Release of second wave changes (winter 2024)

In early April, we released the second wave of draft amendments to the land use code, including changes to the four core articles that comprised the first wave, plus all remaining articles of the land use code. Take a look at the second wave changes and give us input here.

LD 2003 AMENDMENTS

In October, we drafted a series of amendments to the land use code to comply with the requirements of LD 2003, a new state law intended to create housing opportunities across Maine. The amendments, which must be adopted by January 1, 2024, were reviewed by the Planning Board and recommended to the City Council for a hearing on December 18. Learn more about the LD 2003 amendments here.

FIRST WAVE OPEN HOUSES & VIRTUAL PUBLIC FORUM (SUMMER-Fall 2023)

On August 16 and 17, we held three drop-in open houses on the first wave changes under ReCode. Read a summary of what we heard here. And on September 27, we held a virtual public forum to give the public another opportunity to learn about and provide feedback on the first wave of draft changes. Watch a video of the forum here, or view the presentation here.

RELEASE OF FIRST WAVE CHANGES (SPRING 2023)

In June 2023, we released drafts of the first four articles of the land use code - Definitions, Zones, Uses, and Dimensional Standards. Feedback was gathered throughout the summer. To learn more, click here.

HOUSING SUPPLY BOOTCAMP (WINTER 2023)

In January of 2023, the City of Portland hosted a housing supply boot camp with 14 external stakeholders. The boot camp focused on identifying barriers and solutions to expand Portland’s supply of housing stock. For a summary of ideas from the boot camp, visit here.

recode: resilience underway (fall 2022)

As of fall 2022, we’ve begun a concentrated effort to integrate climate resilience into the land use code. This effort will determine what kinds of additional requirements, standards, and guidelines need to be incorporated into our land use code to ensure that Portland is resilient in the face of increasing coastal flooding, stormwater flooding, and high heat in the future. You can learn more about this work here.

VIRTUAL PUBLIC FORUMS ON THE LAND USE CODE EVALUATION (WINTER 2022)

On 3/1/22 and 3/2/22, we held a virtual public forum to review findings of our land use code evaluation. Watch a video of the first forum, which focused on the topics of housing, climate change and transportation. Or watch video from the second forum, which focused on complete neighborhoods, urban design, and economic development. You can also view a summary of public comment from the forums here.

LAND USE CODE EVALUATION SURVEY (WINTER 2022)

In February 2022, we put together a quick survey on the recommendations of the land use code evaluation. This survey provided a way for people to learn about the code evaluation and provide quick feedback. Findings from the survey are summarized here.

LAND USE CODE EVALUATION RELEASE (WINTER 2021)

In December 2021, we released the first major work product of ReCode Phase II, the land use code evaluation.  This document is a summary of the findings of an analysis of the existing land use code through the lens of Portland’s Plan, asking questions like: How could the land use code better help the city meet its goals around key issues, like housing affordability, climate change, complete neighborhoods, transit-oriented development, and equity? Code evaluation input from our document comment portal is summarized here.