This month, the Metro Council is deciding whether to expand the region's urban growth boundary, and if so, how much. What does the boundary do? How will Metro decide what to add to the boundary? Here's some basics about Metro's study of the boundary, which should lead to a decision later this month.
Refresh my memory. What does the urban growth boundary do?
It's the Portland region's line in the sand – inside the boundary, land can be subdivided and generally used for what we expect to see in cities and suburbs. Outside the boundary, property owners face strict limits on what they can develop on their property.
For the most part, it's been effective. The boundary extends farther than 15 miles beyond downtown Portland in only two places – Wilsonville and areas west of downtown Hillsboro. Beyond that is farmland and neighboring communities. Anyone who's visited similarly-sized cities like Denver, Sacramento and Salt Lake know that urban sprawl can extend 30 or more miles past those cities' downtown cores.
Why is Metro studying it?
The law says it has to. Other cities in Oregon examine their urban growth boundaries (every Oregon city outside Metro has one) on an as-needed basis, but the Metro region has to study its boundary every five years. Metro's job is to figure out if there's enough land within the boundary to accommodate 20 years of responsible growth – state regulators are likely to reject any plan that calls for simple sprawl – and adjust the boundary if more land is needed.
Will Metro expand it?
Probably. Metro councilors have said the region probably needs land for about 15,000 more homes, as well as about 300 more acres of industrial/employment land, to handle the growth that's expected in the next 20 years. The council does have some flexibility in both homes and jobs, but so far, it hasn't seemed inclined to go higher or lower.
But there's plenty of empty lots around the region…
The Metro-prepared growth forecast that the council is using actually says the region needs 47,100 more homes to accommodate 20 years of growth. But most of that development can occur in places like North Bethany and Damascus, which are still being planned and remain mostly rural.
How often does Metro do this?
Metro is supposed to study the boundary every five years. Because of the urban and rural reserves process, it got an extension from the last periodic review of the boundary.
The last time Metro went through a periodic review of the boundary was 2002, when it added about 13,000 acres near Damascus as part of a 17,836-acre expansion around the region. That expansion was fairly universally regarded as a debacle – state law forced Metro to expand to an area that was completely unready for urban development, and nearly a decade later, little growth has occurred there. Metro staff has been careful to recommend to the Metro Council that expansions this time around should be in areas that both the free market and government are likely to support development.
Since the initial 227,491-acre UGB was established in 1979, about 28,000 acres have been added to the boundary. Nearly two-thirds of that came in 2002.
How much will the boundary expand?
If Vegas had a betting line on the expansion, the over/under would be about 1,600 acres for residential land and 330 acres for industrial. The latter is the size of an area staff recommended near Hillsboro for an expansion; the former includes staff-recommended areas near Hillsboro and Beaverton.
Could the Metro Council just leave the boundary as-is?
Yes. When Metro staff prepared its growth forecast, it issued a range of estimates of how much the region would grow in the next 20 years. On the low end, the boundary doesn't need to be expanded. On the high end, the boundary needs to be adjusted to make room for 40,000 more homes.
If Metro goes to the low end, though, it's likely to face legal challenges and tough questions from state regulators, who have to decide if Metro's growth estimates are realistic.
Where will the expansions be?
If the Metro Council decides to expand the boundary, its options are relatively limited. It can only add areas where residents have received a notice of a potential expansion; considering any areas that haven't gotten a notice would push the process back weeks, possibly into December. That's unlikely to happen.
Ten areas received the notice that the boundary could be expanded in their area. All but one are in Washington County.
The frontrunners are 330 acres north of Hillsboro, 1,000 acres south of Hillsboro and about 550 acres southwest of Beaverton – those are the areas Metro staff believe are most likely to develop soon, and can easily be provided with infrastructure from a nearby city.
Is there opposition to this plan?
Land use decisions are as likely to produce controversy as the skies in December are likely to produce rain. Some say Metro's shooting too low, and should add more land to the boundary. Others say Metro is running roughshod over farmland, and can do a better job getting people to live closer together in the existing boundary.
Even the concept plans for certain areas have drawn controversy. For example, land conservation advocates agree that Hillsboro could use more land for factories and jobs – but they think it should be in the South Hillsboro area, proposed for residential use.
I heard something about density…
Since the expansion is based on the number of new homes needed, it's important to know how many new homes can fit into the proposed expansion areas. Metro has generally aimed for 15 units per buildable acre for urban growth boundary expansions going forward, although some in central Portland have pushed for numbers closer to 20 units per acre.
The 15 units per acre is a pretty academic discussion in areas like South Cooper Mountain, southwest of Beaverton. Limited planning has been done on that area, and planners have been able to start their work with that level of density as a guiding principle.
In South Hillsboro, it gets trickier. Planning for South Hillsboro started more than a decade ago, and developers have steadily been driving up the density levels in the proposed development. The area is planned for about 12 units per acre on the whole, with denser development closer to the Tualatin Valley Highway and larger lots planned for the more distant areas of the development. The developers say it'd be hard to re-start the planning after this much work has been done.
Metro planners don't necessarily disagree with the latter part. But, they say, South Hillsboro is possibly the most prime land for a new development in the Portland region. The northern acres of the area are flat, surrounded by existing development, adjacent to an Intel factory, a major state highway and a possible transit corridor. Planners basically think that it's about as good of a situation as you can get to build a compact urban community.
Wait, units per acre?
That's the currency of the realm in land use planning. Remember, an acre is about the size of a football field. Typical lots in Portland are about 9 units per acre; in older parts of Hillsboro, that number goes down to about 8 units per acre or lower.
There's a great website called Visualizing Density that gives examples of what developments at specific density levels. For example, click here to see what 15 units per acre looks like in Sacramento.
How do I get involved in the process?
The easiest way is to contact your Metro councilor via e-mail.
You can also testify at public hearings on the urban growth boundary, scheduled for 5 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Beaverton Library and 2 p.m. Oct. 20 at the Metro Regional Center. Lastly, sign up for Opt In, Metro's online opinion panel.
Correction: An earlier version of this story had the wrong date for the hearing in Beaverton. That has been corrected.