Metro Chief Operating Officer Michael Jordan presented his recommendations on a Community Investment Strategy to the Washington County Farm Bureau at its Aug. 17 meeting. Much of Jordan's discussion focused on ways to improve the capacity of the existing urban growth boundary to accommodate future growth by targeting public investments, such as urban renewal, transportation funding and tax incentives, in a manner that encourages the private sector to develop projects that accommodate new residents and attract new jobs.
But Jordan also noted that, based on Metro's current analysis of the capacity of the existing UGB to accommodate growth over the next 20 years, an expansion of the UGB may be needed for both residential and large-lot (sites of 50 acres or more) industrial employment needs. The report, entitled "Community Investment Strategy: Building a Sustainable, Prosperous and Equitable Region," includes a proposed expansion of the UGB by 310 acres north of Hillsboro to serve anticipated needs for additional large-lot industrial employment sites.
Dave Vanasche, president of the chapter, questioned the need for the additional land. "You took in 800 acres [for industrial land expansion] five years ago," he said, noting that he and other farmers are still farming that land. "Now you want to taken in another 310 acres. What's wrong with the 800 acres from five years ago?" Jordan noted that past expansions of the UGB to add industrial land that is currently unused, such as the 800 acres Vanasche referred to, were included in the calculation of how much industrial land capacity there is to meet employment needs in the region over the next 20 years, and Metro determined there is still a need for additional large-lot industrial lands. Jordan also mentioned that meeting that need could also be met through investments in existing sites within the UGB, such as the clean-up and redevelopment of brownfield sites, but that would require additional money that is not currently available to the region.
Others in the audience focused on the need to be more efficient with existing land and use existing public policy and investment tools more wisely. "You can control capacity. All you have to do is provide incentives [to use capacity within the UGB]," said Larry Duyck, a Farm Bureau member, who noted that he knows of others who are moving into existing single-family lots in Northeast Portland that are being converted to multi-family use. "That is easily done through tax incentives. There are ways of promoting those kinds of things."