plans to step down from the commission in the next few weeks, city planner Kara Fioravanti said. That will leave the seven-member commission – already with a vacancy after Jane Hansen left this past September – short two people. Also, city staffers have sought applicants to replace Commissioner Guenevere Millius. Her term ended in December, but she is continuing to serve on the commission until at least one vacancy is filled.

Bureau of Development Services staffers plan to forward their recommended candidates for the three vacancies to Paul Scarlett, director of the bureau, in the next couple weeks, Fioravanti said. To join the commission, candidates must then be approved by City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who oversees BDS, and the rest of the Portland City Council, according to Fioravanti.

The city’s hope, Fioravanti said, is to have the new commissioners on board to start reviewing proposed major development in city design districts within the next month or two. In the meantime, city planners have carefully scheduled upcoming hearing dates to ensure enough commissioners can attend to achieve a quorum, she said.

The post Personnel changes ahead for design commission appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Portland on Thursday got one step closer to updating the Central City Concept Plan when the City Council adopted a 20-year plan for the West Quadrant.

The council voted 4-1 – Commissioner Amanda Fritz was the lone dissenter – to adopt the recommended draft of the West Quadrant Plan as a “detailed road map for the long-term development and growth” of downtown Portland.

City planners working on the project emphasized that the plan should implement design and zoning changes that focus on developable Willamette riverfront properties, increase opportunities for mixed-use construction and focus on improving bicycle and pedestrian transportation corridors.

The plan outlines four key concepts – extending the downtown retail core north and west through the Pearl District, establishing a clearer set of east-west connecting streets, exploring improvement options along Naito Parkway and in Waterfront Park and implementing the “Green Loop” concept of creating a safe, 10-mile bicycle and pedestrian path along the South and Midtown Park Blocks through downtown – and recommends zoning and development changes to support those goals.

The plan calls for zoning changes that would allow a broader mix of uses in the West Quadrant and encourage development of high-density residential communities.

The changes include increasing building height allowances along the waterfront, a part of the plan opposed by Fritz.

“We have a longstanding city policy, that my colleagues agreed to continue, of stepping down building heights toward the river, and the proposed plan doesn’t do that,” she said. “I don’t mind the increased height … one block back from Naito (Parkway), but the whole waterfront (height limit) on Naito is 75 feet, and the plan will increase it to 250 feet.”

The scope of the zoning changes and the repercussions from increasing building height allowances merited council discussion, and Fritz said the reason she got “so upset” at the hearing is that the other commissioners refused to discuss the changes.

“This is a huge change for the Central City, and one that I think is a significant planning issue,” Fritz said. “The fact that no one would second my motion for discussion, and no one is willing to talk, is troubling.”

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, who introduced the resolution for consideration by the council, said the plan is a valuable guide for the council to refer to when implementing zoning changes in the future and integrating the West Quadrant Plan with the Southeast Quadrant and North/Northeast Quadrant plans as part of the Central City 2035 Plan.

“The critical thinking that went into the West Quadrant Plan is the reason it took about two years to produce,” Hales said. “Good work was done here. And it’s thanks in large part to the participating Portlanders, and our city planners.”

Hales commended Portland residents and city planners for their “thoughtful, critical consideration … to these big, wonky land-use issues.”

“I talk to mayors in other cities who are amazed,” he said. “Other cities don’t have that; or most don’t.”

The next step toward implementation of the West Quadrant Plan is for the City Council to adopt the proposed zoning changes. The council has not set a timeline on when that will happen, but Fritz said she doesn’t know whether she’ll pursue action to block implementation.

“I don’t know how much can be done at this point,” she said. “And there’s limited payback for banging your head on a brick wall.”

The post West Quadrant Plan adopted by Portland City Council appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The Portland City Council is backing the Portland Design Commission‘s decision to approve a Northwest Portland residential project, despite a neighborhood association’s appeal claiming that the development would be incompatible with surrounding shorter structures.

City commissioners said the Tess O’Brien Apartments, as designed for construction at 1950 N.W. Pettygrove St. and 1953 N.W. Overton St., would fit into the neighborhood. They voted unanimously on Wednesday to tentatively deny the Northwest District Association‘s appeal questioning Design Commission approval in January of the Kehoe Northwest Properties‘ project. A final City Council vote on the appeal is scheduled for March 25.

NWDA members claimed in the appeal that the height and massing of the two proposed six-story apartment buildings, designed by FFA Architecture and Interiors, did not meet a city design guideline to blend into the neighborhood. They also raised concerns about potential procedural errors during the design review process.

“We feel that the proposed Tess O’Brien Apartments is incompatible development with the surrounding buildings,” NWDA Board President Gustavo Cruz told the City Council during a hearing on Wednesday. “The building on the Overton Street side towers over its neighbors.”

Mayor Charlie Hales said he interpreted differently the design guideline to reduce the impact of new development on established neighborhoods that was cited in the appeal. He commended the FFA team and developer Marty Kehoe of Kehoe Northwest Properties, for considering how the 125-unit Tess O’Brien Apartments would fit in with nearby existing buildings. The Design Commission’s feedback given during four design review hearings for the development also made a difference, he said.

“The process seems like it was long and expensive, but I think it resulted in a better design,” Hales said. “I don’t read that (design guideline) as a mandate for stepping down scale. I read that as looking at the neighborhood and incorporating elements architecturally. I think this building is designed thoughtfully for the context that it’s in.”

Kehoe told the council that he and the project architects revised the design in consideration of concerns brought up by neighbors and design commissioners.

“I wanted this building to look like a building that when you drive by it you can’t tell if it was built 10 years ago or 40 years ago,” he said. “We met with everybody, we listened and I think we came up with a project that’s the best it can be.”

FFA principal Troy Ainsworth pointed out that the Tess O’Brien Apartments would soon be joined by other residential buildings of similar size. The Design Commission in January unanimously approved GBD Architects’ design for Gerding Edlen‘s The Muse, a six-story, 58-unit apartment complex planned at 1313 N.W. 19th Ave. That is about a block away from the Tess O’Brien Apartments.

“It’s a transition area, and there are a number of different building types in the neighborhood,” Ainsworth said. “Our goal was to create a respectful infill development.”

Hales agreed, noting that the Tess O’Brien Apartments site is close to the Con-way Master Plan site where YBA Architects is designing a seven-story mixed-use building at 1417 N.W. 20th Ave.

“The Con-way development is one block away,” he said. “Wouldn’t a six-story building be compatible with the pattern of development in the neighborhood?”

Ron Walters, who lives near the Tess O’Brien Apartments site, testified before the council that his concerns extended beyond the height of the planned buildings.

“I wholeheartedly agree with NWDA’s concerns about massing,” he said. “My greater concern is the design review process is flawed.”

During the first design review hearing for the Tess O’Brien Apartments in November, the Design Commission voted against accepting a city planner report recommending approval. Walters said he was under the impression that this meant the commission had denied the proposed project and shouldn’t have continued to hold design review hearings for it.

“From a layperson’s perspective, the design commission did not grant a continuance at that hearing,” Walters said. “If (the) design commission denies an application, BDS should not interfere to grant a continuance.”

City planner Tim Heron responded that the Nov. 6 vote was nonbinding and that the project team requested that the record be held open to revise the design to meet the design commission’s feedback.

“That was unfortunate that the neighborhood felt confused by the process,” Heron said. “It was a tentative decision and the hearing was continued … The design commission has an ethos of getting to a ‘yes.’ I disagree with the assertion that BDS told the design commission what to do.”

City Commissioner Amanda Fritz said she appreciated that the design commission made sure the Tess O’Brien Apartments met a high standard before approving the project.

“The design did improve,” she said. “I’m willing to accept the design commission’s decision.”

The design of the buildings appears appropriate to their context, Commissioner Dan Saltzman said.

“These buildings – they look like they’ve been here a long time,” he said.

The post Project’s design approval upheld appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

If you want to gauge the vitality of building activity in Portland, the city’s Bureau of Development Services is a good place to start.

During the recession, as construction ground to a halt, the bureau found itself facing a serious financial shortfall. A lack of projects meant that the permit fees that make up about 95 percent of the bureau’s operating budget dried up. As a result, the BDS was forced to trim its staff numbers from 315 to 145, according to Paul Scarlett, the bureau’s director.

Last year, though, developers and building industry professionals rejoiced when construction cranes began to rise once again against the city’s skyline, and the bureau announced that with the help of City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, it had received approval to begin refilling some of the empty positions.

Some of the recent BDS hires are former bureau employees who had been lost to layoffs. Others are new faces. But they all have one thing in common in addition to their ease with blueprints and development codes.

“Since the recession, we’ve really put a lot of emphasis on hiring people who not only know the technical portion of their jobs, but who also focus on customer service, the working relationships,” Scarlett said.

Scarlett understands the value of filling the department with good people.

“We survived (the impact of the recession) in part because of the compassion and high level of commitment of our employees,” he said.

Even though the number of employees is increasing, Scarlett says the bureau is still looking at ways to continue efforts started during the recession to streamline processes.

The bureau recently conducted an internal survey that will be used to help find out what is and what isn’t working, especially for new employees. Even something as simple as creating a suggestion box can make a big difference, Scarlett said.

There are also strides being made to implement a high-tech system for tracking permits that will give customers around-the-clock access to forms and permits while saving money and reducing a reliance on paper.

The bureau also is in a good place financially.

“The funding is very strong, and we have a healthy reserve,” Scarlett said. “We have reserve goals in some cases of 30 to 35 percent. We have pretty much wiped out deficits in those that we’ve had over the past years.”

The post 2015 Newsmakers: City of Portland Bureau of Development Services appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.