Reporting from Beaverton
With more than 100 people packed into a library conference room Thursday night, the Metro Council got a sense of how much Washington County residents care about the urban growth boundary.
About 45 people testified about potential changes to the boundary Thursday, the first of three Metro Council meetings dedicated to the 2011 review of the boundary.
While all of the 10 potential urban growth boundary expansion areas were addressed by at least one speaker, most of the conversation was focused on the boundary east of Cornelius and south of Hillsboro.
Several Aloha residents turned out to express concerns about increased traffic near Aloha, particularly along 209th Avenue near the planned South Hillsboro development.
"There's certain times of the day when 209th is already in gridlock," said Ron Schaaf, an Aloha resident who testified at the hearing."I don't believe that any of the homeowners in the area are opposed to expansion per se. I believe many of them will be opposed unless there are assurances" that road improvements will be done in the area.
Hillsboro resident Michele Whitaker was equally skeptical, saying Metro and Washington County were unlikely to have a study of traffic on Tualatin Valley Highway done by the time homes went up in South Hillsboro.
"I urge you guys, each and every one of you, to take a drive from 217 down TV Highway to downtown Hillsboro… at rush hour," Whitaker said.
Metro Council President Tom Hughes, who lives just west of the South Hillsboro area, said he also has concerns about the traffic impacts. But he thinks South Hillsboro drivers will use Cornelius Pass Road, 10 blocks west, as their main north-south route. The site's plans include extending Cornelius Pass Road south of Tualatin Valley Highway to Rosedale Road, the southern edge of the development.
And, he said, he didn't think traffic on the highway was that bad.
"I come down TV Highway because, quite frankly, it's the quickest way to come into Portland," Hughes said. "It's a straight shot. Yeah, you get held up by some signals but it's not nearly as bad as a lot of people allege that it is. It's not swell, but it's not bad."
Traffic wasn't the only concern about South Hillsboro. Franklin Kapustka talked about drainage, and raised concerns about the development causing flooding in downstream areas.
"I'm not seeing any designated green spaces in some of these developed areas," he said.
To the west, several speakers urged the council to consider adding some land near Cornelius, areas already surrounded by the urban growth boundary and so-called conflicted land, single family homes on medium-to-large lots.
"All the way around our property are developed houses already," said Karen Shipman, who owns property along the Tualatin Valley Highway near Cornelius. She said her family has been ready to develop the site for awhile.
Not everyone was talking about land they wanted to be added to the boundary. Northwest Portland resident Carol Chesarek said she's not convinced Metro should expand the boundary at all. If the council does expand the boundary, she said, it should be conservative in its expansion – and should expect dense development from South Hillsboro.
"South Hillsboro is the crown jewel of the urban reserves," she said. "It's flat, it's next to an Intel site… it's not a remote edge site. It should be able to accommodate at least 20 units per acre. These densities support attractive urban amenities and good transit service."
If the developers and Hillsboro can't commit to those density levels – plans call for density short of Metro's stated 15 units per acre goal at the 1,000-acre site, although some parts of the development will have higher density – Metro should wait until its next urban growth boundary review to bring South Hillsboro in, Chesarek said.
The conversation wasn't just about homes. North of Hillsboro, Metro is eyeing 300 acres for large lot industrial sites. But with the down economy, Helvetia resident Cherry Amabisca said the time wasn't right to add land for jobs.
"It doesn't mean never. It just means we wait until 2015 and see if conditions have changed," Amabisca said. "Having an inventory of large lots is not a panacea. We should wait until 2015 and see what the economy does."
One of the property owners in the 300-acre area, though, disagreed. Arne Nyberg, a Rivergrove city councilor, said the site is a prime location for factories and jobs.
"The place is here, the Metro need is met, and the property owners want to be in now," he said. "Let's plant a new crop of jobs in these fields."