Unprecedented planning, compromises, will guide public and private investments, provide certainty for farmers, governments, service providers and landowners
After more than two years of research, study and public input, Metro and the three counties in the Portland metropolitan region are nearing the end of an unprecedented process to agree on where and how our region will grow in the next several decades. Next week, the commissions of Clackamas, Washington and Multnomah counties and the Metro Council will vote on approximately 270,000 acres of land for rural reserves and 28,000 acres for urban development. The individual agreements between each county and Metro, scheduled to be adopted next week, will specify urban and rural reserve lands in each county.
Each of the counties has established agreements with Metro that outline where cities within their boundaries will grow when urban growth boundary decisions are made in the next 50 years, and where they will not - preserving the land for farms, forests and natural areas. The proposed regional maps and the legal agreements - reached after tremendous amounts of study, public input and compromise - are the basis for the land designations.
The Washington County commission is expected to adopt its final map and intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Metro on Feb. 23; Multnomah and Clackamas counties are expected to adopt their IGAs with Metro on Feb 25, and Metro will vote on all three agreements Feb. 25. In the next two to three months, the Metro Council will pass an ordinance to amend its Regional Framework Plan to designate urban reserves and the three counties will also amend their comprehensive plans to formally designate rural reserves.
The reserves process is unique in the nation - never before has a metropolitan area mapped out a decades-long plan that identifies areas for urban growth and lands that should be set aside as rural reserves.
Under Oregon's land use system, Metro maintains the urban growth boundary surrounding the Portland metropolitan area. Every five years the agency calculates how much acreage is needed to maintain a 20-year supply of land to accommodate projected population and job growth and expands the boundary if necessary to respond to that need. Once designated, urban reserves will be the focus of consideration for future urban growth boundary expansions. Rural reserves will be off limits to urban development for 50 years. Metro has already embarked on the region's next urban growth boundary decision, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Representatives of the four elected bodies who worked in consultation with their council and commissions to craft the final agreement-- the Core 4--are Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen, Washington County Chair Tom Brian, Clackamas County Commissioner Charlotte Lehan and Metro Councilor Kathryn Harrington.
Metro, the regional government that serves 1.5 million people who live in the 25 cities and three counties of the Portland metropolitan area, provides planning and other services that protect the nature and livability of our region.