LA GRANDE — The La Grande City Council unanimously voted to adopt the new land development code for the city during its regular session in August.

The new code goes into effect in September, according to Community Development Director Mike Boquist. However, since the effective date is Saturday, Sept. 2, which happens to be Labor Day weekend, the city will start accepting new applications the following Tuesday, Sept. 5.

“It’s nice to get this piece wrapped up,” Boquist said.

Getting to this point has been a long road, although according to Boquist the timeline has been typical for a project of this scale.

The Planning Commission started working on the draft of the proposed code amendments in October 2021. During the drafting process the Planning Commission held a total of 20 work sessions — 18 work sessions with members of the commission and two joint work sessions with the council.

The new code aims to provide additional housing development and affordable housing options within La Grande and the urban growth boundary, which was recommended in the city’s 2021 Housing Production Strategy.

Another goal was to address issues that came up with the previous land development code during implementation and enforcement. The new code also took into account requests from residents around changing circumstances within the community.

Currently, the newly adopted code applies only to the city limits, Boquist said. In the coming months he will go before the Union County Planning Commission and the Union County Board of Commissioners to seek co-adoption of the code within the La Grande urban growth boundary.

Big changes for short-term rentals

One of the major changes under the new land development code involves short-term rentals. The former land development code offered no guidance or regulation around short-term rentals, which members of the council wanted to address due to the amount of housing stock the city was losing to those types of rentals.

The new process should be simpler for property owners who want to establish a short-term rental as it is now an over-the-counter permitting process. Previously, property owners needed to obtain a conditional use permit, which was a discretionary allowance that required going through the Planning Commission.

Under the new code, the city considers a short-term rental to be a rental of 30 consecutive days or less. Two types of short-term rentals are defined — bed-and-breakfast inns and host home shares are one category, and vacation rentals comprise the second.

Property owners are limited to two short-term rental permits and two short-term rentals within the city. The permit is not transferable and is assigned exclusively to the property owner.

Only one permit is permitted per parcel of land and is limited to one residential dwelling.

The current moratorium on short-term rentals, which the city council passed in October 2022, will expire alongside the adoption of the new land development code in September.

Minimum lot sizes

Under the new land development code the minimum lot size requirement was reduced to 3,000 square feet — down from 5,000 square feet. Boquist said that this allows for more opportunities for development, as people who want to develop and build on smaller lots now can.

This is only the minimum size requirement, so developers can still decide to parcel out larger lots.