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Economic development committee to refine design-code template after Planning Commission review
Summary
Committee members agreed to have staff refine a locally tailored design-code template, seek technical assistance and funding options, and coordinate with historic-preservation staff before referring a draft ordinance to the Planning Commission and City Council.
The Economic Development Committee voted to move forward with next steps to refine a design-code template and pursue technical-assistance and funding options after discussing feedback from the Planning Commission. Committee members said the Planning Commission reviewer, Walt Wendelowski, found the template “a useful foundation” and recommended small tweaks and legal drafting before referral to the council.
Members discussed two basic paths for implementation: pursue a technical-assistance grant (from sources such as the Department of Land Conservation and Development, Oregon Main Street, or Business Oregon) to fund a consultant to convert the template into legal code, or take smaller, incremental local steps such as designating the Central Business District an historic-overlay zone or selectively applying standards to priority blocks. Committee members warned grant-funded processes can be long and sometimes require local matching or fronted costs, so they asked staff to identify the most practical options.
The committee also discussed the difference between highly prescriptive design codes (examples raised included Leavenworth-style themed downtowns) and modest, locally tailored standards that preserve individual building character while ensuring new construction “jives” with existing historic fabric. Members agreed that detailed dimensional standards can be necessary to prevent unintended workarounds and that the committee should choose how prescriptive it wants the code to be before engaging legal drafting.
As next steps, the committee asked Walt to review the template in detail, research technical-assistance grants and reimbursement requirements, and coordinate with Evan West at the State Historic Preservation Office for clarifying guidance. The committee approved proceeding with those tasks and requested staff return with findings and recommended draft ordinance language for subsequent review by the Planning Commission and City Council.
