After three years of analysis and planning, and months of negotiation, the decision to establish urban and rural reserves across the Portland metropolitan region for the next 50 years hangs on one parcel of property in Washington County. The Metro Council Thursday was evenly divided over whether to grant Washington County's request to add an additional 129-acre property north of Portland Community College's Rock Creek campus to its urban reserves.
This leaves the future of urban and rural reserves uncertain. The Council directed President David Bragdon to explore several alternatives with Washington County Commission Chair Tom Brian and to report results of their discussions to the Council at their next regularly scheduled meeting June 10.
The property in question, owned by the Peterkort family, lies along NW 185th Ave., north of West Union Road. Washington County maintains that its designation as an urban reserve is necessary for cost effective installation of water and sewer pipes and to offset damage to wetlands as the North Bethany area develops. According to Washington County's proposal, the property owners have agreed to donate easements for water and sewer and 50 acres of Rock Creek floodplain for wetlands mitigation in return for an urban reserve designation.
By law, Metro designates urban reserves, each county designates rural reserves and both are only valid if the counties and Metro agree.
Earlier this year, Metro reached agreements with Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties on urban reserves -- where communities will grow over the next half century -- and rural reserves -- lands that will be protected as farms, forests and natural areas for that same period. These agreements, confirmed by a Metro Council vote Feb. 25, included maps of both urban and rural reserves in each county and principles for how reserves would be planned or conserved over time.
Since February, each county has fine tuned its reserves maps to make sure reserve boundaries do not split individual properties and to more precisely align them with natural features and road rights of way. As a result of this fine tuning process, Clackamas and Washington counties proposed changes to their maps that had to be adopted by Metro before reserves can be formally established.
Clackamas County and Metro reached a new compromise, confirmed by a vote of the Clackamas County Commission May 27 and by the Metro Council vote today. However the Council position on the Peterkort property remained unclear prior to today's vote. The Washington County Commission will hold public hearings on reserves June 8 and June 15.