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. Historic District will prevent this sort of incompatible development in Laurelhurst, because new construction will have to respect with the neighborhood's historic character. These are on NE 28th near Crema Cafe. Note the disr

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 Eastmoreland as one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in east Portland, and among the most expensive. As you walk by the large, lovely homes on big lots around Reed College, it is hard to imagine that they’d be candidat

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 subject to historic review until the city has developed guidelines for the district." The city Bureau of Planning Services, which includes the city's Historic Resources program, has now posted its official comments on th

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 Duplexes and Triplexes Up to 4,500 Square Feet RIP has been advertised as a way to reduce the scale of infill houses, to sizes proportional to the neighborhood. For a 5,000 square foot lot, RIP will supposedly limit buildi

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 of those neighborhoods, to create infill housing that no-one thinks will be "affordable". And most of the town's papers don't think it is worth real in-depth reporting? Fortunately, one paper is digging and writing. Now

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 enough of their original features that they contribute to the historic character of the district. If a house is not included on that list, it is "non-contributing" and not eligible for the tax programs. "National Register H