The City Council is seeking candidates to be part of a new Advisory Committee that will assist the city council with the process of reviewing and updating the city’s housing ordinances and codes related to mass-timber, manufactured, and tiny homes. The City has had several requests from residents regarding tiny homes and other modern housing types to be built or located with the city, and has therefore been looking into modernizing its housing ordinances.
Mass Timber Code-UP Technical Assistance from DLCD
In January 2023, Governor Kotek declared a state of emergency on housing in response to the state's estimated shortage of 140,000 homes across Oregon. Our growing mass timber industry can be part of the solution to meet this housing demand.
The U.S. Economic Development Administration has awarded the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition $41.4 million to develop and expand Oregon’s growing mass timber industry. The Oregon Mass Timber Coalition is made up of business, forestry, and workforce development industry leaders in partnership with universities. As a part of the coalition, Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) was awarded $500,000 to “assist wildfire-impacted communities with land use permitting” that will accelerate the use of modular mass timber housing throughout the state, while providing more housing options to Oregonians. DLCD will contract a consultant to provide technical assistance to local jurisdictions for updating planning and development codes to allow and encourage the development of mass timber modular housing in those communities
The City applied and successfully secured a technical assistance grant from DLCD. With this grant, DLCD will furnish consultants to the city to review the current housing ordinances and codes, offer revised ordinances and codes, and aid in organizing public meetings for the forthcoming city housing ordinances to be approved by the city council and adopted by the City.
This process will take several months and the council is looking to recruit residents to participate on a local housing advisory committee which will assist with the review of the DLCD's deliverables, help with the city's public outreach and to advise the city council regarding the proposed updated housing ordinances and codes.
If you are interested, please contact City Hall at 541 783-2171 or send an email to chicityhall [at] gmail.com (subject: Housing%20Advisory%20Committee) by Monday, November 27, 2023.