Climate Changes
Developing near bus lines is a way to reduce dependence on single-occupant vehicle commuting in Oregon.
New apartments at the corner of Silverton Road and Lansing Drive in Salem. The location is a model for the new climate-friendly state rules because a Cherriots bus stop is right at the site of the units.
By James Day The state of Oregon is closing in on a plan aimed at creating “climate-friendly and equitable communities” in the state. The rulemaking process, which is winding up this spring, likely will produce massive changes in how Oregon’s cities handle transportation, land use and housing issues. How massive? Mark Long, CEO of the Oregon Home Builders Association, calls the new rules “the most extensive changes in land-use planning since, perhaps, the original one (Senate Bill 100 in 1973).” In 2007 the Oregon Legislature adopted a goal to reduce Oregon’s climate pollution by 75% by 2050. Today, 15 years
CLIMATE-FRIENDLY AREAS A climate-friendly area is an area where residents, workers, and visitors can meet most of their daily needs without having to drive. They are urban mixed-use areas that contain, or are planned to contain, a greater mix and supply of housing, jobs, businesses, and services. These areas are served, or planned to be served, by high-quality pedestrian, bicycle, and transit infrastructure to provide frequent, comfortable, and convenient connections to key destinations within the city and region. Source: Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development 6 | The Chalkline | Summer 2022
later, the state is “far off track in our efforts to meet these goals,” state officials said in a report on the new rules. In addition, the state is experiencing real-world impacts of climate change such as devastating fires, heat waves and drought. A 40-person climate-friendly and equitable communities (CFEC) rulemaking advisory group that included Samantha Bayer, housing program director for the Oregon Home Builders Association, met for 18 months, and its work now is in the hands of Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD). The advisory panel, which met in 12 public meetings, also included local government representatives, public interest groups, realtors, planners and advocates for the homeless, seniors and people of color. The new rules will apply to Oregon’s eight metropolitan areas – Portland, Salem-Keizer, Albany, Bend, Corvallis, EugeneSpringfield, Grants Pass and Medford-Ashland. Approximately $16 million in state funds is available to help communities apply the new rules in all but the Portland area, where work already is under way as part of the metro area’s 2040 growth concept program. “These rules will impact almost every citizen,” Long said, “whether you are involved in home building, big box stores, restaurants, parking, the use of cars, or using the drivethrough at McDonalds to get a milk shake.” The program will affect Salem, Keizer and Turner, but not other Marion and Polk county cities such as Dallas, Independence, Monmouth, Woodburn, Silverton and Stayton because “the only affected local governments are those that www.HomeBuildersAssociation.org
