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Committee backs ordinance to reference state building codes by reference to avoid redundant local updates
Summary
Portland Permitting and Development won committee approval to send an ordinance to full council that removes specific code years from city titles and instead references state statutes and administrative rules, a clerical change city staff said will reduce repeated council work when the state updates codes.
Portland Permitting and Development presented an ordinance on Sept. 23 that would amend multiple sections of Portland City Code to adopt the state building codes by reference and remove hard-coded edition years from city titles.
Interim director David Kienhausen and code analyst Jody Orrison told the committee the proposed changes are clerical and intended to let city code automatically track the edition adopted by the State of Oregon via statute and administrative rule rather than requiring a separate ordinance every three years when the state updates codes. Orrison described the operational burden: preparing a single code-update ordinance previously required substantial staff time (she estimated roughly 60 staff hours for the June energy-code update) and repeated council hearings.
Orrison gave examples: Title 24 currently references the “2022 Oregon Structural Specialty Code (OSSC).” Under the proposed language the code would instead read as “the Oregon Structural Specialty Code as adopted by ORS [statute] and OAR 918-460,” with the OAR identifying which edition and the mandatory date. Orrison noted the Building Codes Division had adopted the 2025 OSSC rule that becomes effective next week but is not mandatory until April 1; under the proposed city code approach staff would not need to return to council in April to update the local reference.
Councilor Dunphy said he had received detailed public testimony from a frequent commenter (Terry Harris) who flagged specific omissions and asked staff to respond in writing about whether referenced statutes and rules were being captured correctly before the ordinance proceeds. Kienhausen and Orrison said city legal review had examined the code-reference changes and that bureau staff would review the public submission and coordinate with the city attorney.
Councilor Ryan thanked bureau staff for the technical work; Councilor Zimmerman and others asked clarifying questions about which code updates would still require direct council action (for example, optional appendices such as a one-stair provision). Orrison said optional appendices that are not mandatory under state rules would still be brought to council if Portland chose to adopt them locally; she added the bureau is preparing a separate ordinance to adopt a particular optional appendix (single stair) the staff had identified.
A motion to forward the ordinance (document number 2025-374) to full council with a recommendation to pass carried on a 5–0 vote. Kienhausen and Orrison said the changes would not affect permits already in the queue or temporary system development charge waivers that took effect Aug. 15; any permit will be reviewed under the code in effect at the time of submittal per standard practice.
The committee recommended the ordinance be sent to full council for passage and asked staff to review the public testimony cited by Councilor Dunphy and coordinate any technical clarifications with the city attorney before the council hearing.
