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LEGISLATION • GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS • POLITICS •
November, 2012
• PAGE 9
HBA
News
HOME BUILDING
HBA
PDX
.
ORG
PROTECTING
This will be my final Inside Line
article for 2012, before passing
the Government relations com-
mittee on to Mimi Doukas of
Stone Bridge Homes NW. With
this last opportunity I want to
revisit an issue that is hugely
important to me, to our Gr/PAC
committee, and I believe to the
future of our local industry. This
issue deals with the level of pri-
ority that we give government
relations and political action
within our organization.
Let me start this discussion
by saying that our Government
Affairs staff does a wonderful
job with the resources at their
disposal. My comments are not
in any way meant as a criticism
to their work and are focused
entirely on the immensity of the
challenge at hand.
Our Government Affairs staff
is tasked with understanding
and monitoring an extraordi-
narily complex land use system
and providing advocacy before
the 37 local governments that
fall within the Portland Metro-
politan and outlying areas. To
be effective they are required
to have a strong grasp on local
and regional land use policies,
SDC methodologies, the conse-
quences of new regulation on
building and land use require-
ments, the agendas of current
and future policy makers, and
be persuasive in communicat-
ing the concerns of our mem-
bership. This is just the tip of the
iceberg.
In order to truly influence this
system, they are required to be
involved at the infant stages of
the process. Within this system,
more often than not, a strong
direction is taken toward a final
outcome long before outside
comment is solicited. As a re-
sult, it is imperative that our or-
ganization participate in every
discussion as early as possible,
in order to ensure that our pri-
orities can always be reflected
in the final decision.
In additional to these respon-
sibilities, many of our members
are pushing for a stronger local
HBA focus on State legislative is-
sues. OHBA does a tremendous
job in Salem, but with their lim-
ited resources our local issues
are not always high on the list
when more statewide concerns
are top priority.
Our membership plays a huge
role in helping to fill in a few of
the gaps, and our staff does a
Oregon Update
As we prepare for the next legis-
lative session, the OHBA will be
watching for agenda items that
effect our industry. Get our initial
take on Land Use, Tax reform,
Energy, regulation and Education
—See page 10
Around The Region
It’s all about thewater: Clackamas CountyWater Environment
Services and CleanWater Services Design are seeking partici-
pation in reviewing surfacewater management practices and
regulations and Design and Construction Standards, plus Hill-
sboro reviews their water SDC.
—See page 11
In last month’s issue of the HBN,
PAC Chair Laurie Butler referenced a
letter that was sent to PortlandMay-
or, Sam Adams, addressing serious
issues which threaten infill devel-
opment within the city of Portland.
This letter was sent not only to May-
or Adams, but also to the rest of the
council and theMayoral candidates.
This letter was signed by leadership
of the HBA, as well as co-signed by a
list of builders, non-profit organiza-
tions and other members who are
concerned with these issues. Below
is a copy of the letter in its entirety.
If you have additional questions on
any of these topics, please contact
Justin Wood at the HBA.
Dear Mayor Adams,
Infill housing is vital to our re-
gion’s ability to accommodate ex-
pected population growth. Port-
land has long advocated to Metro
that it can take on even more infill
housing and redevelopment, thus
reducing the need for UGB expan-
sions. However, some of its current
development regulations and fees
are making that cost prohibitive.
In addition, neighborhood resis-
tance to redevelopment creates
additional challenges for builders
who are following the City’s own
zoning designations.
On behalf of our infill builders,
HBA urges the City to move as
quickly as possible on a couple of
key issues that could help our in-
dustry meet redevelopment goals
and spur economic development.
We realize efforts are underway
already, but we need your sup-
port for having these addressed
quickly and in a way that makes
economic sense. Not only will it
help our industry do what the City
and Metro want in terms of infill
housing, but it would also lead
to almost immediate increases in
jobs, secondary economic activity
and City tax revenues.
The first and biggest issue is
infill street improvements. Cur-
rently, PBOT and BES ask builders
to fully develop streets, sidewalks
and swales in conjunction with a
single building permit, regardless
of the street’s current configura-
tion or future development po-
tential. These improvements are
extremely expensive when done
one lot at a time, costing builders
$25,000 or more in actual hard im-
provement costs. This compares
to an average cost of only $15,000
per lot if done over an entire block
(assuming a 50’ wide lot). In many
cases, this alone can make an infill
project financially impractical.
In addition to the actual street
improvement hard costs, the City
of Portland has by far the highest
review and permit fees for street
improvements in the metro area.
For example, on a recent small
infill street improvement done
in NE Portland a builder paid the
City over $22,000 in permit and
inspection fees. By comparison, a
similar sized project in Washing-
ton or Clackamas County would
only have fees of $5,000 or less.
The total fees and costs for a
street improvement on an infill
lot are $47,000 (or more) – a cost
that is simply ridiculous, makes in-
fill building impractical, increases
the costs of housing unfairly (and
unrealistically), and provides little
value to the neighborhood.
Our recommendation is to di-
rect the Bureau of Transportation
to allow a builder to pay a reason-
able “in lieu of” fee. The key word
being “reasonable.” It cannot be
based on the current high City
review fees nor the high costs for
hard improvements on a one-off
lot. A more reasonable number in
the $15,000-$20,000 range would
be acceptable. This would also re-
flect the true costs the City would
incur when aggregating these im-
provements over a whole block,
which is what would really have
value to existing neighborhoods.
In addition, where improvements
are deemed to be needed on a
street, please direct PBOT and BES
to examine their fee structure,
comparing it to neighboring juris-
dictions and significantly reducing
it to what is reasonable for an infill
house to bear. There is simply no
reason for permit and review fees
on a half street improvement to
be as expensive as they are cur-
rently.
The second issue is neighbor-
hood resistance to elimination of
older housing stock. Many of Port-
land’s older homes are built on
double lots – legal lots of record
that meet the minimum zoned
lot requirements. As an example,
neighbors in the Eastmoreland
Neighborhood Association recent-
ly took issue with two new homes
being built in their neighborhood
where one had previously stood.
This older home sat on top of two
50’ x 100’ lots (5,000 sq. ft. each)
which were platted, designed and
zoned for two homes.
Both the City and Metro are
counting on a percentage of these
to be torn down and replaced
with two new homes in order to
achieve infill housing goals. How-
ever, delays add to the construc-
tion costs and also unfairly set the
neighborhood and builder against
each other.
See INSIDE LINE/ page 10
Letter to Mayor Sam Adams addresses
infill development challenges in Portland
NOVEMBER 6 I S ELEC T ION DAY
TheHBaasksyoumarkyour calendarsandgetoutandvote!
The HBA’s Government relations & Political Action Commit-
tee has met with many of the candidates in key races around
the Portland Metro region. Below is the list of candidates
whom the HBA of Metropolitan Portland has endorsed. These
candidates were chosen for their pro-business platforms
or their ability to effect change in their respective area.
If you would like more information on any of these can-
didates or would like to offer help in terms of signage loca-
tions, fundraising or any other campaign related item, please
contact Justin W. at the HBA. For a list of OHBA endorsed can-
didates, visit
www.hbapdx.org/news-blog
.
HBA of Metropolitan Portland endorsements:
• Charlie Hales – Portland Mayor
• Mary Nolan – Portland City Council
• John Ludlow – Clackamas County Chair
• Jamie Damon – Clackamas County Commissioner
• Keith Mays – City of Sherwood Mayor
• richard Goddard – City of Wilsonville Mayor
• Monica Keenan – City of Wilsonville Councilor
• Eric Postma – City of Wilsonville Councilor
• Nick Wilson – City of Tigard Mayor
• Monique Beikman – City of Tualatin Councilor
• Skip O’Neill – City of Lake Oswego Councilor
• Bill Tierney – City of Lake Oswego Councilor
• Dan Williams – City of Lake Oswego Councilor
• Allen Springer – Yamhill County Commissioner
By Matt Wellner,
Government Affairs Chair
Inside
Line
See OPEN LETTER/ page 10