The Dalles is getting ready to open its low-density residential zone to more kinds of housing and take a layer of paperwork off small projects. The city is proposing to allow triplexes, quadplexes and cottage clusters in its Low Density Residential (RL) zone and to drop the separate Site Plan Review step for eligible projects of one to four units in every zone (via Gorge News Center).
Right now, every residential zone in the city allows detached houses, accessory dwelling units and duplexes, according to the city's Housing Updates page. The Medium and High Density zones already allow triplexes, quadplexes and cottage clusters, but the city says the current standards and review process make those projects more complicated than they need to be. Under the proposal, the RL zone would pick up triplexes, quadplexes, cottage clusters and townhouses.
The review change is the one small builders will feel. Today, Site Plan Review is required for middle housing in the RM and RH zones. Under the proposal, projects of one to four units would generally go straight through the building permit process, with the city's review followed by Wasco County Building Codes. Projects of five or more units would still need Site Plan Review.
The package goes well beyond the headline items. The city also wants to replace its menu-style residential design rules with clear and objective standards, base lot standards on total lot area instead of minimum width and depth, clarify driveway and access rules, and offer parking waivers and reductions for some housing types in the Central Business Commercial zone. It would also spell out what's needed to convert an existing house into a duplex, triplex or quadplex, including separate entrances and utilities, allow single-wide manufactured homes where single-unit houses are allowed, and update the rules for cottage clusters and townhouses.
The changes come out of the city's 2025 Housing Production Strategy, which recommended opening the RL zone to plexes and cottage clusters and found nearly 200 acres of buildable residential land in that zone, the city says.
This isn't the city's first pass at middle housing. In earlier rounds tied to 2019 state legislation, the City Council dropped the owner-occupancy rule for ADUs, allowed larger ADUs, cut minimum lot sizes in the medium and high density zones and set clear rules for duplexes in every residential zone, Gorge Radio reported.
The city expects to send draft amendments to the state Department of Land Conservation and Development on Oct. 29. The Planning Commission is scheduled to take them up Dec. 3, and the City Council on Jan. 25, 2027. Questions go to the Community Development Department at cdd@thedalles.gov.
Why it matters for Contractors
For a small builder in Wasco County, this is about as practical as zoning news gets. Skipping Site Plan Review on one- to four-unit jobs can shorten the path to a permit and trim the soft costs that make a fourplex hard to pencil. Opening nearly 200 buildable acres in the RL zone to plexes and cottage clusters gives you more lots to work with, and the house-to-plex conversion rules could be steady work for remodelers.
Read the draft when it posts, and if something in it would trip up a real project, say so at the Dec. 3 Planning Commission meeting. Builders who show up with specifics tend to get the cleanest rules.