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After a month and a half of squabbling between two Portland city commissioners over how best to fix the city’s haphazard permitting system, Commissioner Mingus Mapps has quietly acquiesced and signed on to the plan of his colleague, Commissioner Carmen Rubio.
That means Rubio’s plan—which seeks to consolidate all permitting functions under one office rather than having each bureau run its own permitting ecosystem, as they currently do—is likely to gain the approval of all four of her colleagues on the City Council this week.
Rubio’s victory was not without friction, though. That’s because Mapps announced in July he would put forth a plan to fix the city’s permitting that he said was “fundamentally incompatible” with Rubio’s. But less than a week later, 10 powerful business groups wrote a letter backing Rubio’s plan. So did a labor union that represents thousands of construction workers across the state. After that, Mapps appeared to go quiet. After all, the business community historically has been part of Mapps’ political base—and as he gears up for a mayoral run, he will likely try to avoid any appearance of going against business leaders.
As WW previously reported, the two city commissioners planned to bring separate proposals to the City Council later this month aimed at speeding the city’s permitting process for construction projects, a broken system often blamed in part for Portland’s molasses-paced housing production. Rubio for months has said she would like to consolidate all permitting under one central office. Mapps argued that such consolidation wouldn’t get to the root of the problem, and wanted instead to dedicate one or two years to comb through code and delete language that conflicts or overlaps.
After Rubio’s plan received an outpouring of support (four bureau directors at the city did write a letter supporting Mapps’ plan), Mapps co-authored a letter with Commissioner Dan Ryan to Mayor Ted Wheeler, softening his stance on Rubio’s permitting plan. While the letter was opaque on what, exactly, Mapps wanted from the mayor, it did signal that he had softened his position—likely due to the support Rubio received from business and labor interests.
Mapps says parts of his plan were incorporated into Rubio’s proposal, including sustaining a pilot project within the city’s infrastructure projects to streamline permitting. “City Council has found a compromise path forward,” Mapps said, “and is bringing forward a resolution that is acceptable to everyone and will improve permitting in Portland.”
Rubio’s proposal seeks to consolidate all permitting employees under one office by July of next year, before the city switches to a new form of government on Jan. 1, 2025.