IRRIGON — The city of Irrigon is making changes to its development code that will likely take effect Feb. 16, if city leaders give approval.

“The changes are around multi-family, specifically cluster housing,” said City Manager Aaron Palmquist. “It was an application to the planning commission that made recommendations affecting the development code, and the commission extended their deliberation.”

Palmquist said the city is only getting introduced to multi-family development and the interested developer in this case complained the existing code contained confusing language.

“Here’s an example,” Palmquist said. “Multi-family development was allowed in the existing code, but there was a piece in the code that said the single-family/duplex maximum is 12,000 square feet. But how do you get to a multi-family dwelling of five or more? It says you can’t. But then there’s a little perceived contradiction, that you couldn’t get there beyond 12,000 square feet of land.”

Palmquist said the existing code is presently posted to the city’s website and the new code will replace it once the city council gives its OK likely in mid-February.

He said the developer making an application to the planning commission hired a consultant to write a new code, which the planning commission is discussing and should approve.

Another change from the current code will require developers and multi-family property owners to increase the number of parking spaces for tenants.

“The new documents likely will not confuse people,” Palmquist said. “It brings clarity, and better ease of understanding to multi-family. So not only did the commission tackle multi-family, we looked at the difference and broke it out looking at single-family home, duplex, triplex, quadplex, and then five or more are the multi-family, so that people could understand more clearly.”

He said the city promotes growth, but the process does not ensure any financial windfall for Irrigon.“I will say in property tax, Oregon’s Measure 5 and Measure 50 limit and put parameters on what can be assessed,” he said. “So I don’t know what will be assessed in a multi-family versus a single-family home, but it’s still in the $5-10 range. The apartments might get a little more taxes, but the service requirements to support those locations are still going to have an impact on all the service providers, water, sewer, police, fire, all of that. In Oregon, you’re not going to gain an upper hand on it.”

Palmquist used a four-bedroom family home as an example.

“Those people are going to grow up and they’re going to be using the services,” he said. “You have to put into the equation where are they going to work? Are they going to put money back into the economy? That’s where your whole community grows.”

Palmquist said schools likely will grow and need funding to do so, but using taxation to pay for it can’t be done without a mandate.

“It costs more for our schools,” he said. “That one’s really easy to see. The other ones you don’t see a whole lot, because it costs more to run law enforcement, ambulance and a fire department. Those costs you can’t recover in that $10 per $1,000 for government, or $5 for schools in your region. But don’t stifle growth opportunity because it’s all connected. Housing is not economic development. Schools are not economic development. Businesses are not economic development and parks are not. The answer is they all are intertwined.”