Planning Commission recommends approval of residential clear-and-objective Land Development Code amendments

The Corvallis Planning Commission on Feb. 5 unanimously recommended the City Council approve a package of Land Development Code text amendments aimed at bringing residential development rules into compliance with state law and reducing procedural barriers to housing.

Planning staff presented the amendments as the Phase 3 work of a multi‑year Code Audit project that began in 2018. Planning staff said the changes respond to the state requirement that local jurisdictions ‘‘adopt and apply only clear and objective standards, conditions, and procedures regulating the development of housing’’ and must avoid rules that ‘‘discourage needed housing through unreasonable cost or delay.’' Planning staff described the package as largely regulatory cleanup plus changes to remove discretionary review where state law requires a nondiscretionary path.

The package removes discretionary review for residential use types in most residential zones and in the PAO (planned office) zone, staff said. Among the specific changes in the staff presentation and staff report: eliminating conditional (discretionary) review for group residential and residential care facilities that previously required conditional…