Require City Administrator to prepare a report with recommendations to reform the City design review process

WHEREAS, the 2035 Comprehensive Plan housing goals and policy objectives commit to providing Portlanders with high-quality, affordable housing across income levels that promotes access to jobs, goods and services; and WHEREAS, the 2045 Housing Needs Analysis estimates that Portland must build approximately 6,000 units per year for the next 20 years to meet current needs and population projections; and WHEREAS, outside of the Central City and Historic Districts, Oregon land use law provides that a local government must adopt and apply only clear and objective standards, conditions and procedures regulating the development of housing, and that these standards, conditions and procedures may not have the effect of discouraging needed housing through unreasonable cost or delay; and WHEREAS, a March 2025 ECONorthwest report indicated that in the fourth quarter of 2024, the City of Portland produced the fewest housing units in a single quarter since 2011; and WHEREAS, the 2035 Comprehensive Plan Goal 6.B: Development states that in supporting an environment for industrial, commercial, and institutional job growth and development, Portland will maintain a local development review system that is nimble, predictable, and fair; and WHEREAS, in June 2021, Council adopted Ordinance 190477 amending the Zoning Map, Title 33 Planning and Zoning, and Title 32 Signs and Regulated Regulations to implement the Design Overlay Zone Amendments project to update the process and tools of the Design Overlay Zone and related code sections; and WHEREAS, in August 2023, the Portland City Council adopted Resolution 37628, directing the consolidation of development review and permitting staff into one entity by July 1, 2024, with the goal of improving City delivery of development review and permitting services; and WHEREAS, in January 2024, the Portland City Council approved Ordinance 191609, the Housing Regulatory Relief Project, to increase residential development through temporary waivers, including waiving specified design rules, and temporarily reducing procedure types for design reviews of projects that include residential uses; and WHEREAS, in August 2024, the Seattle City Council passed a Design Review Exemption Ordinance for designated downtown districts for a period of three years to help promote housing and job production at a lower permit cost and a with shorter permit review times; and WHEREAS, the City Council must analyze all constraints on development in order to maximize Portland's opportunities for economic growth and the development of needed housing. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that no later than 120 days from the date this resolution is adopted, the City Administrator shall deliver a report to Council on Portland's design review process, to include but not be limited to: An overview of discretionary and non-discretionary design review, including explanation of state land use laws with which the City must comply; An overview of the two-track design review process, including each of the design review types (Type I, Type II, and Type III), related fee structures, procedures and timelines; An overview of the design overlay zone, design districts and other conservation and historic districts to which design guidelines apply; and An analysis of current and projected short- and long-term economic impacts of required design review processes on commercial and residential development timelines for projects located within the City within the previous five years, and the potential impacts of these processes for the next five years. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that 120 days from the date this resolution is adopted, the City Administrator shall prepare a set of recommendations and outline a legislative pathway to reform the City's design review process in order to increase residential and commercial development within the City, including: Options for a temporary exemption on design review requirements, where legally feasible; and Concepts on potential changes to Portland City Code Chapters 33.825, Design Review; 33.710.050, Design Commission; and other related code sections.