Metro says they're all ears
Recently, Metro has said a lot about how this region should grow and develop over the next 20-50 years. Now the regional planning agency is taking time to listen.
Westside Economic Alliance committees and staff have been offering a wealth of comments and questions to Metro officials about their strategy for “Making The Greatest Place.”
Metro’s Chief Operating Officer, Michael Jordan, spoke to a crowd of about 180 people during this month’s WEA and CCBA Forum in Tualatin, and earlier this week Jordan and two Metro councilors met with WEA’s Board of Directors.
In both these meetings, Michael Jordan explained that there are three key decisions facing the Metro Council in the coming months, including the adoption of a five year Urban Growth Report, the 25 year Regional Transportation Plan, and the designation of 40-50 years of Urban and Rural Reserves.
The hottest topic, and one WEA members asked Jordan and Metro councilors closely to explain, is their planning for Urban and Rural Reserves, a process which will designate where the region will grow over the next 50 years.
Referring to written testimony WEA Executive Director Jonathan Schlueter presented to Jordan and the Metro Council, Councilor Carl Hosticka said he wants to see a strong economy with good analysis and collaboration. Councilor Kathryn Harrington agreed these designations will set the stage for future planning decisions.
WEA Board members questioned Metro’s willingness to designate enough vacant industrial parcels to attract companies to locate and create jobs here.
Carl Hosticka said, “Yes. There is a subcommittee of MPAC (Metropolitan Policy Advisory Committee) considering not only if we have them, but how to protect these sites.” Hosticka pointed to approximately 1,000 acres along Highway 26 that are in Jordan’s recommendations as Urban Reserves. He said he’s concerned about those lands staying designated for future employment sites and not diverted to other uses such as strip malls or ball fields.
In looking at the 2030 Urban Growth Report of housing and employment, Tualatin Mayor Lou Ogden pointed out Metro’s assumed infill rate of 40 percent, which is not seen as realistic based on historical experience. Jordan said our region has seen this rate of infill, but agreed not on average. Hillsboro Mayor Jerry Willey stated the average infill rate is 27 percent. Jordan said we will need to accommodate such infill to service growth, or we will have to expand the UGB. He said both cost money.
In WEA’s written testimony to Metro on October 15, Schlueter quoted Ethan Seltzer from Portland State’s Urban Studies and Planning, which is also included in Jordan’s “Making The Greatest Place” summary:
Some people want to live in the suburbs and feel strongly that their quality of life, their American dream, is a house and a yard and a fence. Others want to live in a vital city where they’re a regular at the coffee shop down the street. It’s not that one is better than the other, but it is a fact that within this region, you can choose either, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve – not that everyone chooses the same, but that people can find what they want.
Mayor Ogden said there is a real fear in his community that this process will put constraints on the region to where people are left with very few housing choices in areas they want to live in and at prices they can afford.
The designation of Urban and Rural Reserves will depend on the unanimous consent of the Core Four, a regional committee consisting of Metro Councilor Kathryn Harrington, Washington County Chairman Tom Brian, Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen, and Clackamas County Commissioner Charlotte Lehan. Their final recommendations are expected before the end of the year, with the Metro Council’s approval and adoption expected early next year.
For more information about what WEA and member companies are saying about this process see the links below: