October 6, 2008      

Mayor Potter and Portland City Council

Portland City Hall

1121 SW 4th Avenue

Portland OR 97204

RE:  Recommendation for Approval of a 30-Year Tax Exemption for the Shaver Green Apartments

Dear Mayor Potter and Members of the Portland City Council:

On September 23, 2008, the Planning Commission held a public hearing on a request for a 30-year tax exemption for Shaver Green under the City’s New Transit Supportive Residential or Mixed Use Development (TOD) program. The regulations for this program are found in City Code Chapter 3.103. The project owner, the Shaver Green Limited Partnership, has requested an exemption for 30 years because that is the length of their agreement with the State of Oregon to maintain the affordability of all the 85 units in the project to low income households. City Code Chapter 3.103 allows a tax exemption for low income housing projects subject to a public contract to provide low income housing for the length of the required period of affordability. (The building would not be ready for occupancy until 2009 so the requested exemption would run until 2039.)

The Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of this request to City Council at the conclusion of the hearing. The recommendation was approved subject to the applicant’s providing the three public benefits listed in their application. These are achieving at least 80 percent of maximum density allowed by the RH zone, providing at least double the number of units affordable to low income households required by the TOD affordability requirement, and obtaining LEED Silver certification from the US Green Building Council for the project.

The Commission found that this project carries out the purpose of the TOD program because it provides housing for low income and very low income households in an area well-served by transit. The project is also close to a number of employers such as Emanuel Hospital and Lloyd District businesses and fills a need for affordable workforce housing in an area of Portland that is experiencing gentrification.

Sincerely,

Don Hanson, President

Portland Planning Commission