Garage building is no longer a free-for-all in

Garage building is no longer a free-for-all in Portland, Oregon. The City Council unanimously passed an ordinance consisting of five new regulations that limit the amount of garage area allowed on the front and side of single family houses, row houses, and duplexes. Effective September 3, garages can take up no more than 50 percent of the length of a street-facing facade, and separate regulations prescribe how far garages may extend from the dwelling area, require that front doors face the street, and regulate the amount of window space on the facade. “The issue was brought to the city’s attention by neighborhood activists,” explains Chief Planner Susan Hartnett, “particularly in Portland’s old, established neighborhoods, where we have made a commitment to encourage infill development.” Large garages were “a bad misfit” in those areas, and in new subdivisions they created a sterile streetscape. “You could identify that a car lived there, but you couldn’t necessarily identify that a person lived there,” Hartnett says. The ordinance was strenuously opposed by builders and developers. “They came unglued,” Hartnett says. The Home Builders’ Association (HBA) have appealed the council’s decision to the Land Use Board of Appeals and have warned its members to exercise extreme caution before making commitments to building in the City of Portland. Kelly Ross of HBA told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that “there was a strong undercurrent against cars that came through real clear in the public hearings.” Portland is not alone in its aversion to large garages in front of dwellings. Gresham and Forest Grove in Oregon have passed similar laws, as have Fort Collins, Colorado, and Phoenix, Arizona.