M Focus on: Building & Construction
Portland sees benefits of deconstruction
By DENISE FEDOROW | The Municipal
When it comes to enacting deconstruction policies, weighing the pros versus the cons and being able to share those with officials and residents is one key to success. There are several benefits to deconstruction versus mechanical demolition. Environmental benefits, historical preservation and job creation are the big three, but cities that have enacted such policies admit deconstruction costs more and takes longer than mechanical demolition. One city that has enacted a deconstruction policy successfully is Portland, Ore. Shawn Wood, construction waste specialist for the city of Portland, shared how its deconstruction ordinance came about. Wood said around 2013-2014 the country was coming out of a recession, and the city saw a “sharp uptick in house demolition permits.” Most of Portland’s demolitions are driven by new development — knocking down a house and building a bigger one in its place. Around that same time, he conversed with a local nonprofit organization 18 THE MUNICIPAL | MAY 2022
that was doing deconstruction “way before our ordinance was in place and were selling materials.” He said they began thinking about how they could level the playing field for deconstruction. “It’s a hard sell when deconstruction costs more and takes longer,” he said. “But the outcome is much better.” Also, around that same time, the city was receiving complaints and concerns from neighborhood groups who were asking the city to halt demolitions and preserve the modest housing. Unlike cities like Baltimore and Milwaukee, many of Portland’s demolitions were private and were knocking down modest 1,200- to 1,400-square-foot homes and replacing them with 3,000-square-foot homes that were valued at $1 million versus the previous value of $350,000 for example.
Stacks of “old growth lumber,” a valuable commodity in deconstruction, wait to be purchased at a salvaged material market in Portland, Ore. (Photo provided by Good Wood Deconstruction & Salvage)
“Huge McMansions were going up towering over the tiny homes next door,” Wood said, adding in 2014 someone could walk in to the permit division and get a permit over the counter and have the house razed within a couple of hours. “Imagine coming home from work, and the house next door is gone and there’s asbestos and lead dust all over your garden, your pets and (your) kids’ toys,” he said. The neighborhood groups went to the city council asking that the permit bureau shore up the system requiring notification of neighbors. That resulted in delays of demolition as everyone worked through this process. Neighborhood groups kept pressuring the council to expand notification and advance deconstruction. The council told the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, where Wood
