Milwaukie staff outline middle-housing options; council asks for incentives, tree-code changes and monitoring of state rulemaking

Milwaukie city staff on Tuesday summarized public feedback on middle housing and asked the City Council for direction on several follow-up steps, including studying incentives for green space, monitoring Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) rulemaking on House Bill 2138, and returning with proposals on tree protections and code enforcement.

The discussion grew out of a July 28 town hall and an online Engage Milwaukie page. Laura Weigel, Milwaukie’s community development director, told the council the town hall drew about 60 attendees and the city collected 35 in-person questions and 22 online comments. “For anyone tuning in new to the discussion, What is middle housing? Middle housing describes housing types that are kind of between single detached homes and apartment complexes,” Weigel said, listing duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhomes and cottage clusters as examples.

Why it matters: State law requires cities to allow middle housing where single-family homes are permitted. Weigel told the council that House Bill 2001 established the framework and that the more recent HB 2138 has refined the rules and is still undergoing rulemaking at DLCD. Staff warned that draft DLCD model code may leave few local design standards and advised caution on making local code changes until state rulemaking stabilizes.

Staff summary and council direction

Weigel and Vera Colias, the city’s planning director, presented five main themes from the town hall: concerns about increased density, design and appearance of new units, impacts to trees and open space, questions about what the city can regulate under state mandates, and worries about affordability. Staff said the city already has about 60 middle-housing units built or under construction since 2020 and is…