Portland City Council to weigh Central City zoning overhaul on Oct. 14
Portland is a city in Multnomah County, Oregon. The Portland City Council will hold a hearing on Wednesday, Oct. 14, on the Central City Code Amendments Project, the city's largest downtown land-use rewrite in years, according to a city announcement. The proposal aims to boost housing production and support post-pandemic economic recovery.
Drafted by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and released as a Recommended Draft on Sept. 10, the package was sent to the council by a unanimous Planning Commission vote on July 14. Key changes include allowing housing in parts of the Central City where it is currently restricted, removing ground-floor residential restrictions in the Central Eastside, offering higher building bonuses — developers could build without height limits if they meet requirements such as shadow reviews — and expanding permitted business, retail and food-cart operations. Scenic view corridors and historic districts would remain excluded.
Existing zoning in the Central Eastside already provides capacity for more than 15,000 potential housing units, and the update aims to unlock further development. According to HousingWire, about a third of downtown Portland's commercial real estate sits vacant, a legacy of the pandemic and hybrid work; downtown office vacancy hit 34.7% in the fourth quarter of 2024, and Central City office vacancy averaged more than 10 million square feet in 2025, a record.
Whether looser zoning translates into actual construction is uncertain: the draft includes no financial incentives, while cities like New York, Washington, Boston, Seattle and Los Angeles have paired office-to-housing conversions with tax abatements or subsidies. In March, Gov. Tina Kotek signed legislation fixing a Portland affordable-housing mandate that had backfired by imposing requirements with no public incentives.
The council will take written and oral testimony on Oct. 14 (oral-testimony registration opened Oct. 9), then discuss, possibly amend, and vote. If approved, the changes would take effect March 1, 2027.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，Tony Webster 摄，CC BY 2.0 授权
