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Design competition spotlights 'single‑stair' mid‑rise buildings; councilors press fire‑safety and accessibility questions
Summary
Portland Neighbors Welcome and partners presented a single‑stair design competition and argued the building typology can unlock housing on typical 5,000‑sq‑ft lots; council members asked about fire bureau concerns, sprinkler and pressurization measures, accessibility thresholds and how zoning interacts with code changes.
Presenters from Portland Neighbors Welcome, Strong Towns PDX and Sightline summarized a student design competition that asked University of Oregon teams to envision six‑floor single‑stair residential buildings on 5,000‑sq‑ft Inner East Side lots. "So why single stair buildings? ... there's a way that they build apartment buildings in pretty much the whole rest of the world," Ian Crozier said, explaining the typology's advantages for light, ventilation and neighborhood‑scale buildings.
Michael Anderson and Wes Ayres described national precedents and the economics of single‑stair layouts. Ayres said single‑stair plans reduce circulation space and can add units per floor, lowering per‑unit construction costs as floors are added. The presenters noted Oregon's Appendix Q allows a four‑story option with local fire‑service sign‑off and that Seattle and other cities have longer histories adopting single‑stair approaches.
Councilors used the presentation to probe tradeoffs. Several asked whether the city has reconciled appendix Q adoption with fire‑bureau concerns and what additional life‑safety measures would be required. "I don't think any of us can speak for fire bureaus here or elsewhere in particular," Michael Anderson said in response to questions about the fire bureau's views, noting earlier conversations but saying more coordination is needed.
Members also pressed on accessibility—how elevators and unit count thresholds trigger higher accessibility standards—and on the scale of potential developable lots if barriers were addressed. Presenters said taller single‑stair options could expand the number of developable small lots in Portland, but that state and local code, fire apparatus access and zoning changes would have to be addressed together.
The session concluded with councilmembers expressing interest in further analysis and in involving fire‑safety and building‑code experts to explore sensible tradeoffs before policy changes.
