Portland design commissioners are girding for battle as they begin to confront a push to suspend the city’s mandatory design review process for two years.

The procedure is advancing quickly, and city staff anticipate the City Council will consider legislation to suspend design review as soon as December.

The Portland Planning Commission will weigh a suspension of design review on Aug. 25 as a prelude to council action. Design commissioners said Thursday they plan to write letters and perhaps testify in person at that meeting.

The time has come for design commissioners to make their case, said Tim Heron, a senior city planner who works with the Design Commission.

“So, it’s go time,” he said after laying out the calendar during a brief Design Commission work session on Thursday.

Two bureau directors, Eric Engstrom of Planning and Sustainability and Eric Kutch of Permitting and Development, sent councilors Angelita Morillo and Eric Zimmerman a letter May 7 outlining a potential two-year suspension of design review. That was prompted by councilors ordering a report on design review this past December.

Design review has attracted criticism for adding delays and expense while elected officials — including Gov. Tina Kotek and Mayor Keith Wilson — have made housing production a priority, to little effect. Other cities, including Seattle, have suspended design review.

Policy efforts have shown little progress to date. In 2025, the city of Portland approved only 22 new construction permits for multifamily projects.

The proposed suspension would affect only mandatory design review. Developers still could opt in if they prefer design review to a standards-based approval process.

Several Permitting and Development staffers who work on design review would be reassigned and integrated into a Planning and Sustainability project team, according to the directors’ memo. The directors also requested additional funding for the staffing during the two-year period to make up for reduced design review revenue.

The two bureaus, prompted by the December directive from the City Council, published a joint report on design review in April. The 119-page report painted a picture of a broad economic pullback. “… Development activity has steadily declined and, in 2025, experienced an even more precipitous decline. This multiyear decline has not been limited to projects in the Design and Historic Resource Overlay Zones but has been reflected citywide for almost all types of housing and commercial development.”

Design review proponents say the process benefits projects, often making buildings better and giving the public a voice.

“Design review is a time when the public is able to come provide testimony,” Design Commission Chairwoman Chandra Robinson said in February. “It’s the time when they’re able to get their voices on the record, and I think it’s an important part of the process that they’re able to share their thoughts on proposals in their neighborhood.”

They also say design review unfairly takes flack when national and regional macroeconomic conditions — interest rates, development cycles, construction costs — matter far more. The April joint bureau report also cast blame on larger factors.

“Development within the city remains at historic lows due to various factors including high interest rates, high apartment vacancy combined with stagnating rents and an aversion by institutional capital to investing in Portland due to real and perceived safety, taxation, regulation and market factors,” the report states.

On Thursday, Robinson said she would draft a letter to the City Council, either on behalf of the Design Commission or individually.

Commissioner Joe Swank said the Design Commission may want to write a different type of letter than one with typical dry, technical language, as it’s fighting for its life.

“I agree with a different approach,” he said.

The Historic Landmarks Commission is also expected to weigh in with its own concerns.

Design commissioners are expected to consider their response during an Aug. 6 meeting before transmitting it to the Planning Commission and City Council.

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Portland design commissioners on Thursday grappled with how to respond to a push by the City Council to reform the design review process.

City councilors in December unanimously approved requiring preparation of a report on design review, including options for a temporary suspension of its requirements. The report will also study design review’s economic impacts, process and use of design overlay zones and historic districts.

Portland Permitting & Development and Planning and Sustainability will prepare the report for City Administrator Raymond Lee. It is due on April 9.

In 2025, the city issued only 22 new construction permits for multifamily projects amid city and state officials pushing for more housing. But design commissioners said design review should not be blamed for the slowdown in multifamily construction.

“My concern is just that if not taken with full context, certain numbers and charts can reveal different things to different people,” said Commissioner Sarah Vaz, who asked whether impacts such as rising construction costs and inclusionary housing requirements would be considered.

A senior city staffer noted that the review is part of a wider City Council effort to remove barriers to development and to encourage development.

“There’s wide recognition that there’s many factors, and I don’t think anyone is saying that design review is why we are in the situation we find ourselves in now,” Chief City Planner Patricia Diefenderfer said.

Design review gives residents a chance to be heard, Design Commission Chairwoman Chandra Robinson said.

“Design review is a time when the public is able to come provide testimony,” Robinson said. “It’s the time when they’re able to get their voices on the record, and I think it’s an important part of the process that they’re able to share their thoughts on proposals in their neighborhood.”

Commissioners said members of the public are often unclear about the limitations of their power.

Design review “cannot change the heights, the (floor area ratio requirements), the zoning, the required parking or not parking, what a property owner can do with his property,” Commissioner Zari Santner said. “We cannot dictate those.”

Robinson agreed, saying residents often urge the Design Commission to require parking or a grocery store as part of a larger development — something the commission cannot do.

Santner said design review represents a “social pact” with city residents: Essentially, a promise that if residents allow taller, denser development, zoning and design review will ensure that it “improves the quality of life for people in neighborhoods where the development is happening.”

Commissioners did point out some potential improvements. Application requirements could be better aligned with project phasing, Vaz said. Applications can often require too much detail, too early in the process, when architects haven’t worked out items such as lighting, she said.

Members of the public who testified Thursday said they want to be able to weigh in early in a project’s review process, before the developer has fully shaped the development.

City staffers assigned to the forthcoming report will hold a similar meeting on Monday with the Historic Landmarks Commission. After the council receives the report in April, the group could weigh possible code changes.

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Portland design commissioners gave advice Thursday on an early design for a proposed Portland State University student dormitory.

University officials have opted to take the project through a Type II design review process, which is overseen by Portland Permitting & Development staff. That means the Design Commission will not again consider the project unless the staff’s decision is appealed.

The proposal for 1831 S.W. Park Ave. calls for 216 to 269 rooms in a building that would reach five or six stories.

“We’re still exploring both (configurations),” said Michael Coon, a GBD Architects associate principal.

The project has been somewhat controversial because the new building would replace two dating from the early 20th century: Blackstone Residence Hall, completed in 1931, and Montgomery Court, which was built in 1917 for the Portland Women’s Union. Both are brick structures that preservationists have praised for fine detailing.

Advocates who testified on Thursday urged the university to reconsider the design, or at least incorporate brick and other historic touches.

“We would always prefer the preservation of historic buildings,” said Xavier Stickler, chairman of the Downtown Neighborhood Association‘s land-use committee.

Stickler urged designers to incorporate the Blackstone’s statuary into the new building. He also asked designers to consider using mass timber rather than a five-over-one design.

Hannah Bronfman, a member of the Historic Landmarks Commission, said the building should better reflect its surroundings.

“The building reads very generic — one that could exist almost anywhere,” she said.

PSU officials have said the building is crucial to attract new students. The university, which began life as a post-World War II commuter campus, has never had purpose-built student housing.

“This project brings vibrancy by students living on campus,” said Ashley Wendler, PSU’s executive director of University Housing and Residence Life. “These students really become integral to the downtown community.”

A structural engineer was brought in to evaluate the possibility of renovating the historic structures but found that they would require seismic upgrades and major interior reconfiguration, said Tom Maki, who is serving as owner’s representative for PSU.

“For a number of reasons, it just was not feasible,” Maki told commissioners.

The proposed building would hold approximately 550 beds, mostly in double-occupancy units. Some units would have single or triple occupancy.

Fortis Construction is on board as general contractor. Lango Hansen is the landscape architect.

The building would also have a single classroom and three community rooms per floor. A bike parking hub would be located outside the main building.

PSU officials hope to open the student building in time for the start of the fall term in 2028.

“The timing of that is really important to us,” Wendler said.

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The team with a long-awaited plan to redevelop Centennial Mills, in Northwest Portland, will have to wait at least four more weeks for potential approval after design commissioners on Thursday punted on a vote.

Commissioners agreed to a request from Portland Permitting & Development staff members who said they need time to write a condition of approval regarding river access, and to tie up other loose ends.

Commissioners had appeared to be on the verge of approving the redevelopment scheme, and a staff report prepared for Thursday’s meeting recommended approval.

The proposal from a local group led by Lindquist Development would transform the largely vacant 4.4-acre parcel at 1362 N.W. Naito Parkway. Lindquist proposes to construct three buildings with 272 residential units and four retail spaces.

Two of the buildings would be five stories, while the remaining building would rise six stories in a five-over-one configuration. Plans call for including 174 below-grade parking spaces.

The developer also has set aside land for open space, including a woonerf — a shared roadway for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists — a plaza and a staircase that would provide Portlanders access to the Willamette River.

“This has an opportunity to be an iconic moment along the river,” Commissioner Tina Bue said.

The plan also dedicates space for a pedestrian bridge over Naito Parkway. But Kurt Schultz, principal and director of housing at SERA Architects, who is the lead designer for Centennial Mills, acknowledged that there’s no funding in place for the bridge.

Members of the public who testified on Thursday expressed concern about whether the river access would be good enough, and how to ensure Lindquist Development follows through with its promises.

Centennial Mills represents a unique opportunity to give Portlanders access to the river in Northwest Portland, said Sage Bachman, community outreach manager for the Human Access Project, a local advocacy group.

“In reality, there are very few ways for people to physically connect to the river,” she said.

Bachman added that the city’s Northwest quadrant is “completely lacking in public access to the river.”

For design commissioners, the remaining questions were largely aesthetic. Some commissioners said they were torn between a desire to honor the site’s industrial history, while allowing for some design flexibility.

Designers don’t necessarily have to use the darker colors of industry, Bue said.

“Is there a different way to look at color as a response to the environment instead of just harkening back to what was there before?” she said.

The project is up against a ticking clock: A zoning change that will limit the site’s buildable land area will take effect in December. If the project is not entitled by then, the new rule may affect the project’s feasibility, Schultz said.

The project’s extensive public space is “more than adequate,” Schultz said.

“We’re just trying to preserve buildable site area on a very constrained site, and we’re concerned about losing even more buildable area to open space,” he said.

The four-week delay until the commission will again consider the project is only the latest setback for Centennial Mills. Prosper Portland tried for years to entice developers to build on the site after the city took control of the parcel in 2000, only to be repeatedly rebuffed.

Previous developers to consider the site before eventually backing away include Lynd Opportunity Partners, Harsch Investment Properties, LAB Holding, Venerable Properties and Intrinsic Ventures. Finally, in September 2024, Prosper Portland sold the site for $1.25 million to 1362 Centennial Mills LLC (MLR Ventures), tied to Portland developers Tim and Lucas Ralston, washing the city’s hands of the troubled property. The Lindquist group soon took over from the Ralstons.

The Centennial Mills project team is tentatively scheduled to return before the Design Commission on Oct. 16.

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The Portland Design Commission meets throughout the year on the first and third Thursdays of each month. Here is a glimpse of projects the commission is scheduled to examine on Aug. 19:

Modera Main Street

Address: full block bounded by Southwest Salmon and Main streets and 19th and 20th avenues

Developer: Mill Creek Residential Trust

Architect: Ankrom Moisan Architects

This is continuation of a design review hearing that began Aug. 5. Previously, the project team proposing a 17-story, 434,720-square-foot building faced significant questions from the Design Commission.

The commission’s chairwoman, Julie Livingston, said she would vote against the project as designed currently because it would fail to activate its Main Street frontage.

“We are allowing a building to go up that acknowledges the nothingness of this block of Main,” she said. “All four of these frontages need to be active to be a strong response to public realm guidelines. I feel strongly enough about this that it will cause me to vote no.”

One hour is allotted for Thursday’s meeting. A final vote may or may not take place.

Cambria Hotel Portland

Address: 105 and 135 N.W. Park Ave.

Developer: HighSide Development

Architect: SERA Architects

Engineers: Vega Civil Engineering and KPFF (structural)

HighSide Development of Denver, new to the Portland market, is seeking design advice for its proposed Cambria Hotel. It’s one of the Choice-branded hotels the developer is working on across the U.S., including downtown L.A.

The six-story Cambria Hotel Portland, designed by SERA Architects, is planned for the Pearl District. It would have 174 guest rooms and  look out onto Portland’s North Park Blocks.

The first floor would contain the hotel lobby, a restaurant and bar, meeting rooms, a fitness space, and a 1,900-square-foot tenant space.

Two office buildings

Address: 1706 N.W. 24th Ave.

Architect: LEVER Architecture

LEVER Architecture aims to make another notch in its mass-timber belt – this time with a 40,000-square-foot office building to serve as the new headquarters for a Portland-based creative agency. A design advice hearing is planned for Thursday. Patrick Kessi of 1706 LLC is the owner’s representative.

The proposed plan places the four-story mass-timber structure at the corner of Northwest 24th Avenue and Savier Street. A one-story accessory office building would be oriented along Northwest Thurman Street.

The project team is seeking adjustments to the minimum FAR (floor-area ratio) and building height.

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The Portland City Council on Thursday agreed to adopt changes to zoning rules that will exempt some affordable housing projects from lengthy Design Commission reviews.

The changes to the zoning rules – Design Overlay Zone Amendments (DOZA) – are meant to accelerate projects through the city’s approval process at a time when city leaders and affordable housing advocates say the city continues to face a housing shortage.

Several affordable housing advocates testified in support of the changes.

“We believe DOZA is poised to greatly improve the design review process and encourage more abundant and more affordable housing that Portland desperately needs,” said Johann Hannesson, a volunteer with Portland Neighbors Welcome, a group that advocates for easing restrictions on building housing.

Perhaps the most significant change is allowing affordable housing project teams to choose Type II or Type III design review. Type II reviews are handled by Bureau of Development Services staff, while Type III reviews go before the Design Commission, which often examines a project during several meetings – a process that can take months.

The new criteria would allow projects with at least 50 percent of units available to renters at or below 60 percent of median family income to choose a design review path.

“The more that we can do to create easy and straightforward paths for people who are trying to provide more of that affordable housing, the better,” said David Binnig, a North Portland resident.

The changes were brought to commissioners by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability as a package of eight zoning amendments. Commissioners on Thursday approved six of the amendments and withdrew two others.

One of the withdrawn amendments, Amendment 5, would have lowered the threshold for design review from 75 feet to 55 feet, except for projects meeting certain affordable housing criteria. Amendment 7 was also withdrawn; it would have required a ground-floor active use standard along a section of North Interstate Avenue.

Chandra Robinson, a member of the Design Commission and a principal at LEVER Architecture, criticized efforts to limit the scope of design review.

“The impact of a seven-story building … cannot be underestimated; it’s very great on a neighborhood,” she said, adding that she was speaking only for herself.  “Do you really want to see seven-story buildings spring up around Portland when the residents have not had the opportunity to come to a hearing and express their thoughts on how that building impacts the context, character and feel of their neighborhood?”

The Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association supported Amendment 7. Mark Wyman, a neighborhood association board member, said similar ground-floor active use requirements nearby had not deterred housing development.

“You can see with your own eyes that there’s plenty of new housing coming online, including 100 percent affordable housing,” he said.

Among the other amendments is one that adds optional design standards for main streets. Another tweaks the criteria of Design Commission membership, making natural resource management and sustainability expertise an option for five development-related positions (instead of reserving a separate position for each expertise).

Commissioners also approved Amendment 8, which directs BPS to create character statements for neighborhoods within the design overlay zone. Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty voted against Amendment 8, making it the only amendment to pass by a nonunanimous vote.

“My concern is: Whose character are we going to write into the standard?” Hardesty asked. “I am troubled by (Amendment 8) and not sure if I can support it today.”

Hardesty said she’s open to further conversations about the amendment.

Mayor Ted Wheeler spoke in support of Amendment 8.

“I want to make it clear that these character statements help our city manage how it grows, adding a hyper-local context,” he said.

Kristen Minor, chairwoman of the Planning Commission, said Amendment 8 would add some teeth to the city’s weak context standards.

“Design review cannot rely on zoning street classifications and weak standards alone,” she said. “Those standards are weak when it comes to context, and that’s what this amendment is about.”

The zoning amendments will return to the council on June 23 for a vote on the amended findings and a draft ordinance.

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Works Progress Architecture has more work to do before its design for a multifamily building in North Portland can gain approval, design commissioners said.

The Portland Design Commission heard an appeal from the firm on Thursday; a proposal for a five-story, 73-unit building was denied previously. The project, called “,” is being led by Ethos Development LLC. The proposal for property at 5626 to 5632 N. Montana Ave., in the Overlook neighborhood, is scheduled to return before the commission on Aug. 20.

“The proposal continues to fall short of guidelines,” Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said, referring to design guidelines for public realm and quality and permanence.

Works Progress Architecture asked for an exception to allow for oriel window projections – a signature element for the firm – despite objections from the Portland Bureau of Transportation. A staff report also raised concerns about window louvers that were “not well integrated into the overall design” and the use of “fiber cement panels and fiber cement shingles” at ground level.

Facing a likely adverse vote, Works Progress Architecture asked the commissioners not to vote, but to instead hold the record open until the August meeting.

Frustration surfaced both for the project team and city officials. Carrie Strickland, founding principal of Works Progress Architecture, urged the Bureau of Development Services to “have an interactive process with us this time around so we’re not wasting everybody’s time and money.”

Conversations with the BDS need to happen before project drawings are submitted, said Benjamin Nielsen, a senior planner with the bureau.

“I need that interaction to happen up front and not at the end,” he said.

Livingston acknowledged that the design review process is more challenging now.

“It’s a clunky process and it’s been made clunkier by the fact that we’re all remote,” she said. “This has gotten exponentially harder.”

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