Springfield Oregon Speaks: Housing + Design Initiative Workshop

Housing + Design Initiative Meeting

Housing + Design - Workshop

1 item ∙ Thu, Sep 25, 2025 at 5:30pm Click here for Zoom Link

View or Download Packet

Agenda

Housing + Design Initiative Workshop (1 of 1)

Information

2025 09 25 Housing + Design Workshop

Items

Housing + Design Initiative Workshop

Pending

∙ Agenda item 1 of 1

Housing + Design Initiative Workshop

A workshop will be held and open to the public for community members to learn about the Housing + Design Initiative project. The Housing + Design Initiative Code and Plan Update is continuing the ongoing work of Springfield’s Housing Strategy by helping the City come into compliance with State housing-related statutes and rules. This project aligns with the City’s goals for facilitating housing production, affordability, and choice by reducing regulatory barriers. Particular attention is focused on amending the City’s Development Code to include clear and objective standards for Mixed-Use Districts.

Files

Code Concepts Presentation Slides 9-22-25 ( 8.05 MB )

Maps Housing and Design Code and Plan Concepts 9-22-25 ( 11.39 MB )

Code and Plan Concepts Report ( 4.85 MB )

August 2025 Questions Answered ( 0.43 MB )

Decision Criteria

Each decision maker will follow the criteria below when voting on this item.

Discussion
This is a public workshop. To promote and enhance meaningful discussion and feedback, staff will provide an overview of the code and plan concepts, highlight the findings, and be available for questions. Some questions for discussion can be found in the Presentation Slides below.

Background

In 2024, the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) contracted with Cascadia Partners to work with city staff on the Housing + Design Initiative. The first phase of the project was the code and plan audit, followed by this code and plan concepts, and finally the code and plan amendments. On May 27, 2025, the Council reviewed the draft code and plan audit for the Housing + Design Initiative. Cascadia Partners’ audit provided both a statutory compliance review and a set of strategic recommendations to support the City’s broader goals for increasing housing production, improving housing diversity, and aligning local regulations with state mandates.

This next phase, the code and plan concepts, articulates conceptual proposals for updating the development code to address the barriers and issues identified in the code audit. The recommendations outlined in the report include:

Recommendation 1: Reduce Barriers to Housing in Mixed-Use Districts
Recommendation 2: Expand Opportunities for Housing in Commercial Districts
Recommendation 3: Recalibrate Development Standards to Align with Housing Goals
Recommendation 4: Streamline and Simplify the Code

Specific concepts are proposed to implement each recommendation and are discussed in more detail in the Briefing Memo and Code and Plan Concepts Report. Note that the concepts under Recommendation 1 are provided for reference and context as they were developed as part of the City’s process for implementing state requirements for Climate-Friendly Areas. Staff are not seeking feedback on those concepts at this stage.