REcode adopted! THANK YOU FOR YOUR FEEDBACK, PORTLAND!
On November 4, the City Council voted unanimously to adopt ReCode, Portland’s first comprehensive rewrite of the entire land use code and zoning map in over 50 years. This has been a monumental effort, starting back in 2017 and spanning years of thoughtful work and collaboration. This process would not have been possible without the participation of people across the city who care about Portland's future — thank you, Portland, for your comment and feedback! The new land use code and zoning map will go into effect thirty days from passage, on December 4, 2024. You can view the final drafts here.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
In December 2021, the City released the first major work product of ReCode Phase II - the land use code evaluation. The code evaluation focused on key issues for the city, like how the code could encourage more equitable housing creation, foster climate change resilience, and support transportation choice. The evaluation is serving as a road map for the City as it considers amendments to the land use code and zoning map under future stages of the ReCode Portland process.
From December through the spring of 2022, the City heard feedback from hundreds of residents on the code evaluation, through Planning Board and Council meetings, two public forums, a survey, email, and direct comments on the evaluation itself. We summarized what we’ve heard here.
Over the fall and winter of 2022/2023, we worked on the translating the findings of the code evaluation into draft text amendments, and we released the first wave of draft amendments in the summer of 2023. We collected feedback through markups, comments, and direct emails. We held three open houses in August of 2023 (read our summaries here), and held a virtual public forum in late September.
After reviewing hundreds of public comments on the first wave of edits , the City released the second wave of ReCode changes, encompassing the entire land use code, in April of 2024. These edits touched on housing, parking, historic preservation, climate resilience, and more, and they have the potential to shape the city for years to come. You can still learn about the second wave changes here.
Final draft edits were released in September. You can learn about these changes here.
WHAT IS RECODE AGAIN?
ReCode Portland is about creating a new, unified development code to serve Portland for the 21st century. The new code will be more user-friendly, will advance the goals of the city’s comprehensive plan, Portland’s Plan 2030, and will better equip the City to address needs in areas such as housing, design, preservation, conservation, the working waterfront, energy, and transportation.
ReCode is a multi-phased process. The first phase, Phase I, which concluded with the adoption of a new land use code in November of 2020, included new regulations for signs, updates to the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) and parking provisions, and an organizational restructuring of the land use code. Phase II, which we’re in now, began immediately following the conclusion of Phase I.
ReCode: Myth versus Fact
Have you pondered the future of single-family neighborhoods in Portland, been concerned about off-street parking requirements, or feel TOD zones are mapped in limited areas? Check out our compiled resource on common Myth v. Fact questions pertaining to ReCode by clicking on the gull!
Explore Portland’s existing land use code and zoning map.
