Portland temporarily eases business development requirements

Critics of the city’s development requirements called them cumbersome and costly. In response, the City Council suspended certain codes until the start of 2029.

PORTLAND, Ore. — On Wednesday, the Portland City Council unanimously voted to suspend certain development requirements for businesses adding to or altering existing developments.

Starting Oct. 24, four codes relating to things like site upgrades, frontage improvements and street tree planting for existing businesses and projects will be paused until the start of 2029. At that point, if the changes were helpful for revitalizing downtown, they could be made permanent.

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“Permitting should never be a barrier to Portlanders who are working to improve their homes, businesses, or communities,” said Councilor Jamie Dunphy. “By aligning our codes and suspending requirements that slow projects down, we’re giving people the breathing room they need to build, renovate, and adapt.”

Temporary exemptions are intended to apply to developments that are in the permit or inspection process, but haven’t yet received their final inspection, the council said in a press release. New developments are still required to adhere to the existing requirements.

If the permitting process is already underway, applicants will need to request a revision to their application from the Portland Permitting and Development department.

City Council released the following list of requirements that are being put on hold:

Street Tree Planting (Title 11): Development projects valued at $25,000 or more will no longer be required to plant street trees except where the Portland Bureau of Transportation already requires sidewalk improvements.
Street Improvements for significant alterations (Title 17): Development projects with a project value over 35% of the assessed improvement value won’t be required to make frontage improvements like sidewalks, curb ramps, etc. This doesn’t apply for some buildings like schools or hospitals.
Seismic Evaluation Report (Title 24): Buildings built before 1974 won’t be required to submit a seismic evaluation report when planning projects worth more than $362,000.
Site upgrades (Title 33): Residential projects valued at more than $356,300 won’t be required to make certain upgrades like adding bike parking, improving pedestrian walkways or enhancing landscaping.