Portland Suburb's Proposed Law Could Discourage Home Development
November 12 2019 - 8:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Will Parker
A Portland suburb is poised to vote on a law that taxes anyone
who demolishes a home, the latest salvo in the fight over how to
create more affordable housing in the state.
Legislators in Lake Oswego, an affluent town of about 38,000,
have proposed a law that would place a $15,000 tax on most home
demolitions. The funds raised would go toward maintenance of local
parks, according to the ordinance.
But a top state lawmaker and housing advocates said the Lake
Oswego tax could discourage the sort of new housing development
that a recent statewide initiative is intended to promote.
The state law passed in June seeks to address the lack of
affordable housing in Oregon by requiring cities of 25,000 or more
to allow two-, three- and four-unit residential buildings in
neighborhoods of single-family homes.
Tina Kotek, the speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives
and sponsor of the statewide zoning bill, said the Lake Oswego tax
runs counter to the state government's goal of increasing housing
supply.
"It's disappointing that there are communities looking for ways
to shirk responsibility for addressing the housing crisis...New
barriers to more options is part of the problem," she said in an
email.
Lake Oswego officials said the demolition tax had first been
proposed before the state zoning bill became law, however, and that
the demolition tax wasn't meant as a reaction to it.
The Oregon state zoning law was designed to create more
affordable housing. Builders can profit by demolishing older,
single-family homes and constructing buildings with up to four
units in their place.
But the law has already caused a public backlash from Oregon
residents worried about increased traffic, blocked sunlight and the
effect on property values.
Since most towns and cities have more than two years to update
their building codes for the new state law, imposing new taxes or
regulations on development are ways local lawmakers can undermine
the state law's intent, housing advocates suggest.
Lake Oswego city council member Skip O'Neill, who works in real
estate as a general contractor, said a new $15,000 tax shouldn't
make much of a difference for construction in a town where new
homes go on the market for more than a million dollars.
"The people that are moving here, they are not moving here for
affordable housing," he said.
Write to Will Parker at will.parker@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 12, 2019 08:14 ET (13:14 GMT)
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