ARTICLE
On December 6th, 2022, Happy Valley City Council will vote on a host of Land Development Code changes to comply and accommodate for state mandates related to HB 2001 and middle housing legislation. While most of the updates are technical fixes and will have minimal impact on housing and new home construction, HBA is concerned with several provisions that would increase building costs and reduce living space for new homes. One specific item of concern is council’s proposal to increase interior side setbacks from 5-feet to 7-feet. This will reduce living space, hurt interior livability and flexibility, reduce exterior design variability, and reduce land values by impacting potential yield on development. We urge members building in Happy Valley to draft and submit testimony ahead of the council meeting on December 6th and work with HBA on talking points if you would like to testify in person. If you would like to learn more, please contact Preston Korst at prestonk@hbapdx.org.