Mayor Ted Wheeler | Mayor Ted Wheeler Official website
Mayor Ted Wheeler | Mayor Ted Wheeler Official website
Portlanders invited to review the Parking Compliance Amendments Recommended Draft and testify in writing via the Map App or in person to City Council at a public hearing on June 7.
As the State of Oregon continues to pursue climate-friendly land use policies, the City of Portland is amending its Zoning Code to comply with emerging state rules.
The Parking Compliance Amendments Project (PCAP) is updating Portland’s parking code to bring the City into compliance with state rule changes recently adopted with the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities (CFEC) rulemaking process, as outlined in the Recommended Draft released on May 23. In addition to the Recommended Draft, staff published a memo describing amendments proposed to the Recommended Draft. These amendments reflect recently adopted changes to the CFEC rules and bring the Parking Compliance Amendments proposals into alignment with the updated state rules. These amendments will be voted on by City Council at the hearing on June 7.
On April 25, the Portland Planning Commission voted to recommend that City Council adopt the Parking Compliance Amendments Project proposals, with one code amendment. That amendment closes a loophole enabling all housing projects to take advantage of bike parking reductions intended for housing projects only for the elderly and disabled.
The resulting PCAP Recommended Draft is available for public review and testimony.
What's in the Recommended Draft?
The PCAP Recommended Draft includes four proposals to bring Portland into compliance with the state’s new rules:
- Remove minimum parking space requirements.
- Update and simplify maximum parking space requirements.
- Adopt “green features” development standards for new surface parking lots.
- Miscellaneous technical items.
These proposals are outlined in detail in the report and memo below, both of which are now available for public review and comment.
BackgroundExcess parking significantly impacts housing and business costs, the feasibility of housing and business redevelopment, walkability, air and water pollution, climate pollution, and general community character. Parking mandates force people who don’t own or use cars to pay indirectly for other people’s parking. Planning practices of the past have imposed a one-size-fits-all requirement everywhere, creating incentives to own more cars and drive more.
In summer 2022, the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) approved the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities (CFEC) rules, which require communities to change land use and transportation rules to help Oregonians meet their daily needs without driving and have more safe and comfortable ways to get around. There are several components to these rules, one of which is for communities to reduce or eliminate one-size-fits-all parking regulations, which is the focus of the Parking Compliance Amendments Project. Portland must implement these rules by June 30.
Have your say
Portlanders are invited to review the draft code amendments and provide testimony to the City Council either in person or in writing.
In person
City Council will hold a public hearing on the Parking Compliance Amendments Project on June 7 at 3:30 p.m. In-person testifiers must sign up before the agenda item is heard.
Register to testify at the hearing
In writing
Written testimony can be submitted online via the Map App or via U.S. Mail before the close of the hearing. Send U.S. Mail to: Council Clerk, Parking Compliance Amendments Project (PCAP) Testimony, 1221 SW 4th Ave, Room 130, Portland, OR 97204.
Submit written testimony online
Next steps
After City Council hears testimony, the Commissioners will discuss potential amendments to the proposals and likely vote on the package on June 7. The state rules require the parking code to be in effect by June 30, 2023.
Original source can be found here