This is a picture post. These are all infill developments, mostly duplexes and triplexes, recently built in close-in East Portland, that can replace every historic Laurelhurst house under RIP. These buildings make no effort to respect the scale or character of the neighborhoods where they are located. Most of them are car-centric, with large expanses of blocky gray concrete where Laurelhurst houses have plants, trees, and green. And many of them are very expensive. Histori

Today we’re going to leave the borders of Laurelhurst and take a quick trip south. As you may have heard, Eastmoreland is trying to become a historic district and the issue has become rancorous. We wanted to find out: why did Eastmoreland start its historic district effort, and why has the debate there become so heated? At the end of this article, we’ll come back to Laurelhurst and see what lessons we can learn. How Historic District Got Started in Eastmoreland. We know Ea

We previously wrote a "breaking news" article about changes to the state's Historic Protection rules. We said: "Historic resource review will not automatically apply to these new historic districts. Instead, the city must conduct a public hearing process to determine what additional protections, beyond demolition protections, will apply to the new historic district. Since historic review is an "additional protection", construction in the new historic district will not be s

We've heard some say that RIP's "2,500 square foot" limit will prevent McMansions and that that duplexes and triplexes won't be built because they can't fit on typical lots. In fact, RIP's "size and height rules" will allow 4,500 square foot duplexes and triplex that are three-and-one-half stories and 35 feet high, and these huge structures, along with ADUs, can be fitted onto every Laurelhurst lot (after the existing house is demolished). Here's how it works. RIP Permits Dup

Which of Portland's newspapers has reported the most often and in the most detail on the Residential Infill Project? It is the Southeast Examiner. This local newspaper, which much of Laurelhurst receives weekly, has been punching above its weight on this topic. Most of Portland's media has ignored RIP, which seems odd. 70% of the city's single family house neighborhoods are being effectively re-zoned to multiple occupancy dwelling zones, over the opposition of almost all o

In a previous post, we looked at the effect of Historic District on property values. Now let's look at the tax benefits available to homeowners in a Historic District. They can be very significant, so it is worth learning about this. There are two tax programs that benefit owners of contributing houses in a National Register Historic District. "Contributing" means that when the district is listed, that house is included in the list of historic houses that have retained enou