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This week, following an HBA-Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors® joint letter, the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners advanced its Land Use Housing Strategies Project Phase I zoning code recommendations to the planning commission for refinement. The Board was considering halting Phase I of the project, but decided to move forward with HBA-supported proposed zoning code changes that would increase maximum residential density, decrease parking requirements, and add affordable housing density bonuses in specific commercially zoned urban unincorporated areas throughout the county. According to the 2019 Housing Needs Analysis, the county faces a nearly 5,000 housing unit deficit in its urban unincorporated areas. As a project working group member, HBA will continue to support the county as it moves to close this gap with Phase I zoning code changes. Phase I moves to the planning commission for refinements in July, followed by public hearings in August and September. Phase II of the project will implement House Bill 2001 requirements for middle housing in urban unincorporated areas of the county, and Senate Bill 1051 requirements for clear and objective standards regulating the development of housing. To learn more about HBA involvement in Clackamas County, contact Roseann Johnson at roseannj@hbapdx.org.