City Council Approves Tree Code Amendments

On November 12, 2020, the Portland City Council unanimously approved the tree code amendments that community tree advocates have been pushing for several years. City bureau staff have put months of hard work into bringing these amendments to a vote and we thank them for their time and effort. Read what was passed here.

Thanks to everyone in the community who testified over many months in person, in writing, or via Zoom! City Council heard us.

Though we didn’t get everything we’d hoped for with this round of changes—notably removing the exemption from tree preservation and tree density requirements for privately owned land in heavy industrial zones—the amendments that passed will help preserve more trees. Change is hard and slow. We thank Commissioner Amanda Fritz for adding to the approved changes a provision to make City-owned and City-managed sites in heavy industrial zones newly subject to tree preservation and density requirements. This means that 150 acres of heavy industrial (IH) zone property will no longer be exempt from Title 11 preservation and density requirements during development. These 150 acres are small potatoes compared to the city’s likely thousands of acres of privately owned IH land. And they do not include land owned by the Port of Portland, which is considered private land. However, in light of the current obstacles to the City Council voting to lift tree exemptions in heavy industrial zones—notably the state’s Goal 9 of the Economic Opportunities Analysis that ties jobs to industrial land inventory—we appreciate Commissioner Fritz’s work.

These amendments to the tree code will take effect on Dec. 12, 2020.

Next Steps—By March 31, 2021, the Portland Parks and Recreation Urban Forestry division will be presenting to City Council for approval a project scope to rehaul the tree code well beyond the amendments just passed. Trees for Life Oregon is strongly in favor of this and hopes that City Council will find the funds in its next budget to bolster the tree code across the board, thereby aligning it with the City’s stated climate and equity goals.