Plans to replace a nondescript blue 1950s-era house on NE Mason Street, just off 42nd Ave., with eight two-story, 1,400-square-foot homes, described by the City of Portland as a “cottage cluster,” are causing an uproar among neighbors in the immediate vicinity.
The clamor over infill projects like this is exacerbated by city policies that don’t require developers to provide on-site parking with redevelopment.
The city and the state of Oregon are pushing hard for more residential infill development with no required parking spots in a multi-pronged effort to simultaneously tackle three major issues: climate change, severe housing shortages, and surging homelessness.
It’s hard to argue with the need to deal with these pressing issues.
Infill, Parking Reforms Seen as Solutions
Environmental groups insist that only more infill can keep cities like Portland within mandated urban limits and cut down on long commutes, car-generated air pollution, and related ills. Meanwhile, housing and homeless advocates say the growing shortage of lower-cost housing is fueling the growing ranks of the unhoused and causing rents and home prices to skyrocket.
Clearly, something’s got to give.
“If someone is advocating for safer streets, climate action, abundant and affordable housing, tree preservation, active and equitable transportation, fiscal responsibility, or more vibrant business districts, then that person has a reason to support parking reforms,” argues Tony Jordan, founder of the locally based Parking Reform Network, which wants other cities nationwide to copy what Portland is doing.
Affected Neighbors Feel Blind-Sided
But quiet neighborhoods like Beaumont-Wilshire are among the places where the impacts of these new policies are being seen and felt. And some here feel they haven’t been fully informed about or prepared for the impacts.
Tim Root, who lives near the 4319 NE Mason site, and other nearby neighbors were dismayed that no public notice to the neighborhood or public comment period about the project was required.
But City Planner Thomas Soppe said those steps weren’t necessary, because less than 10,000 square feet of new construction is planned at the site.
Project Proceeding, Compliance Not in Question
Permits for 4319 NE Mason (temporarily readdressed as 4305 NE Mason during the demolition and construction process on PortlandMaps.com) are still being reviewed, said John Ray, public information officer for Portland’s Bureau of Development Services, which oversees building codes and permits. But he said any major changes to the current cottage-cluster plan would entail “substantial permit revisions,” which could cost the property owner significant time and money.
Current plans for the site appear to comply with Portland’s Residential Infill Project - Part 2 guidelines, or RIP2, Ray said, adopted by the City Council in the spring of 2022.
Neighbor Raising Awareness, But Policies, Zoning Changes, and Evolution Stand to Remake Neighborhood
But no matter what’s finally implemented, there’s no question that the character of the immediate vicinity will be altered.
“I am trying to bring awareness to the neighborhood, especially the area between NE 42nd and 47th and between Beech and Prescott,” Root said. “This is the area developers are targeting, because of the larger lot sizes, where they can jam in as many houses [as possible] and make the most money.”
Despite the angst in some quarters, it’s unclear whether the new policies will have a dramatic short-term impact. In California, similar zoning changes in 2021 have yet to result in significant changes, according to a recent Los Angeles Times editorial.
And some alterations are occurring through evolution, not simply due to state or city mandates. An explosion in the number of so-called “granny flats” or ADUs, for example, is making many Portland neighborhoods “denser” in a way that many accept and even enjoy.
But for some, the new realities are presenting difficult trade-offs.
After hitting what he called a “dead end” with city planners, the only remaining option is to “talk to the developer and see if we can negotiate,” Root said.
“If we got it down to six cottages, I’d consider that a win.”
For more info on the Portland City Council June 7, 2023, vote on parking changes see tinyurl.com/33pbmwx9.
Chris Rauber and his wife, Kim Williams, moved to Portland and B-W in the summer of 2022 after many years in the San Francisco Bay Area. He worked as a journalist at the S.F. Business Times and other publications. He was born in Oregon.
Editor’s Note: Parking’s Effect on Affordable Housing
It’s human for drivers to vilify parking limitations — we have cars, after all, and we want a place to put them — ideally right in front of the business we’re visiting, and most certainly close to our home.
Yet in a May 9 episode of Fresh Air, NPR host Terry Gross interviewed author Harry Grabar, whose book, “Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World,” lays out a theory that when, in the 1950s and ’60s, cities started requiring housing and other development projects to provide a number of mandatory parking spaces, it began the upward trajectory in the cost of housing. Land, after all, was necessary to accommodate this requirement, the cost of which in turn was put on the backs of tenants or homeowners. Hence, the push by many cities to remove parking requirements from development projects.
I encourage you to read or listen to the NPR interview for a different take on how to view parking: tinyurl.com/mr3atbvs.