2018 growth management decision
Greater Portland is growing. Are we ready? The Metro Council is considering whether to expand the urban growth boundary in 2018.
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Following over a year of conversation and public hearings and the endorsement of the Metro Policy Advisory Committee, the 2014 Urban Growth Report was officially adopted by the Metro Council as part of its 2015 growth management decision in November 2015.
The report contains several elements that helped inform that decision, including:
- forecasts for population, residential and employment growth in the Portland region through 2035
- analysis of changing trends in living and working that affect what the future of growth looks like
- assessments of how local communities are planning for growth within their own boundaries
- estimates of available land for development in the region
- discussion of key policy questions that may or may not be addressed through land supply.
The report concludes that communities in the region have enough developable land to accommodate the growth the region expects through 2035. As a result, the report states, no urban growth boundary expansion is needed in 2015.
Given the potential for changing circumstances ahead as the region climbs further out of the Great Recession, however, the council has also directed staff to update the Urban Growth Report before the end of 2018.