Yamhill consultants outline comprehensive plan and zoning code updates; hearings set for May and June

At a joint work session of the Yamhill City Council and Planning Commission, city consultants presented draft comprehensive plan updates and a suite of zoning code amendments aimed at aligning the city’s land‑use rules with state requirements and encouraging downtown mixed‑use development and additional housing types.

The revision package, funded by a Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) grant, focuses on three areas: updates to the comprehensive plan and maps, a rewrite of land‑use review processes and procedures, and zoning changes to allow middle housing types and to modernize rules for the Central Business District (CBD). Consultants said the draft will move to a Planning Commission public hearing on May 19 and to City Council on June 11, with a second reading expected in July to adopt the required ordinances.

“This joint work session … is to the stimulation of the presentation on the code recommendations and the comp plan updates,” said Steve Faust, community planning director for 3J Consulting, introducing the project and timeline. He and consultant Doug Rucks said the work responds to both state housing laws and DLCD grant timelines that require the work to be complete by mid‑June.

Why it matters: the package rewrites how the city will review development, adds or clarifies housing types that state law now requires, and changes the downtown zoning to facilitate pedestrian‑oriented, mixed‑use development. Consultants and staff repeatedly framed the changes as a draft to be refined through public hearings and DLCD review before adoption.

Major elements in the draft

Scope and schedule — The update package covers comprehensive plan text and map updates and proposed edits to Title 10 (zoning), Title 11 (land divisions), and Title 13 (annexation). Consultants said they also prepared a buildable lands inventory to document residential land supply. The project is funded by a DLCD grant with a mid‑June grant deadline and will proceed to Planning Commission and City Council hearings for ordinance adoption.

Land‑use review process —…