Jockeying for reserve land begins

Regional plan could chart development in Forest Grove and Cornelius for years

By Steve Law

The Forest Grove News-Times, Jun 18, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

Chase Allgood / News-Times

Richard Meyer, Cornelius director of development and operations, stands at the city’s northern Urban Growth Boundary, where the sidewalk abruptly ends.

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Metro released a map last week showing potential land in the tri-county area for future urbanization or preservation.

Now the jockeying can begin.

The map’s release was an early step in a two-year process to designate urban and rural reserves outside the region’s Urban Growth Boundary. The boundary is an invisible line around the urban area that prevents sprawl and protects farm and forest lands from development.

Next Thursday, residents will weigh in on the map and the process at an open house in Forest Grove.

The stakes are high for Forest Grove and Cornelius, the only two Metro cities west of Hillsboro.

Forest Grove’s Urban Growth Boundary has been largely static since the city joined Metro in 1978, and planners are excited at the prospect of setting a new course.

Over the past four years, Cornelius officials had two bids for more land shut down by the Metro council. The last denial left some city councilors wondering if seceding from the regional planning authority might be a good idea.

As the regional government, Metro is obliged to provide enough land inside the Urban Growth boundary to accommodate population growth for the next 20 years. But every five years or so, when Metro reviews the boundary, considerable anxiety and lobbying about which rural lands might be chosen for development are provoked.

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