Planning division outlines 2025 work plan; council flags street‑tree, vacation‑rental and middle‑housing items

Planning staff presented the division’s 2025 work plan on Jan. 21 and reviewed 2024 accomplishments, including amendments to daycare land‑use rules, the redesignation of the enterprise zone and the creation of a customer service manual for permitting.

Clay Downey, Planning Manager, and Associate Planner Jeremiah Chromie said staff would prioritize development‑standards updates (lighting, screening), the narrowed Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) employment‑lands work, vacation‑rental code updates and a street‑tree list revision aimed at “right tree, right place” plantings. They also designated the street‑tree list and planter‑strip clarifications as items that will improve predictability for homeowners and developers.

Public comment: resident Brandon Slider (recorded in public comment) urged the council to adopt a tree ordinance to avoid future sidewalk damage and ADA conflicts. He cited ORS 368.910 (sidewalk repair responsibility) and OAR 813‑310‑0040 (ADA requirements) and argued a tree advisory board could improve species selection and placement.

Staff response: planning and public works staff explained the current sidewalk repair process is complaint driven. Staff said homeowners can also request an estimate from the city’s sidewalk crew, and the city can provide a quote at roughly 60% of commercial rates; the crew currently has three staff and must split time between owner‑pay work and publicly funded ADA ramps tied to street resurfacing projects.

Council discussion: councilors and staff noted several practical constraints: (1) many older street trees were planted under earlier ordinances and removing them can be costly because the code requires replacement trees and, in some cases, root barriers; (2) frontage sidewalk repairs commonly cost “about $8,000–$10,000” per household, a figure Downey provided as a planning reference; and (3) planter‑strip code language in Title 12 needs clarification on shared responsibilities and exceptions.

Statutory items and state mandates: staff briefed council on several state bills and mandates that could affect planning work, including HB 3395 (emergency shelter siting) and Senate Bill 1537 (housing feasibility) and anticipated “middle‑housing 2.0” clarifications from the legislature. Staff said the state statute can be used as an interim measure if the city elects not to codify a local approach. Councilors signaled limited appetite to adopt a local emergency‑shelter code at this time and instead asked staff to track the statutes and return with options.

Next steps: staff will post the work‑plan tracker on the planning webpage (as they already do), prepare a community engagement summary on vacation rentals and return with clarifying language for the street‑tree list and planter‑strip code. Council instructed staff to prioritize code maintenance and middle‑housing clarifications so that the city can implement clear permitting procedures for lot divisions and housing types.

Ending: The council did not take a formal vote on the work plan but provided direction on sequencing and asked staff to return with drafts for council review.