Mary Casales, Forty Year Resident of Munjoy Hill,  Supports Changes to the City’s Ordinance.

A presentation on the proposed Munjoy Hill Conservation Overlay District, (MHCOD) will be given at a workshop on Monday, June 4th at 4:00 pm in city council chambers.  It’s assumed that the presentation will be given by Jeff Levine, Director of the city’s planning office, although the city’s press release did not say that.  The regular city council meeting starts at 5:30 pm that same evening.

The MHCOD is a new overlay district to regulate development on the R-6 zone on Munjoy Hill.  It would amend Chapter 14 of the city code to create additional dimensional standards for development, add requirements regulating design of items such as roof lines and parking locations and add a demolition review process that would create a consultation process and potential delay for removal of buildings that meet standards for being preferably preserved.  These ordinance changes are designed to ensure that new development and redevelopment on Munjoy Hill is compatible with the existing built form in the area according to a press release issued recently by the city’s spokeswoman.

The proposed District would replace interim zoning for Munjoy Hill and is based on six months of staff analysis and meetings with residents, property owners and others to understand the opportunities and issues related to development activity.

As Jeff Levine, Director of the city’s planning office has said in the past, these changes will do nothing to regulate the excessively high rent increases and lack of tenants’ rights that exist in the city of Portland.

In order for the amendment to take effect on June 5, 2018, staff is requesting that it be passed as an emergency.  Emergency passage requires seven affirmative votes after public comment.