Controlling codes

Two different viewpoints on code approvals.  The first one, in Wilsonville, will allow the planning staff to approve a development application / design and supplementary technical reports and issue a ministerial decision that is finL with no opportunity for citizen notice, design review, or appeals.

The second article is about Portland's Design Review Commission's report to City Council regarding their overloaded work schedule and antiquated codes that result in poor quality building design with no review possible.  The Commission is requesting more development applications go through the review process to get better design and a better fit with neighborhoods.

The second approach is becoming increasingly important as vacant land in the city is almost gone, and new structures have a larger profile and impact owing to the increased cost to build.  Like neighbors everywhere, citizens need to have their needs for having a good neighbor approach to compatibility, size, parking, noise, etc.be respected.

 

Streamlined code seen as a 'competitive advantage' for city

Portland (Business) Tribune 

30 July 2014 01:00 | Written by Josh Kulla | 

Form-based codes would give developers an easier path to project approval

A new means of streamlining the development application process is in the works for Wilsonville’s Coffee Creek Industrial Area.

Using so-called form-based code, city planners would have much more authority to give proposed development projects the green light than under standard, zone-based processes.

As envisioned, the overlay district will provide a series of design standards that will give the area an uniform appearance and ensure that the proper type of development occurs. For developers, the attraction is the certainty that comes with simple, clear and objective standards, as well as the streamlined process that can be administered by staff.

“What we’re trying to do is create a lot of flexible options for developers to use,” Urbworks consultant Marcy McInelly told Wilsonville city councilors at a July 21 work session.

In short, development applicants could meet either the form-based code standards, administered largely by staff, or the flexible, subjective guidelines of the Pattern Book, with compliance administered by the city’s development review board.

Design Commission: Surging development demands city response

Daily Journal of Commerce
By: Inka Bajandas in Architecture and Engineering August 5, 2014 9:09 am

Portland’s design review process should be expanded or revised to better respond to surging development in the city, according to a Portland Design Commission report.

Design Commission Chairwoman Guenevere Millius last week gave the report to the Portland City Council. In the report, design commissioners request that the City Council consider a number of measures to better respond to the concerns of the Portland residents living in rapidly changing neighborhoods.

This includes updating Portland’s Community Design Standards. In many of Portland’s design districts, developers use the design standards to design their projects and avoid design review. The standards were developed in the 1980s and don’t adequately address today’s developments, commissioners said.

“We grow increasingly concerned about poor quality projects that have proliferated by following the prescribed Community Design Standard path,” the report said. “We strongly believe it is time to, at minimum, review and revise Community Design Standards to reflect the changed nature of the neighborhoods to which they apply.”

Commissioners suggested expanding design districts or offering a trigger that would require design review anywhere in the city, such as projects on main corridors or other areas where design oversight would be beneficial.

“It is worth considering whether enough of our city enjoys the benefits of design review,” the report said.