The Stafford Basin took center stage Monday night as the West Linn City Council considered a formal resolution urging the Metro Council to leave Stafford out of its urban reserves.
While West Linn, Tualatin and Lake Oswego want Stafford to remain rural, those cities aren't the only ones Metro is taking into consideration, said Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette.
"Local aspirations can't be the only deciding factor," Collette said. "The recommendation is that we be looking at it from a regional perspective, not a local government perspective."
Collette met with the West Linn City Council to discuss Metro chief operating officer Michael Jordan's growth recommendations, "Making the Greatest Place: Strategies for a sustainable and prosperous region."
Collette's comments were directly followed by those of Tom Coffee, a consultant who is drafting a resolution for West Linn, Tualatin and Lake Oswego to jointly sign that would articulate those cities' protest against Stafford being urbanized.
The city councilors had questions for Collette, mainly about why Stafford is even being considered for development in the first place. City Councilor Teri Cummings said the Clackamas County Reserves Policy Advisory Committee did not recommend that Stafford be urbanized, and made that recommendation based on Metro's own standards for what would make good urban lands. She also said the area could not handle the increased traffic of an urbanized Stafford.
"Transportation is the biggest, hugest issue here," Cummings said. "To me, it's the most unsolvable problem."
Cummings noted that the area is very steep and it would be unreasonably expensive to develop a light rail connection to Stafford. She also described Interstate 205 as "a parking lot" that could not handle any more vehicles.
Cummings also pointed out that most of the region's growth has been within the original 1979 urban growth boundary, not in the areas brought in since then. She wondered whether Metro really needs to set aside urban reserves if growth keeps happening inside the boundary already. Collette said Metro is required by law to assess the 20-year land supply and make adjustments based on population predictions.
"We don't have the liberty to walk away from that challenge," Collette said.
Cummings responded, saying the 20-year land supply assessment is creating more uncertainty among Stafford residents. She said that uncertainly has led to a decline in people who are actively using their Stafford land for farming.
"It's the threat of urbanization that has caused that, and it'd be nice to have that conversation settled," Cummings said.
"That's what this process is supposed to do," Collette responded.
City Councilor Scott Burgess wanted to know what other venues for public comment would be available before Metro made its final decisions on reserves. Collette said there will be more opportunities in the spring for public comment, and local governments will be involved in the reserves processes as well.
- by Sean Breslin, Metro staff