A unique ordinance requiring deconstruction of older houses in the city of Portland is likely to soon become more expansive.

The city in 2016 became the first in North America to enact legislation disallowing mechanical demolition of homes of a certain vintage. The Deconstruction of Buildings Law requires builders seeking a demolition permit for houses and duplexes built before 1917, or those designated as historic resources, to disassemble the structure using a licensed deconstruction contractor.

An amendment to the ordinance would broaden the law to encompass homes built in 1940 or earlier.

Currently, approximately one-third of all demolition permits are subject to deconstruction regulations. Officials anticipate that expanding the date threshold will double the number of home deconstructions performed annually in the city.

The ordinance was enacted with the stated purposes of maximizing the salvage of reusable building materials, lowering the amount of demolition waste in landfills, reducing carbon emissions from mechanical demolition equipment, and minimizing emissions of hazardous materials including asbestos and lead.

Expanding the law, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said during a City Council meeting on Wednesday, is in keeping with the city’s sustainability goals.

“Deconstruction nourishes our continuing initiative to build a circular economy, where we move away from a linear model of using something once and then throwing it out and having it go to the landfill, instead finding ways to creatively reuse materials,” he said.

The ordinance was phased in with incentives beginning in 2015, when the city provided owners with grant funding to help offset the cost of deconstruction. More than 200 houses in the city have since been dismantled, with 2.4 million pounds of materials salvaged for reuse instead of being burned or sent to a landfill.

Following Portland’s lead, cities including Milwaukee, Minneapolis, San Antonio and Vancouver, British Columbia, have either enacted similar ordinances modeled on Portland’s approach or installed grant programs and other incentives for deconstruction.

The change to the date threshold to 1941 was originally set forth in as a goal of the 2016 ordinance. Three years in, according to Bureau of Planning and Sustainability construction waste specialist Shawn Wood, the city’s infrastructure for supporting deconstruction has grown. There are now 12 city-licensed deconstruction contractors, along with three more in training. Also, at least two new salvage retail operations have opened.

“Because of the increased competition and innovation, the cost to deconstruct has come down over the past three years,” Wood testified before City Council. “During that same time period the cost to mechanically demolish has gone up.”

In 2016, Wood said, deconstruction costs were about $8,000 higher than those of mechanical demolition. Today, due in part to shrinking markets for wood as industrial fuel as well as new site and dust control requirements implemented by the Bureau of Development Services, the city estimates that deconstruction costs have dropped to anywhere from $3,000 higher than demolition to equal in cost.

Those figures are disputed by the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland, which opposes expanding the date threshold.

“We believe that the cost (of deconstruction) is significantly more expensive, and that cost hasn’t been appropriately represented by city staff,” said Ezra Hammer, HBA’s director of policy and government relations.

The city is miscalculating the true cost of deconstruction, according to Hammer. The city’s figures fail to take into account the carrying costs associated with a longer deconstruction timeline – up to 21 days longer than mechanical demolition, he said. With carrying costs of a standard lot in the city of Portland around $7,000, and a higher contractor fee for deconstruction, Hammer estimates the process to cost around $10,000 more than demolition.

Those costs, Hammer said, will be passed on to buyers and renters and exacerbate the city’s ongoing housing affordability crisis. Further, city staff is not supporting an exemption sought by the HBA that would allow demolition in cases where houses would be replaced by affordable projects. The city’s lack of support for the exemption will mean more public subsidies are needed to ensure affordable housing gets built, Hammer said.

“In many regards, the city speaks in a consistent voice with its desire to support affordable housing,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s not doing that here, and we feel that its failure to do so is a disconnect from its overall policy of advancing and supporting affordable housing.”

Applications for demolition permits have declined steadily since 2016, when 121 were received for pre-1916 houses. That number is projected to be 58 for 2019, along with 58 more anticipated for structures erected between 1917 and 1940. The proposed change of the date threshold would thus increase the total number of deconstructions to around 2016 levels.

According to Wood, it is an ideal time to increase the threshold. The businesses that have started in response to the deconstruction ordinance have expanded their capabilities with investments in staff, equipment and retail space, and are primed to take on more work. Doubling the number of permits presents little risk of overwhelming the city’s deconstruction infrastructure, he said.

“The industry has a firm footing, and has adapted in ways we couldn’t have imagined,” he said. “I have no reason to believe that won’t be the case going forward as the landscape changes.”

The ordinance proposal will receive a second reading before City Council next week and appears to have universal support. During a straw poll, Wheeler and commissioners Chloe Eudaly, Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish indicated they would vote yes. Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty took exception with what she argued would be insufficient fines for violations, which Fish suggested could easily be updated by the city’s Development Review Advisory Committee.

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The Portland City Council on Wednesday gave its final approval to a unique law intended to limit the demolition of old homes.

Last week, the five-member council unanimously supported the ordinance requiring deconstruction (instead of demolition) for all houses and duplexes built in 1916 or earlier, as well as those designated historic.

Mayor Charlie Hales, sponsor of the Deconstruction of Buildings Law, said Portland’s large stock of old wood-framed homes is a crucial element of its unique character. He called passing the law the “right thing to do” while thanking commissioners and staff for their support.

“I am proud of this and I think it will do a lot of good, street by street and house by house, all over our great, old city,” he said.

The law is intended to increase salvage of valuable materials, while reducing demolition’s adverse effects, like dust and noise. The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability will have to report back to the council within the first six to 12 months the law is in effect.

The law will go into effect Oct. 31, at which point only certified deconstruction contractors will be allowed to perform the work.

The law has the potential to affect the local economy by creating more work for certified firms. But business interests like the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland have expressed concern that once the law is in effect, there might not be enough capable contractors able to keep up with demand.

The city will begin certification training July 18. Earth Advantage is assisting the city with training. Contractor training will take place at a city-owned house in Southeast Portland; it’s scheduled for demolition due to its location in an environmental zone, according to Shawn Wood, construction waste specialist with the city.

The law is scheduled to be implemented in phases, with oversight likely provided by Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler after he takes office Jan. 1, 2017.

Earth Advantage representative Jordan Jordan can be contacted via email at jjordan@earthadvantage.org.

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