Portland's Residential Infill Project (RIP), effective August 2021, established floor area ratio (FAR) caps in single-dwelling zones explicitly to prevent oversized rebuilds. Under PCC 33.110.215, R5 zones are capped at a base FAR of 0.5 for a single dwelling, rising to 0.6 for a duplex, 0.7 for a triplex, and 0.8 for a fourplex — incentivizing more units rather than larger single houses. Maximum building height in R5 is 25 feet.
Before RIP, Portland used a 0.5 FAR limit unevenly across R5 zones, and large single-family teardowns/rebuilds ('McMansions') were a major neighborhood-character issue. RIP, adopted in 2020 and effective August 1, 2021, rewrote PCC 33.110 to use FAR caps that explicitly favor multi-unit housing: PCC 33.110.215 sets the FAR ceiling in R5 at 0.5 for one unit, scaling up to 0.8 for a four-unit building, with a 'deeper affordability' bonus to 1.0 if at least half the units are regulated affordable. Maximum height is capped at 25 feet for most building forms in R5 (PCC 33.110.215(B)), with extra height (up to 35 ft) allowed for affordable infill. Building scale is further controlled by PCC 33.110.220 (setbacks), PCC 33.110.225 (building coverage, max 40%), and PCC 33.110.230 (window standards limiting blank walls facing the street). Daylight-plane / step-back requirements in PCC 33.110.235 protect neighboring property light access. The result is that a 5,000 sq ft R5 lot is limited to a 2,500 sq ft single-family house but a duplex up to 3,000 sq ft total or a fourplex up to 4,000 sq ft.
Building over the FAR cap or above the height limit is a zoning violation under PCC 33.700, requiring modification or removal of non-conforming structure. Stop-work orders are common during construction, with double-fee retroactive permit requirements. Civil penalties under PCC 33.700.030 range from $250 to $1,000 per day of non-compliance, plus mandatory correction.
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