Housing

Housing Updates

Available and affordable housing was a significant challenge to Wasco County’s future identified by participants during Wasco County 2040. Staff engaged citizens with potential solutions, including eliminating prohibition against single wide mobile homes, allowing for accessory dwelling units in rural residential zones, and streamlining any other regulation that may reduce affordability and availability of housing in Wasco County. The public was in favor of adopting or removing criteria and regulation based on these solutions and generally opening up opportunities for alternative dwelling types.

This work task will encompass these topics and ask for significant public input in developing criteria, regulation, or eliminating regulation from the Land Use and Development Ordinance (LUDO) to increase opportunities for housing in Wasco County. We are looking at three main changes to the LUDO to support housing solutions including: developing clear and objective standards for residential development to reduce barriers to permitting housing; removing barriers to single wide mobile homes; and allowing accessory dwelling units in rural residential zones.

Clear and Objective Standards

Clear and objective standards in rural residential zones is a new state requirement for rural (non-city) land. This means the standards of review must be focused on requirements that essentially have a yes or no answer. For example, can the new housing meet the 100 ft setback, will the development have road access, or the development must be contained within 10% of the parcel. The Ordinance is being revised to include all non-resource zones and several overlay zones. In most zones, the result will be easier permitting for housing with less permitting cost and timelines for processing. Overlay zones will read a little more complicated, but the bottom line is not much will change from the way we currently process permits. Most residential development, following the revision, outside of farm and forest zones will now be Type I (Ministerial) or Type II (Administrative) reviews, rather than Type III, which are conditional use permits. The hope is this makes it easier and more straightforward to applicants, which will reduce permitting fees, too.

Single Wide Mobile Homes

In our discussions with the community during the Wasco County 2040 Comprehensive Plan update, planners identified for the public a current prohibition on the placement of single-wide mobile homes. The public consensus was that, with limitations on the manufactured date and roof pitch (no flat roofs), people wanted the option to use a single-wide mobile home as a permanent dwelling. Revisions to the Ordinance will reflect the public’s input, and provides two alternatives for public input on; tell us which version you like, or suggest another alternative.

Accessory Dwelling Units

Accessory dwelling units will be constrained by several factors in state law that were written into legislation (SB 391) that allows for future rural residential ADUs:

Must be in a rural residential zone (not allowed in farm, forest, commercial, industrial, or other zones). For Wasco County, rural residential zones are: RR -2, RR-10, TV-RR, WAM-R2. WAM-R5
Lots/parcels that are two (2) acres or greater
One single-family dwelling sited on lot/parcel
The property must not have any current code compliance complaints
Must be serviced by a structural fire protection service provider (cannot be ODF)
Complies with all applicable state laws relating to water supply, sanitation, and wastewater disposal
Limited to 900 square feet
Cannot be located more than 100 feet from the existing single-family dwelling
Cannot be used for short-term vacation rental/occupancy
The property cannot be subdivided
Must have defensible space and fuel break standards consistent with Fire Safety Standards (Chapter 10) and any Rural Fire Protection District’s request
If the lot/parcel is within the Wildland Urban Interface as defined by ODF Mapping (SB 762), but will be required to follow home hardening standards (State Building Codes Services) and defensible space standards (Office of State Fire Marshal).

Accessory Structures

Finally, some citizens have asked staff to evaluate and understand current restrictions on the size of accessory structures. Currently, in all zones, accessory structures (detached garages, sheds, RV covers, etc.) are restricted to 75% of the dwelling size. This does not include agricultural structures (barns, equipment sheds, etc.). In part, this is because accessory structures are intended to be incidental to the primary use/structure (typically a home). This is not an unusual standard for zoning codes; many zoning codes have a maximum size restriction on accessory structures. In general, this is to keep properties compatible in terms of use and aesthetics and to reduce unpermitted activity in accessory structures like commercial businesses that may create neighborhood nuisances. Some citizens have expressed an interest in re-evaluating or eliminating the restriction on the size of accessory structures.

Staff is proposing a more flexible alternative that takes into account the size of the property and the impact (visual and related to setbacks) a large accessory structure would have on neighbors and the area. This gives the opportunity for some larger accessory structures, while helping to preserve the surrounding area character.