Milwaukie staff outlines middle-housing rules, early local projects and standards

Milwaukie planning staff told the commission and neighborhood association members that state law now requires cities to allow so-called middle housing and described how the city is implementing those rules and tracking early local projects.

The presentation by Planning Manager Laura Weigel and senior planner Vera (staff name given as Vera in the meeting) explained that middle housing includes duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, townhouses and cottage clusters (small detached units grouped around a shared green). Under Oregon's House Bill 2001 those housing types must be allowed "by right" in many residential zones: if a project meets the code standards it does not require a discretionary planning-commission review.

Weigel told the group that the only time middle-housing proposals typically reach the Planning Commission is when applicants seek exceptions (variances) to development standards or when land partitions trigger a land-use review. Many middle-housing land divisions are processed as Type 2 administrative reviews; staff approves them if they meet the written criteria, and neighbors are notified. Appeals are possible, Weigel said, but so far Milwaukie has not had appeals of the administrative approvals she described.

Weigel and Vera listed local project counts and examples. According to the staff summary, 16 middle-housing units are complete citywide; 33 units are under construction; and roughly 78 units are under consideration or in early design. Examples included a six-unit cottage cluster on 40th Avenue, a multi-unit townhouse cluster at 50 Second and Jackson with on-site garages, a 15-unit affordable cottage cluster on Harvey Street using cross-laminated timber construction, and an eight-unit cottage cluster on Olson that does not provide parking onsite. The Harvey Street project received local support from the city's construction excise tax, with staff citing approximately $2,200,000 of assistance earmarked to that development.

Staff summarized design and dimensional limits included in the code: cottage-cluster lots must be a minimum of 7,000 square feet; individual cottage footprints are capped at 900 square feet, and the average footprint across a cluster is limited (staff cited an average figure of about 1,400 square feet per unit cluster). Townhouses are limited to four units in a row; cottage clusters may range from three to 12 cottages around a common green. Weigel emphasized that the code focuses on objective standards: "if an applicant meets the standards, the city approves the project," and that staff will recommend denial only when a proposal fails to meet the written criteria.

The department said it will continue to monitor how many middle-housing units are built, how developers choose to provide (or not provide) parking, and whether administrative approvals prompt appeals.

The city encouraged neighborhood groups to call planning staff with questions; staff said pre-application conference notes, land-use applications and hearing materials are posted on the city web site for public review.