A 625-acre area north of U.S. 26 would become a new urban reserve under a proposal being crafted by Washington County as it reacts to an October ruling by the Land Conservation and Development Commission.
Hundreds of acres of rural reserves, many of them north of the Sunset Highway, would become undesignated lands as part of the plan, which could be voted on by Washington County and the Metro Council next week.
Metro officials declined to comment on the proposal.
The plan comes after the state land commission rejected two proposed urban reserves, a small portion of the 28,000-plus acres of urban reserves designated after three years of negotiations between Metro and Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties.
Proposed reserves map
See a PDF of Washington County's proposed reserves map.
To give Washington County a way to compensate for those lost urban reserves, the commission remanded Washington County's rural reserves for further deliberation.
Under the proposal from Washington County, obtained through multiple sources outside the agency, a 585 acres northwest of the intersection of U.S. 26 and Helvetia Road would go from undesignated to urban reserves. Another 40 would be flipped from rural reserves to urban reserves.
The proposal calls for 592 acres of rural reserves between Jackson School and West Union roads to go from rural reserve to undesignated.
"It's not an easy one because we've been put in this position where we've got to find acres where they work," Washington County Commissioner Andy Duyck said Monday while attending meetings in Washington, D.C. "Employment acres were what we lost, and there's not too many places to choose for that. It was not our first choice, but it's the position we found ourselves in."
The memo also details a new, 832 acre undesignated area, near West Union northeast of Hillsboro. It would roughly be a triangle taken out of rural reserves, bounded by West Union Road on the south, Cornelius Pass Road on the west and 185th Avenue on the east.
The move to designate urban reserves further north came as a blow to Save Helvetia, which fought to prevent any urbanization north of the freeway.
"We're pretty upset obviously," said Save Helvetia organizer Cherry Amabisca. "North of 26 has been thrown under the bus."
In a memo to County Commissioners Roy Rogers, Desari Strader and Dick Schouten, Washington County Chair Tom Brian, who leaves office at the end of the year, and Duyck, who was elected this year to replace Brian, wrote that the county board would need to vote on the proposed changes at its Dec. 14 meeting. The Metro Council would then vote on the proposal Dec. 16, Brian and Duyck wrote.
"It's going to be tough," Duyck said Monday. "We're under a compressed timeframe. The board changes pretty quickly. If you're talking about the public, doesn't give them a whole lot of time."
Two new Washington County commissioners take office next month; the Metro Council will also get two new members.
The memo said "there is general agreement that sufficient analysis and public comment is in the record from which the amendment can be fairly considered; neither Metro nor the county feels it is necessary to re-open the analysis process or conduct an extensive outreach and public information effort."
Duyck said the new map came after extensive conversations with state land use staff and commissioners about the acceptability of various new reserves proposals.
"We've talked to LCDC about, 'What do you think on this issue. What do you think is doable from your standpoint,'" the county chair-elect said. It's important, Duyck said, to have a vote "while we still have the board that's been working on it for so long."
Other rural-to-undesignated conversions included 67 acres south of South Hillsboro for a transportation corridor, and 9 acres south of Sherwood for highway improvements along Highway 99W.
As for the areas remanded in October by the state, the county is calling for a portion of the land north of Cornelius to remain undesignated, but most of the proposed urban reserve – areas west of Susbauer Road – would become rural reserves.
Lastly, Washington County will take 28 acres north of Council Creek near Forest Grove and flip them from urban reserve to undesignated.