City leaders from the western half of the region are expressing frustration with the Metro Council this week, days after the council settled on what areas to consider for an urban growth boundary expansion.
Last Thursday's Metro Council meeting was essentially the last opportunity for changes to the urban growth boundary ordinance the council will consider Oct. 20. This week's vote is likely either to support or oppose an expansion; significant changes to the plan, such as adding another area to the proposal, would push its approval back into November.
Of the 10 areas considered for an urban growth boundary expansion, three are included in the ordinance the council is considering Thursday; a portion of a fourth was added last week.
On Monday, acting Cornelius Mayor Jef Dalin and planning commission chair Sheila Griffie co-signed a letter to Gov. John Kitzhaber, asking for intervention on the urban growth boundary ordinance.
"This is not a farm vs. urban development conflict," the letter said. "It is a conflict between a Metro preference for limited growth, forcing as much development into Portland as possible and what they call a 'conservative' projection of housing and jobs need… because of the recession."
The letter said Cornelius has an immediate need for housing, schools, a new park and transit-oriented development along the Tualatin Valley Highway. Dalin and Griffie said they are optimistic that Cornelius will grow in the coming years, and the city has no room to grow.
"We simply cannot accept a decision that gives us no room to grow," Dalin wrote.
Dalin, Griffie and Cornelius development director Richard Meyer met with Metro Council President Tom Hughes and Councilor Kathryn Harrington on Tuesday afternoon. Neither Dalin nor Meyer responded to phone messages and an e-mail seeking comment.
From the Metro side, Harrington said she focused on explaining to the Cornelius representatives that many cities in the region were left off this expansion, and many others are already land-locked, with no undeveloped land around them to expand onto.
Kitzhaber's preference is to let the established process play itself out, said Richard Whitman, the governor's natural resources advisor. That means letting the Metro Council vote on the proposal before it is reviewed by the Land Conservation and Development Commission.
"For the governor to intervene at this point wouldn’t really be appropriate in terms of the process the legislature has set up," Whitman said.
In an interview last week, Harrington said a combination of factors, including the state of the economy, and a need for thorough planning for expansion areas, led to the council standing pat at a proposed 2,000-acre expansion.
The planning element was particularly important, Harrington said – not just in cities having concept plans, which will be increasingly important in future urban growth boundary reviews, but also in demonstrating that the cities are able to build infrastructure in growth areas, and that property owners are ready to work as a team to make development happen in growth areas.
Before his meeting with Cornelius officials Tuesday, Hughes said by following recommendations from the Metro Policy Advisory Committee and Metro staff, the council's options on expanding the boundary are limited.
Metro's planners and the committee suggested Metro add land for about 15,000 new homes around the region; planners at the agency said both South Hillsboro and South Cooper Mountain on the residential side, and North Hillsboro for industrial growth, were the top candidates for filling that need.
"We had a list of where we needed to go," Hughes said. "Those three additions got you there."
Whatever decision Metro makes is likely to be challenged by stakeholders and reviewed by state land use review boards, and possibly the courts; the decision to stay at 2,000 in part reflects a belief that an expansion of that size is the most legally defensible decision.
Still, the Metro Council ignored MPAC's recommendation to add industrial land near Forest Grove and Tualatin to the boundary.
"We thought we'd done everything we were supposed to do," said Forest Grove Mayor Pete Truax. "A number of Washington County mayors aren't happy with how things are shaking out."
Wilsonville Mayor Tim Knapp said he was still hoping for a last-minute change, so that 316 acres east of his city could be added to the boundary.
He said the council was overlooking transportation issues when deciding to limit the urban growth boundary expansion to areas near Hillsboro and Beaverton. Wilsonville has about the same number of jobs and residents, Knapp said, but 90 percent of workers in his city commute in from elsewhere.
"How do we avoid further taxing an already burdened transportation network unless we have workforce housing?" Knapp said. "The south I-5 corridor is already overloaded, and sometimes – not infrequently – at gridlock."
He pointed to the community of Villebois as an example of how his city can get new housing projects off the ground quickly. One of the reasons Metro has favored South Hillsboro and South Cooper Mountain is a perceived likelihood that construction of new homes will start soon.
And, he said, more homes in Wilsonville will allow for more job creation in the area.
"Metro has put the industrial lands here," he said. "We have to have housing available."
Both Hughes and Harrington stressed that cities should be focusing on the next urban growth boundary review cycle, set for 2014, by preparing concept plans similar to those presented by Hillsboro and Beaverton.
"The next go-round is only three years away," Hughes said.