Statewide Land Use Changes Aim to Create More Housing

The process for residential development in Hillsboro is changing based on state legislation passed in 2025 and 2026.

New rules adopted in SB 974 and HB 4037 will impact how residential projects are reviewed, approved, and appealed, and how the public is notified of proposed residential projects across the state. Some changes will take effect on July 1, 2026, others will be implemented over the next year.

The intent of the legislation, which applies to Hillsboro and all of Oregon, is twofold:

1. Reduce barriers and support the creation of new housing to meet the growing need for units.
   
   
2. Shift the focus for public involvement to earlier in the land use process during the comprehensive planning stage, rather than on a case-by-case basis during review of individual development applications.

The Hillsboro Planning Commission will host a Public Hearing on the changes on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. The Hillsboro City Council will consider adopting the changes in June. The new rules are enshrined in state law, meaning the City of Hillsboro must comply and does not have authority to alter or revise the requirements.

Some of the changes include:

• Public hearings can no longer be required for any proposals related to housing developments, including rezoning a property for higher density. All housing development applications will now be considered a Type II Land Use Application (formerly some were Type III). Type II applications are approved or denied by the Hillsboro Economic & Community Development Director (instead of the Planning Commission, Planning & Zoning Hearings Board, or City Council) and do not require a public hearing. The change to a Type II application will reduce the timeline of approval to approximately 6 - 7 weeks instead of the previous standard of 11 - 12 weeks.
  
  
• For housing developments of less than 20 units, the new public notice radius is set at 100 feet. For housing developments of 20 or more units, the new public notice radius is set at 500 feet. Previously, the public notice radius for a Type II Land Use Application was 200 feet and a Type III Land Use Application was 500 feet. In addition, for certain Type III applications, a notice must be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the city.
  
  
• Under the new state laws, land use decisions related to the development of housing cannot be appealed by interested parties or the general public. Only the applicant can appeal the decision at the local and state level.
  
  
• Certain applications for residential development are exempt from "standards intended to preserve the desired character, architectural expression, decoration or aesthetic quality of new homes."
  
  
• Major and Minor Adjustments for housing developments will be eliminated and replaced with Adjustments which will be approved at the staff level. The public notice radius for these applications will be set at 100 feet.
  
  
• Applications for residential Planned Unit Developments, which allow for phasing of large-scale developments and multiple code adjustments, will now be reviewed at a staff level.
  
  
• All engineering applications that are tied to a residential plat or land division must be reviewed within 120 days.
  
  
• More than 24 sections of the City of Hillsboro Community Development Code need to be updated as a result of the changes.

While the new state rules only technically require changes to housing development, City of Hillsboro Planning staff are recommending the changes be applied to development in all zones, not just residential. This will help streamline the code which is already extremely complex and reduce the burden of administering multiple processes for parallel application types. Exceptions will be that the procedures for non-residential zone changes and Planned Unit Developments will remain Type III applications.