The City of Wheeler Planning Commission on June 5 voted to recommend a package of zoning-code changes to the Wheeler City Council intended to implement Oregon’s middle-housing rules and expand housing options in the city.

The commission recommended adoption of amendments to Article 11 (supplementary provisions) of the Wheeler zoning ordinance and related expedited land-division language. The staff report said the proposed changes were submitted to the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) on April 30, 2025, and that the amendments are intended to support statewide Goal 10 (housing) by permitting a wider variety of housing types in residential zones.

The commission adopted staff’s proposed alternative siting/design standard to treat triplexes and quadplexes the same as single-family dwellings for height, applying a 24-foot maximum building height in residential zones for those housing types. The staff report explained an OAR exception had been filed with DLCD to allow the city to adopt the minor deviation from the model rule and summarized the agency criteria the city must address when proposing alternative siting or design standards.

Commissioners also settled on specific standards for cottage clusters: a maximum unit footprint of 900 square feet and a maximum building height of 20 feet (the commission had discussed 17, 20 and 24 feet). After debate about lot sizes and neighborhood context, commissioners moved to amend the draft to change the cottage-cluster minimum and maximum allowed units from the document’s earlier 3–8 range to a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 10 cottages per cluster. The commission recorded several abstentions on that motion but proceeded to forward the amended proposal to the city council.

Property owner commenters urged flexibility on cluster size and maximum square footage. Kale Aldrich, who said he owns property in North Wheeler, requested allowing up to 10 cottages and asked that some cottages be permitted to have a second floor around the 900-square-foot footprint; Aldrich said the additional units would improve courtyard layout and project economics. Mike Anderson expressed similar support for a mixture of one- and two-story options in clusters.

Staff and commissioners discussed technical clarifications requested by the commission: how to measure gross floor area on sloping lots and whether to change language referencing “garage door frames” to “inside of the garage” to avoid confusion. The staff agreed to edit grammatical and measurement wording and to add clarifying notes where needed.

The Planning Commission’s recommendation package will go to the Wheeler City Council for formal consideration at the council meeting on June 17, 2025. Staff indicated the council may further refine code language and that additional adjustments are likely once the new model code is used in practice.

Why it matters: the changes implement state-mandated middle-housing rules and will alter what kinds of multiunit housing can be built in residential zones in Wheeler. The amendments are aimed at increasing rental and ownership opportunities, but several commissioners asked for additional visuals and lot-size analysis before finalizing standards to understand how clusters would fit into established single-family neighborhoods.