Portland’s 2035 Comprehensive Plan is one step closer to taking effect after a favorable ruling last week from the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission.

The state commission turned down appeals from the Multnomah Neighborhood Association objecting to the city’s “middle housing” policy and other rules intended to increase density.

“We’re pleased with the decision,” Eric Engstrom, principal planner at the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, stated in an email message.

“Among other things, it brings new mixed-use zoning to transit corridors and centers outside the Central City. This new zoning will facilitate private investment in needed housing,” Engstrom stated.

The Comprehensive Plan is the city’s wide-ranging document that will govern development within city limits as Portland grows to incorporate more than 100,000 new residents that are expected by 2035. The Comprehensive Plan is set to go into effect on May 24.

An appeal to the Oregon Court of Appeals is likely, Multnomah Neighborhood Association Chairwoman Martie Sucec said.

“That’s our plan,” she said.

Neighborhoods such as Multnomah Village have adapted uneasily to developers building apartments near single-family homes, often with little or no new parking.

In Multnomah Village, Urban Asset Advisors has constructed Multnomah Village Apartments and is planning a second mixed-use building, Multnomah Station, along Southwest Capitol Highway. The buildings have similar designs, with three stories of apartments over ground-floor retail space.

The neighborhood association has fought the developments.

“It’s going to be like a canyon on Capitol Highway,” Sucec said.

Other objections from the Multnomah Neighborhood Association centered on designating Multnomah Village a “neighborhood center” rather than a “neighborhood corridor,” which allows for building up to four stories. The neighborhood association has advocated for a three-story height limit.

“It’s not that we object to density,” Sucec said. “We object to having no role, no assurance, in where those things go.”

A written order will follow the commission’s March 15 decision. If the neighborhood association does not appeal, the comprehensive plan will be considered “acknowledged” by the state, clearing the way for implementation.

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The Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development has turned back objections to Portland’s 2035 comprehensive plan.

The state agency’s Dec. 5 ruling means the comprehensive plan has cleared a hurdle toward implementation by the city of Portland in 2018. Yet opponents could still appeal the plan to the Land Conservation and Development Commission and the Land Use Board of Appeals.

One group left no doubt an appeal would be forthcoming.

“We’re going on with the appeal, and we’re working on it right now,” said Martie Sucec, chairwoman of the Multnomah Neighborhood Association.

The Multnomah Neighborhood Association in Southwest Portland was joined by the Goose Hollow Foothills League, Rose City Park Association and several individual property owners in lodging objections to the comprehensive plan.

Several objections concern changing the character of single-family neighborhoods by adding apartment buildings. Others also lodged complaints about the city’s process in adopting the comprehensive plan.

The comprehensive plan is a wide-ranging set of rules meant to guide how Portland will develop during the next two decades. The plan affects zoning throughout the city, and such crucial rules as maximum height and allowed building uses.

The Multnomah Neighborhood Association lodged objections against Multnomah Village being designated as a “neighborhood center,” and also against the city’s public process.

“We’ve just been ignored, which is why we’ve filed objections,” Sucec said.

The city’s neighborhood center designation “wipes out Multnomah as a single-family neighborhood,” she added.

Multnomah Village has seen a recent influx of apartment proposals. Crews are finishing construction of a four-story building with 70 units at 7661 S.W. Capitol Highway – a site that formerly held a gas station.

“What we don’t want is for developers to have free rein on any lot at any time,” Sucec said. “This is not good planning, to just say build anything, anywhere.”

Nevertheless, the DLCD turned back the group’s objections. The department found the city complied with its citizen involvement program during development of the comprehensive plan. It also found that designating an area a neighborhood center did not result in rezoning, and that rezoning would require further public notice.

The City Council adopted the comprehensive plan in June 2016. State law requires periodic review of a city’s comprehensive plan, and the 2035 plan is the first thorough overhaul of Portland’s rules since 1980.

The city’s plan allows neighborhoods to grow up to accommodate housing demand, DLCD Director Jim Rue stated in a news release.

“Portland is an attractive city with lots of people moving there each year,” he stated. “The City Council had to make difficult choices about how to best accommodate the expected growth. Our review found the plan to be consistent with the state’s requirements for efficient, managed use of land.”

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