Urban reserves:

Washington County leaders say far fewer acres may wind up in land bank for future city growth

By Christian Gaston

The Forest Grove News-Times, Nov 27, 2009

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Washington County leaders are now expecting that less than half of the 34,000 acres they’ve proposed to set aside for urban reserves will pass muster with the neighboring counties or the regional government Metro.

As the now years-long process to chart the region’s growth for the next 40 or 50 years is winding to a close (the county-to-county talks are set to wrap up in December), Oregon’s second-most populous county is facing pressure from without and within to pare back its land grab.

“The problem is nowhere in this process do we come right out and say these ag lands are important and we're protecting them because they are agriculture," said Commissioner Andy Duyck, whose district covers the west end of the county.

Duyck said he’d like to see more rural reserve designations focused on preserving farm land-a position held by the Washington County Farm Bureau. Those designations could lock current land use rules in place on those properties for the next half-century.

Duyck would also like the county rural designations to focus on land threatened by urbanization (like encroaching suburbs or industrial sites) – a position that Metro planners and State officials have taken.

City landscape

For the past two years, Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington Counties have developed plans for the unincorporated land that could be turned into city landscape, or locked in place over the next 50 years.

Those maps and charts went into a blender of public discussion, and are now in the hands of the "Core Four:" Washington County Chair Tom Brian, Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen, Metro Councilor Kathryn Harrington, and Clackamas County Commissioner Charlotte Lehan.

Each member must explicitly agree to a designation in order for it to survive the talks in a consensus-building process.

Whatever comes out of the core four will wind up in the hands of each county and Metro for a vote.

But at a recent Washington County Board of Commissioners retreat, Desari Strader, who represents the county's northeastern corner, including Helvetia and Cedar Hills, said she wished it could be delayed for a year. Duyck said he wouldn't mind if a delay happened.

“I said I would support you, but no one else would,” Duyck said.

“As I said from the beginning, I don’t like this process. It’s very political, it’s more based on emotions, and we wind up making winners and losers.”

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