Lincoln Loan Co. v. City of Portland

Under authority of Portland City Code (PCC) 22.05.010(a)(2), the City of Portland (the city) may order removal of a nuisance. The question presented in this case is whether the city may demolish a vacant residential structure found to create a nuisance without a finding on the record that demolition is a reasonable choice of remedy to address the problem created by the nuisance. We answer that question “no.”

The facts that we recite are undisputed. Lincoln Loan Company (petitioner) has been the owner of record of a small single-family house. In early 1986, petitioner sold the property on an…