Tualatin staff outline state-mandated walkable design standards, plan April draft code

City staff and consultants told the Tualatin City Council at a Feb. 10 work session that the city must adopt walkable design standards as part of the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities (CFEC) rules and that draft code amendments will come back to council in April.

Kate Rogers, lead consultant on the project, said the CFEC rules are a state response to a directive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and are codified in state law and administrative rules. Rogers pointed councilors to the walkable design section of the Oregon administrative rules (commonly referenced in the project as OAR 660-012-0330) and explained the rules apply to the eight largest regions in Oregon, including the Portland metropolitan area.

Rogers said the walkable design standards are intended to encourage pedestrian-oriented development, multimodal connectivity and compact development patterns so that more daily needs can be met by walking, cycling or transit rather than driving. She used Orenco Station in Hillsboro as a model example of a walkable, transit-oriented…