Portland, ORE. — Recent media has caused some confusion about proposed new design guidelines for larger buildings in Portland.
To clarify: The bureaus of Planning and Sustainability and Development Services have been updating Portland’s design guidelines and standards through the Design Overlay Zone Amendments (DOZA) project. The proposed new guidelines do not include any new policies about camping on private property.
Over the past couple of months, project staff have been briefing the commissions on the proposed new guidelines during work sessions. At the Nov. 12 Planning and Sustainability Commission work session, commissioners discussed “Guideline 6: Provide opportunities to pause, sit, and interact.” Commissioner Oriana Magnera proposed adding “… opportunities to rest and be welcome, pause, sit, and interact.”
Commissioners had a robust discussion before agreeing to suggest the following language to Design Commission for their consideration: “Guideline 6: Provide opportunities to rest and be welcome.” The Design Commission will make the final language recommendation to City Council.
In their Nov. 15, 2019, letter of testimony to the Design Commission, the PSC wrote: “Understanding we are talking about private property here, we still want to ensure the openness and welcoming factors contribute to the development.
“Specific to the phrasing of the guideline itself, we suggest making it even more clear that development should provide supportive space for people to feel welcome and safe and should allow space for people to rest, especially under our current housing shortage. …
“The definition of “rest” was quite involved. We think the background should address this more fully and clarify the intent of the word. The PSC will talk about this further at its [Dec. 17] work session and will provide suggested language to the Design Commission after our discussion.”
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