St. Helens planners outline code changes tied to state housing law; councilors voice concern over allowing manufactured homes citywide

City Planner Clayton Grisham told the St. Helens City Council on Jan. 15 that proposed code amendments and a modest fee-schedule change respond to 2024 state housing legislation and to new administrative tools the state created for housing projects.

"What that does is it creates this avenue for developers to seek adjustments," Grisham said, describing an administrative-level variance created by Senate Bill 1537 that would let staff grant up to 10 adjustments for eligible housing projects without a Planning Commission hearing.

The package the planner described includes four main components: an administrative-variance fee category tied to SB 1537 (the planner said the item is temporary), detached multifamily (allowing three-or-more-unit configurations as detached units where multifamily is already permitted), new local standards for single-room-occupancy housing, and changes to align local rules with state requirements that manufactured and prefabricated homes be allowed where single-family dwellings are allowed.

Grisham said the administrative variance is intended to streamline applications for eligible residential or mixed-use projects and noted the new state provisions are temporary in duration as written in the statute text he presented. He also summarized SRO and parking clarifications staff would add to the code: larger SRO projects would be subject to apartment standards; parking calculations would follow typical multifamily rules (Grisham described the city's parking approach as "studio = 1; 1-bedroom = 1.5; 2-bedroom or larger = 2" when calculating total required spaces).

The planner warned that the SRO rules are imperfect from an enforcement standpoint because some rental arrangements can occur without a land-use filing, which limits the city's ability to spot them before they operate. He said new permitting would require adequate off-street parking and site design review where multifamily standards apply.

Several council members pressed staff on the manufactured-homes language, saying they feared the effect of allowing manufactured or prefabricated homes across single-family neighborhoods. One councilor said placing manufactured housing "in neighborhoods outside of those 2 districts ... is detrimental to property values," and asked whether the city could adopt more restrictive local controls.

City Attorney Ashley Weigand told the council her office would research options and case law. "Our office could be happy to look into that," Weigand said, noting that the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) reviews local code changes for compliance with state land-use law and that a local restriction could be challenged and—and if reversed—expose the city to fees and legal costs.

Grisham described several implementation choices the council could make in coming weeks: adopt the full package as drafted; reject it; or direct staff to return with a modified ordinance that omits or changes some components. He urged that delaying action increased the risk the city would face a project that could rely on the new statutory tools before the city had local standards in place.

Council direction at the end of the discussion was to have staff and the city attorney examine legal options and alternatives, to gather examples from peer cities, and to return to council with revised language or advice before final readings. No vote was taken at the Jan. 15 work session.

Why it matters: The package ties local land-use rules to a recent state law (Senate Bill 1537) and to expanded definitions of "needed housing" that the state now treats as protected; the choices the council makes will affect how easily developers can seek adjustments to setbacks, parking and other standards, and how single-room-occupancy and manufactured housing are regulated in St. Helens.

Next steps: Staff and the city attorney will research case law and peer-city responses and return to council with options; councilors indicated they would consider delaying final readings while staff refines the proposal.