HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-08-26_Leek_Article to share with the Middle Housing Code Advisory Committee From: helenleek01(@amail.com
To: Olson,Erik
Subject: Article to share with the Middle Housing Code Advisory Committee
Date: Thursday,August 26,2021 8:15:02 PM
Attachments: imaae001.ona
Dear Eric,
A we work through the conversation on Middle Housing it seems we are
working in a vacuum, with little feedback as to what other municipalities are
doing/discussing. I know we are crafting a "Lake Oswego Way," but other
cities are grappling with the same issues we are. It would be nice to know what
our neighbors are doing.
Parking is a big one for me, and I was going to suggest we write into our codes
that since we are only allowed to mandate one parking space per unit, and if the
definition of a parking space is a garage, then we need to mandate that the
garage is used for parking ONLY not storage.
As a Realtor for decades, and a neighbor to homes that have three car garages,
there are homeowners who have a triple car garage and still park their cars in
the driveway for lack of garage space. With middle housing, there will not be
room for driveway parking in many instances, so actually utilizing the garage
as a parking space for cars is imperative.
There are condominium associations in the area that mandate the garage be
used ONLY for parking, not storage. I can provide info on that if you would
like.
This is the discussion Wilsonville is having on the topic. Please see:
Wilsonville tries to quell middle housing parking concerns
Can you provide this article to the other members of the committee, please?
Kindest regards,
Helen
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You only live once,
but if you do it right,
once is enough. Mae West
From: helenleek0l@gmail.com <support@ga.olivesoftware.com>
Sent:Thursday, August 26, 2021 8:03 PM
To: helenleek0l@gmail.com
Subject: helenleek0l@gmail.com
8/30/2021 Wilsonville tries to quell middle housing parking concerns-Lake Oswego Review,8/25/2021
Shared from the 8/25/2021 Lake Oswego Review eEdition
Wilsonville tries to quell middle
housing p concerns
City wants to keep vehicles off street, garages used
exclusively for parking, not storage
By COREY BUCHANAN
Pamplin Media Group
Some who oppose more dense
housing in Wilsonville envision
neighborhoods where local streets
are flooded with cars and housing
units have no off-street parking.
While also trying to comply with a new state
law that mandated the allowance of duplexes,
triplexes, cottage clusters and other forms of
so-called "middle housing," the city is trying
to assuage those concerns — and concerns
about parking more broadly — via new code
standards.
The city is limited in what it can do because state law prohibits local rules requiring
houses to have more than one parking space. However, planning commissioners have
proposed a number of potential remediations.
Some include requiring that developers impose covenants mandating that garage
spaces be used exclusively for parking (if it's designated as the only off-street parking
space for a unit) and incentivizing developers to create off-street visitor parking areas
by reducing open space and lot size requirements.
digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/LakeOswegoReview/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=PMLOR%2F2021%2F08%2F25&entity=Ar00901&sk=06CBA... 1/3
8/30/2021 Wilsonville tries to quell middle housing parking concerns-Lake Oswego Review,8/25/2021
For larger lots, the city is also considering adopting language that encourages
developers to build two parking spaces per unit.
These policies have yet to be finalized and the city is in the process of preparing a final
draft of its code changes to comply with middle housing legislation, which abolishes
the single-family zoning that prevents the development of middle housing in
neighborhoods.
The city added the covenant requirement after planning commissioners expressed
skepticism that simply implementing standards to ensure that parking was amenable to
cars would lead people to use them for parking.
Instead, as Planning Commissioner Jennifer Willard put it, "You could make it (the
garage) bigger and bigger and bigger and people will say 'Yay more storage."'
So along with the covenant requirement, the city may implement design standards that
make garage spaces easily usable for parking.
"If we're only going to require one space per unit, we better make sure those spaces
count and that they are accessible, usable, (and) that they're used as parking. You don't
want to have one required parking spot not be used as parking," Planning Manager
Daniel Pauly said during a July Planning Commission meeting. He also said some areas
in Villebois already have the parking covenant.
Pauly added that some areas of the city with only one required parking space have
additional off-street parking because of homebuyer and developer preference.
"There's neighborhoods that have been built for years that only require one space per
unit and a lot of them have more than that," he said.
Planning Commissioner Ronald Heberlein posited that the covenant would not be
impactful, while Commissioner Jerry Greenfield felt that the city addressed concerns as
best as it could.
As for visitor parking, Pauly said that for a 55-lot subdivision, the city could reduce
open space by 5,400 square feet to build 33 shared parking spaces. And visitor parking
would only be allowed in developments where 10% or more of the lots don't have on-
street parking.
"While I don't like the idea of reducing open space, it is effective at providing more
effective visitor parking on site," Heberlein said at the July meeting.
Enforcement of garage and visitor parking standards would be up to the homeowners
associations, however.
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8/30/2021 Wilsonville tries to quell middle housing parking concerns-Lake Oswego Review,8/25/2021
"The city is not set up for heavy parking enforcement. That takes our police officers
from other duties and (also our) enforcement staff," Pauly said.
Planning Director Miranda Bateschell and Pauly also explained the state's
rationalization for not wanting more stringent parking requirements. Essentially, they
said, the state has a housing shortage and more parking means less living space.
Parking also can increase the cost for developers and homeowners.
"The more parking we require as a city, along with design standards like setbacks, and
the lot coverage standards, when you start putting those together and you're also
requiring space for the parking or what might be a garage, it becomes infeasible to
build additional middle housing units," Bateschell said. "And a lot of (House Bill 2001)
was about integrating diversity of housing, but also just about the fact that we have a
housing shortage in this state."
See this article in the e-Edition Here
digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/LakeOswegoReview/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=PMLOR%2F2021%2F08%2F25&entity=Ar00901&sk=06CBA... 3/3