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Community Investment Strategy

Planning and conservation  ›  Regional planning and policy  ›  Community Investment Strategy

Review recommendations aimed at creating livable communities, promoting economic development and good jobs, and protecting natural areas.

Building a sustainable, prosperous and equitable region

To protect the region's quality of life, pave the way for innovation, create new jobs and protect farms, forests and natural areas, in 2010 Metro's chief operating officer recommended the implementation of a community investment strategy to fulfill the vision of the 2040 Growth Concept and realize the aspirations of communities throughout the region.
Download the full recommendations

It is investment – by both the public and private sectors – that converts a great plan into vibrant, safe and prosperous communities. The investments the people, governments and organizations of this region have made together in everything from light rail lines and protection of open space to new housing and industrial infrastructure have been key to building the region's economy and quality of life. But to protect our region in the face of current challenges, we must take even greater and more innovative steps forward.

The recommendations were developed as a strategy to proactively address the issues raised in the 2009 assessment of the region's urban growth boundary. Some of the recommendations contained in Community Investment Strategy were adopted by the Metro Council in its decision on the capacity of the urban growth boundary in December 2010. This strategy also informed the Metro Council's decision in 2011 to make modest expansions to the urban growth boundary.
Download the 2010 growth management report below

Recommendations

Invest in safe, livable communities

The region should make the most of what we have with policy and investment actions that maintain and improve existing communities and protect the urban growth boundary. The region has limited dollars to invest and these resources should be used strategically to leverage past investments so we can build and maintain the thriving communities our growing population desires.

Promote economic development and good jobs

The region should develop and maintain an inventory of shovel-ready industrial land and target investments to create jobs and attract new employers. This will require greater coordination of local, regional and state policy and investment actions to address readiness, including improving access, extending infrastructure, cleaning up polluted sites and assembling land into larger lots.

Protect our natural areas

Our region, long a leader in protecting our natural environment, should continue to prioritize maintenance, restoration, and expansion of parks, trails and natural areas. At the same time, as a region, we must now begin to understand the implications of climate change and incorporate actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into policy and investment decisions.

Reduce inefficiency, foster innovation and demand accountability

We need to "walk our talk" by connecting our region's policy and investment actions directly to the outcomes we seek to achieve, measuring our performance, and holding ourselves accountable to achieving those outcomes. When we come up short, we need to learn from our mistakes, find innovative new solutions, break down jurisdictional boundaries and eliminate wasted effort and investments.

The cost of doing nothing

Making these critical investments is more difficult than ever in an era of limited resources, growing environmental and economic challenges, and voter distrust in government, but the results of doing nothing impacts the future of the region and the daily lives of residents: We'll spend more time in traffic, breathe more pollution, lose more farmland and lose our competitive edge to other regions. For example, by the year 2035:

• more than 11,000 acres of rural farms, forests and natural areas could be converted to urban uses
• residents of the region could be paying almost 50 percent of their income on housing and transportation
• opportunities to conserve a connected system of natural areas and recreation opportunities for people to enjoy with their families will be lost
• greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles traveling in our region could increase by 49 percent
• the region's roadways could be 106 percent more congested during the evening commute
• the cost of delay for moving freight on the region's roadways during the peak shipping period could increase by 582 percent.

Public comment report

During the late summer and early fall of 2010, Metro opened a formal public comment period on the chief operating officer recommendations for a Community Investment Strategy. A copy of the recommendations and the public comment report can be downloaded from links below.

Download the public comment report (5.2M PDF)
Download the recommendations
Review the supporting documents

Growth management assessment

The recommendations were developed as a strategy to proactively address the issues raised in the 2009 growth management assessment, which informed the Metro Council's decisions on the capacity of the urban growth boundary in December 2010 and modest expansion of the urban growth boundary in October 2011. The assessment describes the local and regional actions that have been taken or could be taken to fill the residential and large-industrial-site needs identified.

• 2010 growth management assessment (77 pages) 2.9M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
  • Appendix 1: Possible outcomes of current policies (38 pages) 1.5M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
  • Appendix 2: How public investments stimulate private development (51 pages) 1.7M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
  • Appendix 3: Local actions to achieve aspirations (30 pages) 919K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
  • Appendix 4: Illustrations of the possible impacts of public investments (11 pages) 827K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
  • Appendix 5: Focus on jobs – maintaining a competitive supply of large sites for industrial uses (8 pages) 807K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
  • Appendix 6: Requests from local jurisdictions to amend their regional design types (17 pages) 920K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
  • Appendix 7: Summary of potential infrastructure funding sources (23 pages) 1.1M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
  • Appendix 8: Preliminary analysis of potential urban growth boundary expansion areas (222 pages) 12.0M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
• Draft 2010 Capacity Ordinance and exhibits (131 pages) 3.3M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010

Related Documents

• Community Investment Strategy: Recommendations from Metro’s chief operating officer 1.7M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
• Proposed 2040 Growth Concept map update 8 1/2 X 11" 739K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
• Proposed 2040 Growth Concept map update 34 X 44" 2.8M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 10, 2010
• Jordan follows up on issues raised at Aug. 26 Westside Economic Alliance forum 230K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published October 1, 2010
• Community Investment Strategy community response 5.2M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published October 12, 2010

Related Links

2009 recommendations from Metro's chief operating officer

Review recommendations released Sept. 15, 2009, on strategies for a sustainable and prosperous region. Find out how residents responded to the recommendations.

Urban growth boundary

Metro manages the urban growth boundary for the Portland metropolitan area. Learn about this important land use planning tool for protecting rural lands and preventing sprawl.

Urban and rural reserves

Read about the unique collaborative process the region used to choose the best places for future growth, identifying lands that won't be urbanized for the next 50 years as well as areas best suited to accommodate future urban development.

Urban growth report

The urban growth report helps inform a regional vision for how and where to grow over the next 20 years.

2035 Regional Transportation Plan

Learn about the adopted update to the region's plan for a safe and reliable transportation system. View ordinances, supporting documents and other publications developed throughout this four-year effort.