PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — City planners are recommending that maximum home sizes be reduced and more types of them be built in single-family neighborhoods in the future.

The recommendations are included in Residential Infill Project staff report released by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability on Wednesday.

Public forums on the recommendation begin on Tuesday, Oct. 10. Comments will continue to be collected until Nov. 20. The Planning and Sustainability Commission will consider them next spring. The City Council will consider them next summer.

The recommendation are intended to help Portland better accomodate the additional people expected to move here over the next 20 years.

“By 2035, Portland will grow by approximately 123,000 households — or 260,000 people. About 20 percent of this growth is expected to be in single-dwelling residential zones. The composition and housing needs of Portland’s population are also changing. The city is becoming more diverse, the overall population is aging and the number of people per household is getting smaller. In the future, the average Portland household will be smaller with fewer children per household,” reads the report summary.

Among other things, the recommendations reduce the maximum allowable size of new homes from 6,750 to 2,500 square. The reduction is in response to complaints about so-called McMansions replacing smaller homes in established neighborhoods.

The recommendations also allow duplexes, triplexes and multiple accessory dwelling units to be built in large portions of existing single-family neighborhoods. A new Additional Housing Opportunity overlay zone would allow them to be built within one-quarter mile of designated centers, MAX stations, streets with 15-minute bus service, inner city neighborhoods, and areas with such amenities as jobs, schools and parks.

Parts of East Portland are exempt because infrastructure is lacking to support the additional housing.

The first public forum will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 10, on the second floor of th 1900 Building, 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave., Portland. The presentation will start at 6:30 p.m.

Six additional open houses are scheduled in different parts of town through Nov. 27.

Comments will also be accepted by mail and through an online survey. The Portland Tribune is a KOIN media partner.