After nearly 2 years of collaborative work, Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development landed on rules and guidelines aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state this summer.
These Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities rules affect new construction, urban planning, and property management in a variety of ways, so learning the basics of these rules as local governments start to roll out their responses is vital.
What are the main priorities?
- Creating climate-friendly areas, urban mixed-use areas where visitors can meet most daily needs without using a car, with an emphasis on pedestrian, bike, and transit infrastructure.
Cities with populations over 5,000 within the 7 metro areas outside of Portland Metro will be required to adopt regulations allowing walkable mixed-use development.
The rules provide a process for local governments to identify potential climate-friendly areas, then to adopt development standards for the areas best-suited for this purpose.
- Reforming costly parking mandates that negatively impact housing costs, business costs, pollution, and walkability.
One-sixth of Oregon renter households own zero vehicles, but while carless households tend to be the poorest, they also indirectly pay for parking requirements.
Communities have the option to either completely abolish parking mandates within close proximity to transit and rail stops or near desired types of development (small businesses, childcare facilities, multi-family housing, and historic buildings) or implement a suite of parking management protocols.
The City of Tigard was the 1st city in the state to align with these new rules and eliminate minimum parking requirements on December 13, 2022.
Sightline Institute’s research on The Cost of Parking Mandates sheds more light on parking requirements’ hidden costs and impacts to businesses and communities.
- Becoming EV-ready by creating charging infrastructure to support Oregon’s goal of 90% of new vehicles being electric by 2035.
New rules require new housing and mixed-use development with at least 5 units to include electrical conduit to 40% of spots, ready for wiring to support EV charging stations as the market expands.
This dovetails with the recent approval to use $9.6 million in primarily federal funding to build out public charging infrastructure along major roads in 2023.
While adoption of these new rules is just starting to take shape across the Portland Metro area, there will be much more to come in how local communities decide to implement the rules on their own and how development is impacted in the short and long term.
Business Opportunities - it’s time to get creative
- Work with local governments to identify climate-friendly areas and get in on the ground floor, where infrastructure and support will be most likely to arise for businesses getting established in the area.
- Rethink parking - paid parking areas, coordinated lots between businesses with differing hours, and expanding your new build are some of the options where parking minimums are abolished.
- Get ahead of EV charging requirements by incorporating the electrical installation in your new build project, and create a value-add for your visitors and customers.
