PORTLAND, Ore. – An effort to change certain elements of Portland’s zoning code was launched last month, specifically emphasizing the need to reform regulations surrounding underlying lots of record.
FixPortlandZoning.com, founded by Eastmoreland resident Bob Schlesinger in June, provides information about purported problems with the city’s zoning code and offers ideas for how they can be solved.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Schlesinger has been tuned into demolition and development issues in Portland for about a year, since a house next door to his was torn down and a $1.2 million residence is replacing it, he said. On the Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association Land Use Committee himself, Schlesinger was asked last month to develop a lawn sign that would attract more people to an effort targeting zone reform.
“When designing the sign, I realized that there needed to be a website to direct people to, and I also realized that it needed to be a city-wide message and resource,” he said.
The site acknowledges that a complete overhaul of the code is unrealistic in the short term, so several elements are prioritized, chief among them the language that allows utilization of underlying lots that have lain dormant under the current zoning setup for decades. The Portland Chronicle has reported on a number of cases in which developers have applied to reopen underlying lots, which often allow new development on lots that are smaller than the zone allows for in future land divisions.
For instance, in the R5 zoning common in Eastmoreland, newly partitioned lots must have a minimum size of 5,000 square feet. Underlying lots, however, are allowed a minimum of 3,000 square feet in size, allowing circumvention of now-standard zoning regulations.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
As to how interested citizens can take action, Schlesinger emphasized gaining a familiarity with the city’s zoning code, particularly Title 33 section 110 which highlights single-dwelling zones. With an understanding of how Portland’s residential zoning works, people will be more equipped to speak to elected officials at City Council meetings, he said.
“The number one action that citizens can take, is to make it politically untenable for the city councilors to continue to ignore or delay dealing with the root causes of the problem,” Schlesinger said. “Whether that manifests itself as a ballot initiative, or whether serious challenges can be made to incumbent campaigns in 2016, pressure must be brought to bear in a way to drive home the message that a large number of our citizens are quite angry and have had enough.”
For more information, visit FixPortlandZoning.com.