Portland neighborhood land use

The Portland neighborhood land use tracker is intended to help neighborhood associations and residents keep abreast of developments on a more regular cadence. The website pipes data directly from PortlandMaps, unedited, and displays upcoming developments by neighborhood. You can subscribe to updates, and the map can be embedded on neighborhood association website (like this!) to supplement other land use materials.

As a resident of Cathedral Park (adjacent to/enveloped by St Johns), a few years ago I joined the Cathedral Park Neighborhood Association. Like many Portlanders, I am interested in learning about events and changes in my corner of the city.

One of the civic functions of a neighborhood association is to help residents understand what changes are coming so that they can have a say in the future of their community. While much regarding land use is dry and unimportant, over time, more than any other factor, it dominates the character and livability of a place.

Keeping track of this info and communicating it to residents in a timely manner is hard. Developers often (but not always) reach out to neighborhood associations who relay info to their constituents, and the city provides a great tool in PortlandMaps, which provides authoritative address-based permitting information. But most people just want a clear answer to the question, "what's changing in my neighborhood?" In answer, many associations have land use chairs who maintain spreadsheets. It takes alot of volunteer effort, and can be challenging to keep current. The goal of the automated tracker is to facilitate that effort.

This tool isn't comprehensive in the way PortlandMaps is. I've applied heavy filters that are more likely to result in false negatives (missing upcoming developments) than false positives to avoid surfacing too much detail. Moreover, permitting data is only a proxy for developments that can happen. There may be cases of developments that you know are happening that are omitted from the tool. I expect that in many cases the email updates will be the first place you will hear about new developments in your area.