Regulations and construction - questions
 

Three questions for someone knowledgeable -

1. I've noticed several recently started projects are putting in a temporary barrier along the street to create a pedestrian walkway and sometimes even building a roof over it. I remember PAW did this, but now the Restoration Hardware, Gypsy replacement and Robert Ball projects in NW all have this. I'm wondering if a regulation change is requiring this?

2. Time to build a building. Several people have mentioned how slowly Sky3 has gone up. Looking back in old threads, it looks like it began in August 2014 - two and a half years ago. Q21 has also seemed to go very slowly. Meanwhile, other buildings, like The Dianne are shooting up. Maybe it's perception, but it seems like there's a big disparity in - I assume - construction techniques. If there are, say, 3 different main techniques and one is clearly fastest, why wouldn't the developer always choose the fastest one? It seems like the financiers behind Sky3 would want it to go up as fast as possible in order to maximize their ROI. What other factors would account for such a disparity?

3. Used to be that 6 stories was the maximum for wood framed buildings. Lately there have been numerous 7-story proposals. I presume these will be wood frame, since, otherwise, I can't see how 7 stories would pencil out, given that they'd have to use concrete as I understood things. Has some regulation changed on this?

I can answer questions 1 and 3. Someone else (BrG?) might be able to answer question 2.

Yes, the City changed its policy in June. See this BikePortland story for the back history. It only applies to new projects, which is why you're seeing it on buildings that have received their permits since then.

Short answer: yes, BDS now allows 5 over 2 buildings, whereas before it only allowed 5 over 1 buildings.

Long answer: the current building code in Oregon is the 2014 Oregon Structural Specialty Code (OSSC), which is based on the 2012 International* Building Code (IBC). The next code update will be the 2018 OSSC, which will be based on the 2015 IBC.

In any of these codes light wood frame buildings are allowed to go as tall as 85' to top of parapet, however only with 5 floors. A special provision in the code allows for a concrete structure below this. In the 2012 IBC / 2014 OSSC this concrete structure (which is in considered a separate building for the purposes of fire life safety review) is limited to one story above ground level, effectively limiting light wood framed buildings to 6 stories. Under the 2015 IBC this limitation has been lessened, so that 2 stories above grade are allowed. This will likely make its way into the 2018 Oregon code.

Because the 2015 IBC recognizes that 5 over 2 buildings are as safe as 5 over 1 buildings, BDS has started approving building code appeals of the 2014 OSSC to allow 5 over 2 construction. I've now seen 4 or 5 projects that have had their appeals approved. In a couple years, when the 2018 OSSC comes into effect, the need to appeal will go away.

*Despite the name, the IBC is almost exclusively used in the US.

Thanks, interesting answers!

Excellent questions! I've been wondering about #2 myself.