A group of city council members from Beaverton, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, Oregon City, Gresham and West Linn will accompany Metro Councilors Robert Liberty and Kathryn Harrington along with staff from Metro and the City of Portland on a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia this weekend. Organized through the office of Metro Councilor Liberty, the field trip is intended to show best practices for creating safe, vibrant urban centers and corridors.
Metropolitan Vancouver and Portland are of similar size and growth rates, and both have a regional plan calling for focusing new growth in centers and corridors. However, Vancouver and its suburbs are much further along in developing vibrant centers and corridors with a wide variety of housing, shops and services.
"Seeing is believing. Prior trips have helped people from our region understand that centers and corridors -- if done right -- can be very livable parts of our community," Liberty said.
In addition to established communities, the tour group will have the opportunity to visit the Olympic village, a LEED certified infill development being constructed for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
For more information on centers and transit oriented development, visit www.oregonmetro.gov/centers.