Resolution on Tree Amendments and Code Overhaul Passes with 2020 Timeframes

THANKS TO PRESSURE FROM TREE ADVOCATES, CITY COUNCIL SHORTENS TIMELINES FOR TREE CODE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS

At a public hearing on January 8, 2020, the Portland City Council passed, 3-0, a revised resolution requiring city agencies to submit to it proposals for removing developers’ exemptions from tree preservation and planting requirements and for lowering the critical tree size threshold for inch-for-inch mitigation from 36 inches to 20 inches. The deadline for agencies to submit these proposals for review to City Council after technical analysis and legal review is now July 7, 2020 for both proposed changes. In addition, the resolution stipulates that agencies submit “a scope of work for additional updates to strengthen Title 11 for Council review” by Dec. 7, 2020, a process that will be led by Parks’ Urban Forestry. Watch the hearing here, “Jan. 8, 2020 PM session,” starting at 1:55:53.

The Mayor’s original, draft proposal contained much longer timelines for making these sorely needed changes. Thanks to all of you who made your voices heard! The Mayor’s office received 132 comments on the draft resolution, the majority of which, according to Sam Diaz, from the Mayor’s office, supported swifter action on these code strengthening measures. The Bureau of Development Services, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, and Portland Parks and Recreation/Urban Forestry have shifted workloads, reviewed consultant contracts, and consulted with the City attorney’s office to expedite the work, said Diaz at the Jan. 8 hearing. Factors affecting the final proposal deadlines, said Diaz, include current staff capacity and expertise, and state land requirements, the latter pertaining to industrial zones, which, by law, are a state-protected resource. The timelines were shortened as much as Council felt they could be, given the need for City staff to conduct sufficient due diligence so that the proposed changes will be legally defensible and will not be challenged in court.

To fund this work, the adopted resolution asks the Bureau of Development Services, Portland Parks and Recreation, and the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability to develop budgets to submit to Council as part of the City’s Spring Budget Monitoring Process.

Portland Audubon’s Bob Sallinger, one of 15 people who testified at the hearing, called the new resolution “responsive” and “a reasonable approach.” Trees For Life Oregon’s Catherine Mushel also testified, as did the Portland Youth Climate Council.

Commissioner Fritz is to be lauded for the many years of work she has done on behalf of trees in Portland, including her incorporation of public suggestions for word changes in this current resolution. On Jan 8 she urged colleagues to vote then and there, at the hearing. Apparently, City Council originally did not intend to vote on the resolution on Jan. 8, due to Commissioner Hardesty’s request that they wait until she was present (she did not attend the hearing). At the hearing, Commissioner Eudaly thanked community activists “for pushing us on this.”