The Portland City Code is the complete set of local laws that apply inside the City of Portland, Oregon, organized into 34 numbered titles covering everything from zoning and sidewalks to noise, trees, and public conduct. The official version is maintained by the City Auditor and published at portland.gov/code, where you can search by keyword or browse by title. If you’ve been handed a citation, a notice of violation, or a code section number and want to know what it means and what to do, this is the document you’re looking for.
How the Code Is Organized
The code uses a three-tier structure: Titles, Chapters, and Sections. A Title covers one broad subject. Title 33 is Planning and Zoning. Title 18 is Noise Control. Title 20 is Parks and Recreation. Each Title is divided into Chapters that handle narrower topics, and each Chapter breaks down into numbered Sections that contain the actual rules.
Section numbers follow a decimal pattern. The first number is the Title, the next is the Chapter, and the last is the Section. Section 22.03.050 sits in Title 22 (Hearings Officer), Chapter 03 (Code Enforcement Procedures), Section 050 (Hearings Procedure). Once you see the pattern, you can jump straight to any citation.
Portland’s titles run from Title 1 (General Provisions) through Title 34 (Digital Justice). Title 12 has been repealed. Some titles cover what you’d expect in any city: vehicles and traffic, fire regulations, building codes. Others reflect local priorities, including original art murals (Title 4), protected sick time (Title 9), and beekeeping and livestock (Title 13).
Where to Find the Official Code
The authoritative online source is portland.gov/code, maintained by the City Auditor’s Office. The Portland City Charter charges the Auditor with keeping “current versions of the City Charter and Code” and recording all revisions. The portal lists every title with direct links, offers keyword and title-number search, and logs recent ordinance changes with their effective dates in a “Changes to code” section. If you’re relying on a particular provision, that log is where you confirm it hasn’t been amended out from under you.
One distinction worth getting straight: the Charter and the Code are different documents, even though they share the portal. The Charter is Portland’s foundational governing document, defining the structure and powers of city government. The Code contains the specific laws enacted under those powers. The Charter authorizes the council to regulate land use. Title 33 is where the actual zoning rules sit.
The Titles Most Readers Actually Need
Zoning and Land Use
Title 33 implements Portland’s Comprehensive Plan “in a manner that protects the health, safety, and general welfare” of residents. It governs what can be built where through base zones, overlay zones, plan districts, and historic and conservation districts. Building heights, setbacks, and development density are all addressed, with the specifics changing based on the zone and any special district that applies to the property.
Portland’s online Zoning App lets you search any address and see its zoning designation along with any overlays. Checking zoning before a home addition, a business opening, or a property purchase heads off expensive surprises. When two provisions impose conflicting standards on the same project, Title 33 sets a hierarchy for determining which rule controls.
Sidewalks, Sewers, and Street-Adjacent Property
Title 17 covers streets, sidewalks, sewer connections, and other public infrastructure. Chapter 17.28 handles sidewalks, curbs, and driveways. Chapter 17.42 spells out property owner responsibilities for the street frontage next to their property. If the sidewalk bordering your lot is damaged, the obligation to repair it may be yours, and ignoring that can lead to mandatory repair orders and financial liability. Chapter 17.32 governs sewer and drainage permits, connections, and maintenance.
Noise
Noise has its own title. Title 18 sets maximum permissible sound levels, lists specific prohibited noises, and establishes an exemption and variance process. If a neighbor’s construction or a bar’s sound system is the problem, the standards and penalties are in Title 18, not in the public-conduct title.
Public Conduct
Title 14 covers public conduct broadly, including misconduct, weapons and explosives, gambling, rules for minors, prohibited conduct on public property, Portland Streetcar safety rules, burglar alarms, drug-free zones, chronic nuisance properties, graffiti enforcement, secondhand dealers, liquor license recommendations, marijuana regulatory licensing, and police procedures for handling property and evidence.
Housing, Trees, and Building
Title 30 covers Affordable Housing, including preservation requirements and Portland’s renter protections. Title 11 regulates trees, which carries more weight in Portland than the name suggests: removing certain trees without a permit can bring significant fines. Title 11 covers tree permit procedures, removal rules outside of development, programmatic permits, and tree rules in development situations. Titles 24 through 27 handle building, plumbing, electrical, and heating and ventilating regulations, incorporating model codes such as those from the International Code Council.
How Violations Are Enforced
Enforcement runs through two different tracks depending on the type of violation.
Property and development violations are handled by Portland Permitting & Development (PP&D), formerly the Bureau of Development Services. When PP&D identifies a violation, the owner typically gets a notice citing the code section and setting a deadline for correction. If the problem isn’t fixed, penalties escalate. PP&D publishes a detailed enforcement fee and penalty schedule, with the current version effective July 1, 2025, listing all code enforcement fines.
The usual sequence is complaint, inspection, warning letter, and then a formal citation if the problem continues. Abatement proceedings come only after the owner fails to act within the specified timeframe. Outside of situations posing immediate danger to public health or safety, enforcement is generally complaint-driven, so the city isn’t inspecting every property on its own initiative.
Criminal and public-order violations are handled by the Portland Police Bureau. Oregon law allows officers to issue a criminal citation in lieu of a custodial arrest for certain designated offenses, which means someone can be released with a citation requiring a court appearance rather than being booked into jail.
What Happens at a Code Hearing
Civil code violations go through an administrative hearings system under Chapter 22.03 rather than through traditional court. A Code Hearings Officer conducts what the code describes as “prompt, efficient, fair, and impartial adjudications of alleged Code violations.”
The city starts the process by filing a complaint with the Hearings Office. A hearing date is set no fewer than 14 days and no more than 30 days after filing, though the timeline can be compressed if the violation poses an immediate hazard. The city must give written notice at least 10 calendar days before the hearing, plus three business days if the notice is mailed. At the start of the hearing, the Hearings Officer explains the procedure, whether the city will have an attorney present, and how appeals work.
You have real rights in this process. You can bring an attorney, present evidence, cross-examine witnesses, submit rebuttal evidence, and ask for a continuance if you need more time. After the hearing, the Hearings Officer issues a proposed order, and the parties can respond before a final order is entered. The Hearings Officer can sustain, modify, reverse, or annul the original enforcement decision, or send it back to the relevant bureau for further review.
How the Code Changes
The code changes through ordinances passed by the city council. Under the government structure that took effect January 1, 2025, a non-emergency ordinance requires two public readings of its title and at least seven affirmative votes from the 12-member council. Emergency ordinances need nine affirmative votes but only one reading. Public testimony is allowed at three minutes per person unless the presiding officer sets a different limit.
Proposed changes typically go through public hearings where residents and business owners can testify. Once an ordinance passes, the Auditor’s Office integrates it into the code. The Charter gives the Auditor authority, subject to council approval, to rearrange, renumber, correct clerical errors, and update terminology so the document stays coherent as new material is added. Every amendment is recorded with its ordinance number and effective date, which is how the “Changes to code” log on the portal gets built.
Federal Limits on What the Code Can Do
Portland’s code operates inside limits set by federal law, and in a conflict, federal law controls. The Fair Housing Act applies to municipal zoning: the city cannot use zoning to treat people with disabilities less favorably, deny permits based on the disability of future occupants, or impose land-use restrictions that discriminate based on race, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability. The city must also make reasonable accommodations in zoning policies for people with disabilities, unless doing so would create an undue financial burden or fundamentally alter the zoning scheme.
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires Portland to make its programs, services, and facilities accessible to people with disabilities. New construction and alterations of public facilities must meet specific accessibility standards, and the city must make reasonable modifications to policies and procedures unless doing so would fundamentally change the nature of the program.