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Washington County to review and streamline 1,200-page Community Development Code with DLCD grant support
Summary
County staff launched a Community Development Code assessment, funded by a Department of Land Conservation and Development grant, to identify unclear, repetitive or inconsistent standards and recommend prioritized fixes; the process will include stakeholder interviews, a draft assessment report and public open house through May 2026.
Washington County staff announced a consultant-led Community Development Code (CDC) assessment to identify inconsistencies, repetitive standards and barriers to housing production in the countys land-use code. The project will run about 15 months and is funded in part by a grant from the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD).
Senior planner Suzanne Sabin said the countys CDC was adopted in the early 1980s and has grown to about 1,200 pages through incremental changes. “Its about 1,200 pages now, and one of our staff brought in a food scale and weighed it, and its about six pounds,” Sabin said to illustrate the volume of accumulated amendments.
The county hired consultant Pascadia Partners to conduct stakeholder focus-group interviews with service districts and other partners, draft an assessment summarizing identified issues and propose prioritized next steps. Sabin said the assessment will identify unclear or non-objective standards, equity considerations and possible regulatory barriers to housing production, and will recommend an order for addressing the issues.
Staff expect the assessment draft and summary report to be delivered in the months after the stakeholder interviews, followed by a priorities report and an open house (virtual and in person). Sabin estimated the first phase of the project will conclude around May 2026; subsequent phases to revise code language would come later.
Sabin said the county will create a web page and signup for email updates, and that a planning commission member is expected to serve on the technical advisory committee. Staff invited community partners, service districts (Clean Water Services, Tualatin Valley and others) and community planning organizations to take part in interviews and review drafts.
