Updates To Off-Site Odor Impacts Regulations in Portland

Available dishes from Pho Gabo. — What you might have been able to eat at Phở Gabo before they closed.

This morning the Portland City Council addressed the issue of odors in Portland—the off-site odor impacts regulations, and how to change them to work better for businesses in this city. This process started in March 2024 and the code changes were passed today, November 13, by Carmen Rubio, Dan Ryan, Rene Gonzalez, and Ted Wheeler; Mingus Mapps was absent. This all started with the situation earlier this year regarding Phở Gabo.

Origins of This Decision to Change Off-Site Odor Impacts Regulations

If you remember back in February, it was reported that beloved Roseway Vietnamese restaurant Phở Gabo (7330 NE Fremont) was forced to close. Someone, “a persistent neighbor with olfactory sensitivities” decided to call the city complain about the smell—the odor—emanating from the restaurant. Whoever complained, they deeply disliked the smell of grilled meat.

Then, the case was assigned to a city inspector. They visited the vicinity 12 times and during one of those visits they noted (::surprised Pikachu face::) “The odors detected smell like a wok dish.”

The neighbor continued to bug the city about the smell. Fines accumulated. Eddie Dong, the restaurant owner, gave up and closed up shop—installing a new ventilation system required of him would have been cost prohibitive.

Articles were written, including one here. The TV news reported on it. Neighbors were outraged. Accusations of racism were made. Roseway lost a great neighborhood restaurant.

The Process + Carmen Rubio

Carmen Rubio decided that something had to be done, and on March 6, 2024 she directed Portland Planning and Development (PP&D) to suspend the code that has to do with off-site odor impacts. Off-site impacts are performance standards applicable to the way the building is used, rather than the way it is constructed.

Over the ensuing months, there were hearings, work sessions, and chances to testify—quite a bit of activity, really. Fast forward past all the hard work put into this, and we get the end result: changes to the code.

You can read the timeline on the City of Portland’s website on the page entitled “Amend Planning and Zoning Code and Property Maintenance Regulations Code to amend and update off-site odor impacts regulations (amend Title 33 and Title 29).”

What’s Going To Change

Here’s what you can expect to see as far as updates go. The foundation of these changes is that the odor standard will move from Title 33 (Planning and Zoning) to Title 29 (Building Maintenance).

Documentation Requirements: Eliminate requirements for documentation of compliance with Chapter 33.262, Off-Site Impacts, at the time of building permit.
Application of Standards: Clarify that the compliance standards apply once the operation of a use commences.
Exemptions: Retail sales and service uses will be exempt from the odor rules in Title 29.
New Parameters: Enforcement of the odor rules in Title 29 will be set with new parameters. They are:
- Time Allowance: Increase the 15-minute daily allowance for continuous odor emissions to 30 minutes.
- Number of Complaints: Require five or more individual complaints from five or more people within 30 days before Property Compliance Services will open an odor investigation.
- Complaints/Distance: The complainants must live within 150-feet of the property line of the site with the offending odor.

Will It Affect You?

In some ways, it will affect us all, from the restaurant or bakery owner, to the person who might feel annoyed by the odors. Here is what the Impact Statement says:

“The primary impact of the code changes will be how the odor rules are enforced for retail sales and service businesses for which odor is an inherent part of their business model, such as restaurants, coffee shops, or bakeries. These businesses will no longer be subject to the odor code rules that are being moved from Title 33 to Title 29.” A relief for many of these businesses, I imagine.

“The change will eliminate the threat to these businesses that one complaint about any sustained odor from their businesses could lead to enforcement actions that could include prohibitively expensive upgrades to their ventilation systems.” If this version of the code had already been in place, Phở Gabo likely would not have had to close.

“A secondary impact is to residential neighbors to these businesses, who will no longer be able to call in odor complaints against retail sales and service businesses to the Portland Planning and Development (PP&D) code enforcement group. Instead, they will have to rely on private mediation or the civil courts to address issues they have.” This means the pressure that “COM” put on the city would not have held as much power as it did. They would have had to hash it out via mediation.

I encourage you to read the Council Document, which has linked to two exhibits with even more background and supportive documentation about this issue of off-site odor regulations and the city.

I just wish we had been able to save Phở Gabo from having to close its Roseway location. That said, current and future operating restaurants, etc will have more certainty that they will not be dinged for the odors their business may produce. I support this change to the city code and am grateful to our commissioners for looking into this issue and giving to it their valuable time.

These changes will go info effect on March 1, 2025.