An Oregon court recently issued a decision with unsettling implications for area developers. In Tirumali v. City of Portland, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that Portland’s issuance of a building permit for the construction of a singlefamily dwelling was a "land use decision" that could be appealed to the Land Use Board of Appeals. Since the city issues thousands of building permits every year, this decision raises the possibility that any of these permits could be subject to protracted litigation.
At issue in Tirumali was the construction of a multistory house in Portland’s Corbett District. The lot was moderately sloped and required grading to make it suitable for building. The city code limits houses in this area to a height of 30 feet, measured from the "base point" of the lot. For relatively level lots, the "base point" is the highest grade on the site. For steeper lots, the base point is located 10 feet above the lowest site grade. Under the city code, "grade" is defined as
