Metro Councilor Rod Park and communications manager Patty Unfred meet with the Gresham Chamber of Commerce. If Metro wants to encourage growth in already-developed areas, they're going to have to encourage entrepreneurs in those places.
That was the message Wednesday from members of the Gresham Chamber of Commerce's Government Affairs Council, as Metro councilors and staff continue to seek community feedback on Metro staff's long-term growth plans.
"The focus needs to be first on getting some new business activity," said Dwight Unti, chair of the government affairs council. Lila Feathers-Fitz echoed Unti's sentiments, saying policies "need to bring entrepreneurship back to Oregon."
The meeting in Gresham gave members of the chamber a look at Metro chief operating officer Michael Jordan's growth 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.
Unti said he liked the ideas expressed in the report, especially getting the most out of existing infrastructure. Still, he remained skeptical about how Metro will successfully encourage redevelopment in already urbanized areas. Redevelopment is difficult and expensive, Unti said, and past incentives haven't gone far enough.
"There's a sense that all you have to do is give developers this much incentive and it'll all be OK," Unti said.
Metro Councilor Rod Park agreed that incentives need to be in place, but also said that if Metro gave incentives to developers who wanted to build in urban areas, they'd face criticism from those who wanted to develop green fields in rural areas. Unti responded by saying regional and local governments need to figure out what's most important to them.
"You're going to get those arguments, but as a community you're going to have to decide what your priorities are and you incent those priorities," Unti said.
Though Unti expressed his concerns to Park, he reserved some of his strongest criticism for local governments, which he said often unwittingly discourage development. Development fees that must be paid upfront can scare off developers, he said, and cities don't want to waive them because they need the revenue. But rather than doing away with fees, Unti suggested the fees could be paid over time.
"Somehow we just have to lower the front-end barrier," Unti said. "There are more efficient ways for these projects to be approved."
Carol Nielsen-Hood agreed: "It'll make itself up, it'll just take a bit to do it."
Joan Albertson also asked Councilor Park about how schools fit into Metro's growth plan. Park said schools typically are built on the cheapest land, which is often industrial land. That creates problems because then students need to be bussed across town to get to school, and communities don't get revenue from land that should be used for employment and industry. Schools should ideally be located in residential areas, he said. That way, students can walk or ride their bikes to school, and residents can easily use playgrounds or other facilities when school isn't in session.
- by Sean Breslin, Metro staff