Meet the new urban growth boundary map – almost the same as the old urban growth boundary map.
Metro Councilors made only one change to their proposed urban growth boundary adjustment ordinance at a meeting Thursday, leaving just one week for cities around the region to convince them to add more developable land to the region.
A 48-acre area near Tigard was added to the ordinance by a unanimous vote of the council.
Councilor Carl Hosticka proposed that change, which includes an area east of Roy Rogers Road.
"This allows for a street to come through and connect to Roy Rogers Road," said Metro Council President Tom Hughes. The addition could also allow for improvements on Roy Rogers Road itself.
Hosticka said the amendment affects two tax lots.
"It's a very minor amendment to the ordinance... but will have a big impact on (Tigard's) ability to serve and rationally plan the areas," he said.
Thursday's meeting was the second of three for the Metro Council in this year's urban growth boundary review. Last week, councilors heard more than two hours of testimony from the public about potential changes to the boundary.
This week, councilors had an opportunity to suggest changes to the ordinance, which includes proposals for expanding the boundary north and south of Hillsboro and southwest of Beaverton. The ordinance also places conditions on what can happen on those areas – about 1,900 acres – if they are brought in to the urban growth boundary.
Like a fraternity rush, cities around the western half of the region had been going through motions in an effort to get picked for a boundary expansion – seven areas put themselves forward as candidates for the boundary, and cities proposing the expansions worked hard to try and show they were qualified for inclusion – and necessary.
But, with the exception of the change near Tigard, the Metro Council showed little interest in going past the three favored candidates already in the ordinance.
Nor did the council accept the Metro Policy Advisory Committee's recommendations that new areas to be included in the boundary have 20 homes per acre. The ordinance that moved forward to the Oct. 20 vote calls for a little more than 15 homes per acre – in Metro speak, residential dwelling units, since they could include condos, townhomes and single-family houses – in the proposed expansion areas.
The council will hold another public hearing on the proposed ordinance at 2 p.m. on Oct. 20. Councilors can propose more changes to the urban growth boundary at that meeting; they're expected to vote on the ordinance that afternoon.