State climate change goals

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 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

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

State goals fuel significant changes for builders, city planners

More electric vehicle charging stations, such as these in the garage underneath the capital mall in Salem, are being encouraged by the state as part of its climate goals. The type of bicycle infrastructure that Salem has installed downtown is a key goal of the state’s new climate-friendly transportation.

are within metropolitan planning organization boundaries,” said Kevin Young, a senior urban planner with the DLCD. The bulk of the funding, approximately $15 million in Oregon Department of Transportation funds, will be devoted to transportation upgrades because, state officials said, 38% of Oregon’s climate pollution comes from transportation. Communities must decide how to implement the new rules by the end of the year, according to an executive order signed in 2020 by Governor Kate Brown that directs state agencies to take actions to promote cleaner vehicles, cleaner fuels and less driving.

Reducing driving

The rules will require communities to change their local transportation and land-use plans to do more to ensure that residents have more safe, comfortable ways to get around and don’t have to drive long distances just to meet their daily needs. Jurisdictions will be required to adopt regulations allowing walkable mixed-use development in defined areas within urban growth boundaries and reduce dependency on single-occupant vehicle travel. For example, cities could designate climate-friendly areas and allow developers to build taller buildings in those areas to provide housing in greater density. The rules don’t require the higher density, state officials stressed, but they must be allowed, and a minimum density standard could help ensure that there are enough customers that it makes sense for transit to serve a neighborhood. Long noted that the new rules will make it “easier for builders to do high density, up to 25 units per acre, and that’s good, but it will make it harder to do single-family housing and we prefer to have both.” Also being considered by state planners are greater efforts for new buildings to support electric vehicles, reduce parking mandates, particularly within a half-mile of frequent transit, and encourage local planners to address gaps in walking, biking and transit networks. “Climate-friendly development” should happen where people want to build it and the market calls for it, the state report said. Housing also should be built where residents can walk to where they want to go. While emphasizing that classic single-family housing is not going away and, in fact, will continue to provide “most housing,” the state rules aim to encourage a more diverse set of housing choices that are more affordable and climate-friendly.

State HBA responds

Bayer of the Oregon HBA also expressed strong concerns about the rules in an April 18 comment letter sent to other committee members and state staffers. “We recognize that the governor has a vested interest in addressing climate change and the department was directed to identify changes in Oregon’s statewide planning system to do so,” she wrote. “However, this does not have to be at the expense of affordable housing, opportunities for home ownership or to reduce choice for consumers.” Key issues for Bayer involved finding answers to these questions:

• What will be the land costs in the designated climate-friendly areas? • What types of housing units likely will be built inside the climate-friendly areas, how affordable will they be and how do they compare to the actual needs of the affected communities? • Do cities have the infrastructure capacity to serve the density in the climate-friendly areas? Bayer also cited the challenge for home builders of consistently having to retool amid new rules and regulations, noting that the middle housing work mandated by 2019’s House Bill 2001 and being handled by a separate rules process has resulted in having to “change the rules adopted just a year ago. While we appreciate the department’s work and reconsideration of its rules, we also want to highlight how disruptive and confusing the ever-changing rulemaking can be for housing development. “We believe,” Bayer added, “the ambitious density requirements for climate-friendly areas limit housing choice by precluding single-family, detached housing and important forms of middle housing (such as duplexes and townhouses). This is exactly what HB 2001 tried to prevent.” Bayer also cautioned against “unintended consequences” resulting from the new rules, with the key concerns being gentrification, increasing barriers to affordable housing and limiting opportunities for housing choice. Long added: “Any time you adopt new regulations and rules, those steps can lead to unseen costs, confusion and risk and can determine which projects can go forward.”

Sizable apartment complexes such as these on Kale Avenue in northeast Salem likely will become more prominent as density rules change to accommodate transportation and climate goals.

Other reactions

Local governments also voiced concerns about the new rules. The Marion County Board of Commissioners, in a May 10 letter to the DLCD, noted the challenge of “providing the necessary funding to accomplish the obligations.” The commissioners also said that because most transportation projects are financed with funds from the federal government, which has its own rules, “it could put local governments in a position of choosing which set of rules to follow.” The city of Salem, meanwhile, in a May 2 letter from interim city manager Kristin Retherford, requested deadline relief and asked the state to extend its deadline for establishing a detailed planning work program to enforce the new rules from Dec. 31, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2023. “The deadline to complete this work program in seven months is unrealistic,” Retherford wrote.

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