Hey, if it can somehow help the good folks in "the numbers" fend off ugly infill cr*pshacks (i.e., form the basis of a historical preservation designation), then I'm all for it.

Point well taken. But somehow I suspect this will have the opposite effect. The weasels can't be stopped.

The real reason behind this reddish herring is that your are going to be taxed on your non green home. Yep by the age of your domicile you will be taxed. It has nothing to do with historical pleasures. When the city does a study it is always how they are going to screw us next.

This sounds like a perfect thesis project for the Architectural History department at U of O or PSU. Students would get real world experience and the city might get a low cost or no cost alternative to a full priced consultant. No one is thinking about alternatives in the city of alternative thinking.

What a waste - useless crap like that leads to "historic" designations like this:

http://tinyurl.com/2bb25qs

The results will give the city data for preservation planning and policy work.

Like what? And like whatever it is isn't obvious so the state has to pay for "a survey"? Maybe they should change the name to the Portland Bureau of Plodding and Gullibility.

East Portland is considered a complex part of the city because its history, landscapes and development differ in many ways from the urban core and close-in communities.

Really? Thank goodne$$ there'll finally be a $urvey to compile "data" on that.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch on SE 63rd....

If you want to build anything in these neighborhoods it'll be one more gauntlet to run / approval to get.

If this had existed when these mid-centurys were built they would've never been built probably since they were out of character for their neighborhoods back then.

Amazing what kind of garbage they can find money for.

If you want to build anything in these neighborhoods it'll be one more gauntlet to run / approval to get.

And that's bad because . . .?

Having to pay a bit extra and jump through some extra hoops to build or renovate is a small price to pay to forestall the particle-board shotgun houses and condo fortresses the planners want to cram into our residential neighborhoods. Unfortunately, pursuing historic designations may be the only tool homeowners in our established neighborhoods have left to resist the relentless planning/densification juggernaut.

Eric, it is not "a bit extra" to jump.

I had a client in the NW Portland ABC Historic District who wanted to do a $250K renovation on a 1924 bungalow. We began the process of meeting with CoP several times, paying the initial fees just to have the exploratory meeting. The owner came away with over a $55,000 dollar additional cost to go "through some extra hoops". They carefully considered all the extra downtime, actual historic costs and fees. They dropped the project. The house still sits there as it did 6 years ago with it's asbestos siding.

I am w/Lee on this , I have customers quit on projects all the time when I tell them the cost and time of permit review [TAX] in PDX , they ask what to do and I say clack/wash co. are not like this , move on. Say goodbye to construction jobs and tax revenue . way to go BDS