The Grants Pass City Council is preparing to relax restrictions on utility easements and erosion control permitting to help spur development of affordable housing.
During its weekly workshop this week, a majority of the City Council signaled its intent to amend some development codes in response to complaints from the Home Builders Association (HBA) of Josephine County.
The HBA recently sent a letter to the City of Grants Pass with a list of 22 items it considers detrimental to developing middle- to low-income housing including utility easements and erosion control permits. Those items were the focus of this week's workshop session.
Grants Pass Public Works Director Jason Canady stated the current city codes and standards were designed to protect citizens -- but he acknowledged that some of the rules might be outdated, especially in light of new state mandates enacted to create more affordable housing across Oregon.
HBA officials said private easements for water and sewer hookups give them the ability to serve land-locked parcels or those without street frontage. They also said the current rule mandating water meters in public rights of way should be relaxed to allow them on private streets serving new affordable housing developments.
According to the HBA, there are more middle housing developments in the works right now than normal residential developments. This includes multi-family housing such as apartments and duplexes as well as accessory dwelling units.
The City Council listened intently to the HBA's concerns and stated they would be relaxing some of the current requirements to help create more affordable housing in a city that desperately needs it.
