Development Law Group Update: City of Portland Planning Efforts Linking Economic Development and Livability
10/16/2008

The current economic challenges being felt throughout the country come at a time when the City is embarking on its first broad-scale review of its Comprehensive Plan in effect since 1980 and its Central City Plan implemented in 1988. The Comprehensive Plan focuses on the City as a whole, and the Central City Plan focuses on the City's economic center: downtown and Central City. With both plans, however, linking sound land use planning with strategies to achieve desired levels and types of economic growth will be key.

Under state law, the City is required to periodically review the consistency of the local planning system with the Statewide Planning Goals. The plan elements evaluated as part of the state-mandated periodic review include Economic Development (Goal 9), Public Facilities and Services (Goal 11), Transportation (Goal 12), Housing (Goal 10) and Urbanization (Goal 14). The City's proposed periodic review program was approved by the City Council in late August and is being reviewed by the Department of Land Conservation and Development. In updating its plans, however, Portland plans to go beyond the review elements required by state law and take a look at broader issues related to achieving the Portland "vision."

The Portland visioning process conducted in 2005 will be used to keep the priorities of Portlanders at the forefront of the planning effort. Values identified in the visioning process included community, equity, accessibility and distinctiveness. Those values will be relevant to the City's review of its Comprehensive Plan and Central City Plan. The City recognizes that the goals will in some instances be in conflict. In light of Measures 37 and 49, there is also a recognition of the burden imposed by land use regulation. The City intends to consider using "carrot" incentive approaches to alleviate strict implementing regulations when possible. The City intends to coordinate its work with Metro's update of its 2040 Plan, the State Big Look Task Force, the City's River Plan and other district planning efforts. The development community should be engaged in this process, as the foundation is laid for a more innovative and agile land use program.

Published work schedules vary slightly, but the following general timeline is anticipated:

Applications to serve on the Community Involvement Committee are currently being accepted. The Community Involvement Committee will include several City Planning Commissioners as well as members of the public and will ensure that the communication and outreach portions of the planning efforts are effective. A Central Portland Plan survey soliciting input on what the Central City should be in 30 years is currently accessible from the City's Website (http://www.portlandonline.com/). For more information, contact any of the attorneys below.