Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities

The state passed new rules to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and move Oregon closer to its emission goals.

The rules include transportation planning, changes to the local development code, and regional GHG scenario planning.

This project will apply the required changes to local parking development codes.

Project information

Status and Updates
Project Schedule
Project Background
Project Documents
Contact

Status and Updates

Staff prepared Phase 2 code changes that remove parking minimums from Gresham’s code. To review the proposed changes, read CFEC phase 2 draft code changes.

Gresham has a deadline to adopt changes by the end of 2025. Adoption starts at Planning Commission September 22, 2025 and is scheduled at City Council November 4, 2025.

Watch the March 21, 2023 Council presentation related to parking management.
Council work session on CFEC phase 2 and parking data, March 19, 2024.

Get involved

Receive news about the City's efforts on state Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities rules.

Project Schedule

Fall 2025

Sept. 22: Hearing – Planning Commission
Nov. 4: Scheduled Hearing – City Council

Summer 2025

Staff draft code changes.

Fall/Winter 2024

Staff work on Parking Management Manual Project.

Project Background

Oregon is not meeting its climate pollution reduction goals. In response, Gov. Kate Brown issued an executive order in March 2020 directing state agencies to take actions to reduce carbon emissions and lessen climate change impacts.

The Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) began rulemaking in 2020. The Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) adopted the final rules in July 2022.

Learn more about the state’s rules for Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities.

Why this work is important

Oregon legislators adopted a goal in 2007 to reduce Oregon’s climate pollution by 75% by 2050. That’s what the science calls for if Oregon is going to avoid catastrophic impacts to our environment, communities and economy.

Pollution from transportation

Pollution from transportation is responsible for about 38% of Oregon’s climate pollution. On our current path, Oregon will only reduce transportation pollution by about 20% by 2050. This means we’re polluting far more than we hoped, meaning more extreme weather events, more wildfires, more ocean acidification, and more record heat waves.

Climate-friendly areas

We can reduce climate pollution by creating climate-friendly areas where residents, workers, and visitors can meet most of their daily needs without having to drive.

Climate-friendly areas are urban mixed-use areas that contain or are planned to contain, a greater mix and supply of housing, jobs, businesses, and services.
These areas are served or planned to be served, by a high-quality pedestrian, bicycle, and transit infrastructure to provide frequent, comfortable, and convenient connections to key destinations within the city and region.
In Gresham, climate-friendly areas are the Downtown/Civic Regional Center and the Rockwood and Pleasant Valley Town Centers.
State-required parking reductions help to create these dense urban areas by letting developers choose how much parking to provide and how much land to use for housing, businesses and services.