As the time to take action on Metro staff's growth recommendations draws closer, the calls for collaboration among local governments is becoming a prominent theme in Metro's meetings with community organizations.
"When individual communities are successful, that's where the region is successful," said Michael Jordan, Metro's chief operating officer. He said communities will have different priorities, and it's Metro's job to help balance tension between different areas in the region. "If we manage the conversation well, it's a healthy tension."
Entering the final day of Metro's public comment period, Jordan also sought to stress that work on Metro staff's recommendations is far from over.
"This is not the answer," Jordan said of the recommendations. "It's supposed to frame the questions that policy makers are elected to deal with."
Jordan's comments came Thursday at a joint meeting of the Westside Economic Alliance and the Clackamas County Business Alliance, as Metro continues to collect feedback on the recommendations report, "Making the Greatest Place: Strategies for a sustainable and prosperous region." The report encourages channeling most growth inside the existing urban growth boundary, investing in repairing and maintaining existing buildings and infrastructure, and holding Metro and its local government partners accountable for the goals they put in place for themselves and the region.
Though the meeting gathered business leaders from the south and west of the metropolitan area, Jordan's introductory comments also targeted the more than 20 elected officials in attendance, including Metro Councilors Rex Burkholder, Carlotta Collette, Kathryn Harrington and Carl Hosticka. The crowd of more than 180 also included several county commissioners, local mayors and city councilors.
Questions from the audience varied, asking Jordan to tackle topics ranging from taxes to affordable housing. Jordan also fielded a question about removing land from the urban growth boundary if it wasn't needed. He said it would be extremely hard to remove land from the boundary after investors have already bought that land expecting that it would be developed.
Investment was also a key theme, especially considering Metro itself has little to spend on public projects. Jordan said public investment doesn't just mean Metro's own investments, but the investments of all regional governments.
"When I say 'we', it's we with a capital W," Jordan said "There are several billion dollars being spent in this region at the local level every year on public investment."
But those billions need to be spent wisely and collaboratively, he said. Throughout the question and answer session, Jordan stressed the need for collaboration between cities, counties, regional government and the private sector.
"Almost nothing we do is in a vacuum," he said.
Russ Dondero, a political science professor at Pacific University, asked Jordan how affordable housing fit into the recommendations, adding that limiting expansion of the urban growth boundary will raise property values inside the boundary and make housing less affordable. Jordan said there will always be a need for some subsidized housing, but added that reducing personal transportation costs with better access to bike lanes and public transit could allow people to spend more on housing and live closer to where they work.
Portland State University vice provost Mike Burton, who served for eight years as Metro's Executive Officer, wanted to know how freight transportation fit into the recommendations. Again, Jordan said increasing commuting options like bike lanes or light rail will reduce strain on the region's highways and interstates, making them for available for truck traffic to move products throughout the region.
Former Washington County Commissioner Delna Jones wanted Jordan to get specific on how Metro planned to attract business investment in the region.
"What in this document shows that we have the way to encourage private investment, which is the only way we will raise the median income level?" Jones asked.
"I think the relationship between public investment and private investment fundamentally needs to change," Jordan said, though he did not go into specifics. He said governments used to build infrastructure and just hope that private investors would show up. Now, governments need to ask investors what public projects are needed to make for profitable investments, he said.
A written question addressed the issue of sprawl, saying cities that neighbor the metropolitan area are growing quickly. Jordan said that growth underscores the need to invest in providing more room to grow within the urban growth boundary. Without that investment, the population growth will spill outside boundary.
"The market is not going to recognize that line on the map," Jordan said.
– by Sean Breslin, Metro staff