Reporting from Salem
On a day when Oregon's governor and land use commissioners celebrated the 40th anniversary of Senate Bill 100, Metro officials were looking forward, to the coming decades, in a presentation to the Land Conservation and Development Commission.
Metro planning director Robin McArthur, four Metro councilors and Kim Ellis, the manager of the Climate Smart Communities Scenarios Project, appeared before LCDC Thursday to talk about the Portland regional government's efforts to curb tailpipe emissions.
LCDC's commissioners lauded Metro's efforts for addressing tailpipe emissions, saying the breadth of the regional government's outreach thus far was impressive.
But they emphasized that the project must be approachable by members of the public to be successful, and the Land Conservation and Development Commission's Chair questioned whether the project was properly balancing regional and statewide goals.
The Metro delegation had a tough act to follow: Gov. John Kitzhaber stopped by LCDC to present a proclamation recognizing Oregon's 40 years of comprehensive land use planning. One recent chapter of that 40 year story is the Climate Smart Communities project, a mandate that the Portland region come up with a plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks by 2035.
Metro's planning department and regional stakeholders have been looking at ways to reduce emissions for about two years and recently released a draft list of criteria that will be used to analyze the ways to curb tailpipe emissions. That list is likely to be approved by the Metro Council next month.
In the preliminary phases of the project, Metro officials spoke with dozens of community groups and stakeholders and surveyed thousands of the region's residents using Opt In. That drew praise from LCDC Chair Marilyn Worrix.
"There was a comment (earlier in the meeting) about unintended consequences," Worrix said. "You don't know those unless you talk to the right people who would see that. You've really made an effort to get a very broad base."
The unintended consequences remark came from Bob Cortright, a planning coordinator for the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. Cortright's department, DLCD, will analyze Metro's final plan to reduce tailpipe emissions; LCDC, the appointed statewide planning commission, must sign off on Metro's plans.
Cortright, in cuing up Metro's Climate Smart Communities presentation, said Metro's analysis of ways of curbing tailpipe emissions should include a look at how those methods impact communities neighboring the Portland region, such as Newberg, Sandy and Banks.
Also, Cortright said, "Metro should keep the door open that additional changes to land use may be desirable to achieve other objectives as well as greenhouse gas reduction targets."
That may be turn out to be a key for Metro's region-wide plan to get approval from the state. Metro officials have been leaning on a belief that the existing zoning plans in the region's 25 cities and three counties do a lot, on paper, to significantly curb tailpipe emissions, and the Portland region should focus on turning those plans into construction and ultimately tangible objects like buildings and parks, roads and bike paths.
Make those plans a reality, and people will drive less, possibly enough to reach the state's goals.
"We want to do way more than meet the targets on paper," McArthur said. "We want to invest in our communities in a way that moves us toward those goals."
Worrix said that reflected an economic-based path toward reaching the state's tailpipe emission reduction goals. But, in her opening remarks, she wondered whether there was too much emphasis, in Metro's approach, on the statewide goals.
"You mention in your materials that this is mandated by the state, but that's not the consequence, is it?" Worrix said. "The consequences this time around are much bigger. That's just a reminder to people – this is why we're here. This is how we fit in with other state efforts and why what we're doing is important."
Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette said the climate message wasn't resonating as strongly with the Portland region's residents.
"Putting it in the context of other environmental and climate issues was less effective than putting it in the context of their own aspirations," Collette said. "Councilor (Craig) Dirksen was the mayor of Tigard at the time and he would say 'I don’t talk to my citizens so much about climate, I talk to them about employment, about having robust downtowns, about being able to walk where they want to go.'"
Collette added that isn't to say that cities aren't talking about climate, pointing to Beaverton being very up-front about sustainability as a key goal moving forward.
Later, Worrix asked if Metro use more creative thinking in its approaches to addressing the state mandate.
McArthur said there's plenty of room for creativity in the project. But, she said, regulation doesn't make things happen.
"If you take a zoned piece of property, and it's not served with any kind of infrastructure, that's going to remain a zoned property for a very long time," she said. "We're focusing on how to get land ready for development and how to stimulate going from a piece of paper to on-the-ground development."
One of the main approaches McArthur's staff has used is to look at how much the region's tailpipe emissions would be reduced based on different levels of spending on infrastructure, transit and development work. But Commissioner Jerry Lidz suggested Metro focus on different scenarios at the same funding level, instead of different funding levels for similar scenarios.
"We have honored all the work local jurisdictions have done," McArthur responded, "which is why we didn't really want to alter that work or change that work as we go forth."
Collette agreed that Metro should try to de-emphasize the cost and focus more on the qualitative choices the region's policymakers face.
But, she said, some of the choices are just more expensive.
"We know transit is a huge factor. We also know it's not inexpensive," Collette said. "We know building more bike paths and sidewalks, it's expensive. We know we're going to have to spend money one way or another. So it's difficult to try this model without saying it's going to cost us."
LCDC Commissioner Bart Eberwein wanted to know more about what Metro was saying – and how its message was approachable by the region. He suggested Metro needs to simplify the project, the way Woody Guthrie's songs helped build support for the Bonneville Power Administration.
"I think that's what a Woody Guthrie does for you – someone who isn't the government business, but who's in the folk business. That's the message I think needs to come through stronger."
Worrix agreed, saying Metro needed "almost a slogan on the side of a bus." She held up some of the informational material Metro's representatives brought with them.
"What percentage of the population do you think will read this?" she asked. "Yet if you were to convince 20 percent of the driving population in Portland they should carpool, you've got a whole new scenario."
Overall, the commissioners were supportive of the work Metro's done so far, and gave no indication the regional government should dramatically change course before the next Climate Smart check-in, tentatively scheduled for later this year.
"It was a really important conversation," Collette said afterward. "I think the commission has very high goals. It's not going to be easy to deliver on those goals."
The Metro Council is scheduled to endorse a final Climate Smart Communities strategy in late 2014.