Oregon city officials appear uneasy with a proposal from House Speaker Tina Kotek to allow duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in low-density neighborhoods across the state.

House Bill 2001 would effectively abolish single-family zoning in cities with more than 10,000 residents, allowing the construction of multi-unit homes, as well as dividing existing homes into more than one living space. The proposal also calls for allowing “cottage clusters,” or small detached homes that share a common yard.

It’s an attempt to attack the state’s housing shortage by increasing density within established neighborhoods that occupy most of the land given over to housing in even the state’s most urban cities.

Even some cities that say they embrace the concept of so-called “missing middle” housing, however, blanched at the proposal’s broad-brushed approach.

Planning officials from the city of Hillsboro, for example, said 25 percent of its housing units fell into the missing middle category, and half are apartments or townhouses. But Laura Kelly, Hillsboro Planning Department project manager, said that allowing more homes in established neighborhoods could require a costly rewrite of its infrastructure plan and costlier upgrades of its public utilities, including water and sewer pipes.

“We’re no stranger to growth or density,” Kelly said. “We plan for infrastructure where growth is going to occur. What we’re talking about here is putting growth where we have not planned for the infrastructure.”

Sherwood’s City Council also voted to oppose the plan. City Council President Tim Rosener said the city’s school district is already nearing its bonding capacity, limiting its ability to absorb students who move into the district.

“Sherwood stands willing and ready to partner with our neighbors and Salem to solve for the affordable housing crisis we have today,” Rosener said. “That being said, in Sherwood, the council concluded the bill will have unintended consequences and reduce affordability in high-demand areas like Sherwood.”

Even Portland’s Bureau Planning and Sustainability, which is writing its own plan to allow duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in neighborhoods throughout the city, expressed concerns about the legislation’s aggressive timeline, though the city didn’t oppose the bill and said it shares the commitment to expand middle housing. The bill gives cities until December 2020 to write code allowing for the new housing types.

Cities also chafed under a provision that would delay the assessment of system development charges — which are fees on new development used to pay for utilities, parks and schools — until a building gets final occupancy approval from the city. City officials said that could create uncertainty around when, if ever, those fees could be collected.

Some cities have endorsed the measure, though with caveats.

Milwaukie Mayor Mark Gamba, who has frequently addressed issues related to housing affordability in Salem, said the bill had the unanimous backing of the City Council with a handful of tweaks, including a longer implementation timeline for cities.

Kotek said she was open to amendments to the bill but that the state needs a new approach to the housing crisis.

“This isn’t about single-family houses. This is about the future," she said. “It’s about allowing different opportunities in neighborhoods that are extremely limited today.”

The bill has the backing of a slate of housing activists and nonprofits, who say it would restore housing types that make up a large portion of unsubsidized affordable housing in cities like Portland. They also point to a history of racial and economic exclusion in single-family zoning.

But it faces strong opposition from neighborhood groups, who say it would encourage the demolition of houses to build larger plexes. That would put homeownership further out of reach, they said.

Residents of single-family neighborhoods also argued the the new housing units would crowd neighborhoods, reducing available parking and hurting nearby property values.

The bill didn’t pass out of the House Committee On Human Services and Housing on Monday, whose hearing stretched into the evening. Chairwoman Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer, D-Portland, said there would likely be at least one additional hearing, and perhaps more.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com; 503-294-5034; @enjus

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