Portland’s latest code amendment package to improve land use regulations received the City Council‘s approval on Thursday. The Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment Package (RICAP) 11 is intended to streamline zoning across the city. The changes will take effect Nov. 1.

“RICAP projects are intended to identify technical corrections, clarify existing regulations, remove unnecessary barriers and improve the overall functionality of our code,” Housing and Permitting Committee Chair Candace Avalos said during a committee meeting in June. “The package includes dozens of relatively small amendments, but together they create a more predictable, efficient and user-friendly system.”

RICAP 11 is part of an ongoing series of code amendment projects. The previous one, RICAP 10, was adopted by the city council in June 2024 and took effect that October. Its amendments focused on housing production, economic development and regulatory reduction.

In the next year or so, other projects will be presented to the committee and the City Council, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Director Eric Engstrom said. They include possible reform of the design review process, a Central City-focused package, and the Code Alignment Project (CAP) 2.

“Collectively, we’ll be looking at things like parking and frontage issues, repurposing existing buildings, elements of the tree code, continued work on middle housing codes and a lot more,” Engstrom said during the June committee meeting.

Thursday’s direction amends Title 32 (signs and related regulations) and Title 33 (planning and zoning). RICAP 11 includes 56 zoning code amendments focused on minor parking updates including access to bike parking areas, rules for setbacks and screening for mechanical equipment, regulations for outdoor shelters to align with what the city has allowed through its housing emergency, and allowances for larger signs in parks and open spaces, among others.

The council passed several amendments to the package late last month. These include allowing residential use in the Campus Institutional 1 zone and removing screening requirements for detached mechanical equipment.

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