Older news articles (from 2010) about the reserves process

Read current news articles

• Washington County reserves not good with Metro
  (December 15) The Washington County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night approved its retooled land reserves map, showing where urban growth can and cannot occur over the next 50 years. But the map, the county’s second shot at a land reserves proposal, doesn’t appear to be popular with regional government Metro, the next body in the process with authority to approve it.
  Cherry Amabisca, chairwoman of the conservation group Save Helvetia, said allowing development north of U.S. Route 26 will have negative effects on farming. Read more…
• Commission approves tweaked reserves plan
  (December 15) Like its predecessor, the third version proposes to replace 624 acres of urban reserves north of Cornelius, but eliminates the 28 acres north of Forest Grove from urban reserves consideration.  Program educator Mike Dahlstrom said they looked to maintain that regional amount of urban reserves lands previously recommended but removed during the regional balancing process.  The lands chosen north of 26 were the only ones suitable for urban needs for employment.
  But that’s still a large parcel of foundation farmland, said Helvetia activist Cherry Amabisca, who questioned moving forward at breakneck speed on something that won’t happen until 2011.  Changing 875 acres in less than a year is more than a minor adjustment, she said.  “Why the rush?” Amabisca said.  “Why can’t we have a more thorough review with the public?” Read more…
• Washington County scales back proposed long-term growth plan
  (December 13) The blow up occurred last week, when the county's first alternate plan met with criticism from area environmental groups, including Save Helvetia.  They blasted as a "massive land grab" the county's plan to change nearly 1,500 acres that previously had been listed as rural reserves to undesignated. Read more…
• Response chilly on reserves alternative
  (December 10) Just a month after a state development board rebuked its earlier attempt at an urban reserves plan, the Washington County Board of Commissioners received a similar chilly reception from regional planners after releasing an alternative Monday. Read more…
• Washington County commissioners to consider adoption of revised long-term growth plan at Dec. 14 meeting
  (December 8) Washington County's commissioners will consider adoption of a revised urban and rural reserves agreement with Metro at their Tuesday, December 14 meeting in Hillsboro.  Land use groups such as Save Helvetia have criticized both proposals, as well as an element of the county's revised plan, which would reclassify an additional 900 acres in the area from rural reserve to undesignated. Read more…
• Washington County: More details on the backroom dealing
  (December 7) One of the ways that politics and government manage to get such a bad rap is the notion that the big decisions with public policy often happen behind closed doors--in smoke-filled rooms with a grubby handshake, far from public oversight.  That's certainly what seems to be going on right now with the Urban and Rural Reserves for Washington County. Read more…
• Metro won't back Washington County proposal for urban reserve in Helvetia
  (December 7) "It’s a disaster," said Cherry Amabisca, a leader of the citizen group Save Helvetia, which rallied a group of citizen activists last year to the cause of preventing an urban reserve in the area.  "This is a blow to the farming community north of [Highway] 26," Amabisca said. Read more…
• Councilors say no to westside reserves idea
  (December 7) "No one on this council is supportive of the map we were sent as a draft from two of the Washington County commissioners," Metro Council President Carlotta Collette said in Tuesday's worksession.  "I'd rather take the time and make sure we get something good rather than trying to meet some arbitrary deadline." Read more…
• Statement from Metro Council President Carlotta Collette on urban and rural reserves
  (December 7) On Monday, the Metro Council received a proposal, developed by the chairman and chairman-elect of Washington County, designed to address the LCDC’s [remand] request.  The Metro Council, at its work session today, briefly discussed this proposal.  There is no support on the Metro Council for the proposed map. Read more…
• Washington County land reserves spark drama
  (December 7) A retooled proposal for urban and rural reserves in Washington County was leaked over the weekend, sparking debate between commissioners, conservationists and government agencies. … "We’re obviously not happy about this," Amabisca said. “But it doesn’t surprise us because this is how Washington County has always operated. "They make the maps and the decisions behind closed doors and then bring them out to the public with as little time as possible." Read more…
• Washington County land-use meeting generates fireworks, accusations
  (December 7) "This is nothing short of a huge land grab by the county," said Save Helvetia organizer Cherry Amabisca. "It's way overreaching." … "They have brought all of this new land into play, which is only going to drive up land prices as people figure this is the next big place to grow," Amabisca said. 
  [Washington County Commissioner Desari] Strader denied claims by groups such as Save Helvetia that the land in question constitutes some of the best farmland in the region.  "What we're talking about in this instance," she said, "are intellectual, wealthy elitists wanting to protect their McMansions." Read more…
• The Urban Reserves Memo (includes maps)
  (December 6) This article contains the complete text of the memo from Tom Hughes and Andy Duyck, along with maps and tables of the changed areas. Read more…
• Washington County suggests new urban reserves plan
  (December 6) A 625-acre area north of U.S. 26 would become a new urban reserve under a proposal being crafted by Washington County as it reacts to an October ruling by the Land Conservation and Development Commission.  Hundreds of acres of rural reserves, many of them north of the Sunset Highway, would become undesignated lands as part of the plan, which could be voted on by Washington County and the Metro Council next week.  Metro officials declined to comment on the proposal. Read more…
• Breaking: Washington County government gives constituents the finger
  (December 6) Back in October when the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development shoved back on Washington County's urban reserve designations, the problems cited with the mapping included a fundamental lack of real citizen participation in the Washington County process.  That is to say, letting citizens in on the substantive discussions and giving them real access to the decision making process.  It would appear that neither the Washington County Commission or Metro have learned from their debacle. Read more…
• Boundary off the table, but still on speakers' minds at Hillsboro hearing
  (December 3) “We’re volunteers.  We don’t get paid to do this.  Sometimes I wonder why we do this,” said Dave Vanasche, a member of the Washington County Farm Bureau.  “Farmers need more land. We don’t have a 20-year farmable supply.” Read more…
• The urban growth boundary: Drawing a sensible border twixt town and country
  (November 12) The economy of Washington County has two sides.  One is mainly for agriculture, growing a diverse mix of crops on some of the best temperate-zone farmland in the world.  The other side is dominated by the design and manufacture of high-technology products, shoes and apparel.  The combination makes the county a powerful engine for Oregon's economy.  The urban and rural reserve process was designed to strengthen both sides, designating sufficient land for long-term industrial development while protecting the best crop lands. Read more…
• County’s urban plan to get second look
  (November 5) The nearly two-year effort may now have to be put on the back burner until at least 2011, after the state Land Conservation and Development Commission ruled Oct. 29 it could not approve two of the county’s urban reserves choices west of Hillsboro.  A 624-acre parcel north of Council Creek, contentious throughout the reserves process, was rejected outright, and LCDC asked the commission to justify a second urban reserves parcel north of Forest Grove along Purdin Road. Read more…
• Oregon LCDC smacks down Washington County urban reserves
  (October 30) Finally, after two years of being railroaded and bullied by Washington County government, local citizens concerns were heard and acted on.  Certainly Washington County Commission wouldn't do it nor would Metro.  It took the full-throated force of LCDC to finally push back on what not only was an extremely terrible urban reserves map, but an even worse public process for Washington County citizens. Read more…
• State board's partial reserves remand puts UGB decision in flux
  (October 29) "I look at farmland as not just something down in the Willamette, but I believe Washington County farmland is actually a natural treasure," [Commissioner Christine Pellett] said.  "If we look in the future at climate issues, it's pretty critical land." … "I think Highway 26 makes a damn good boundary," said Commission Chair John VanLandingham.  "The farm bureau and the Oregon Department of Agriculture have raised some concerns about the northern part of 8A (the triangle), close to undesignated areas, and leapfrogging 26 to get at those for expansion.  It doesn't look very efficient to do that." Read more…
• Portland area begins to see the future with urban/rural designations by state commission
  (October 29) The question of how and where the Portland area will grow in the next 50 years is two-thirds answered.  The state Land Conservation and Development Commission approved unprecedented long-range planning for Multnomah and Clackamas counties Friday, but as expected stumbled over Washington County's contentious plan to allow urban development on prime farmland north of Council Creek near Cornelius. Read more…
• State throws out some Washington County reserves
  (October 29) The Metro region's effort to set up a land bank of urban and rural reserves for the next 40 years of growth took another surprise turn Friday, Oct. 29, when the state's Land Development and Conservation Commission toppled agreements that would have set aside farm land for future growth in Washington County.  The commission rejected a designation of acreage north of Cornelius, and sent back a reserve near Forest Grove for reconsideration.  With those 1,100 acres of urban reserve up in the air, the state also sent the county's designations of rural reserves back for revision. Read more…
• Reserves decision on hold until Oct. 29
  (October 22) The state board tasked with reviewing the region's proposed urban and rural reserves put off its decision for a week, saying it still had questions about controversial proposed urban reserves near Forest Grove, Cornelius and Hillsboro. … Brent Curtis, Washington County's planning manager, tried to make the case for the designation in more than three hours of testimony Friday morning.  After the board put off its decision, he said there's "lots and lots and lots" of material that's "really the explanation of how we connected the evidence to the requirements of the law." Read more…
• Urban and rural reserves: Oregon land-use decision delayed
  (October 22) An unprecedented attempt to designate the region's farmland, forests and areas of urban development for the next 50 years stalled Friday when a state commission questioned Washington County's justification for expanding onto prime agricultural land. Read more…
• MPAC agrees with Metro staff on industrial expansion
  (October 15) An advisory committee of regional leaders signed off Wednesday night on a plan to add 310 acres to the urban growth boundary for large lot industrial sites, turning down a request from Washington County representatives to expand by nearly four times that amount. Read more…
• Some agreement, some concerns on South Hillsboro potential
  (October 14) South of the Washington County neighborhood of Reedville is a rare piece of Oregon land, a parcel of top-tier farmland that just about everybody agrees is a good fit for development. … Some don't even want to see St. Mary's used as residential.  Land conservation advocates say Hillsboro should use South Hillsboro as an industrial site, and preserve farmland near Evergreen Parkway north of the city.  "It's fabulous flat farmland, and it should be industrial," said Clackamas County Commissioner Charlotte Lehan.  "To bring in fabulous flat farmland for big subdivisions is such a waste of the region's assets." Read more…
• State recommends approval of Portland area's long-term growth plan
  (September 28) The department considered 46 objections to the reserves designations, including from property owners who believe their land should be eligible for urban development and from farm and conservation groups who believe too much land was designated for future development.  While some of the objections made persuasive arguments and may be "close legal questions," state planners concluded that Metro and the counties considered what they were required to consider, and have adequately explained their decisions," the department said in a news release. Read more…
• State land-use staff gives thumbs-up to Metro reserves plan
  (September 28) “Designation of the reserve areas provides an important level of predictability for private and public investment, including the agricultural and forest products industries,” said Department of Land Conservation and Development Director Richard Whitman.  “On the whole, the department found that Metro and the counties designated a reasonable amount of urban reserves for a 50-year period, and properly considered the required factors in deciding where those reserves should be located.” Read more…
• Helvetia Culture Fest offers fun fundraiser to pay legal fees
  (September 16) If strange sounds emanate from the north side of U.S. 26 around Shute Road the afternoon of Sept. 26, don't worry!  It's just the long wooden Alpengluehn horns calling out the 1 p.m. opening of the family-friendly Second Helvetia Culture Fest at Accoyo Norte at Pacific Crest Alpacas, 12995 N.W. Bishop Road. Read more…
• Report says Metro should add 310 acres of jobs land north of Hillsboro
  (August 15) Metro’s staff director made two recommendations to his elected bosses on Tuesday which could help Hillsboro maintain land for potential employers.  The first was an immediate suggestion: that the Metro Council bring 310 acres of urban reserves north of Evergreen Parkway into the urban growth boundary.  The expansion, east of 268th Place and west of Birch Avenue, could grow as far west as Jackson School Road or closer to the Brookwood Parkway exit on U.S. 26 if the Metro Council decides the region needs more industrial land. Read more…
• Metro eyes Hillsboro for bringing residential, industrial land into growth boundary
  (August 10) Should regional leaders plan for a high-growth residential scenario, Jordan recommends looking most closely at adding 1,063 acres known as South Hillsboro.  Other areas for consideration: the Maplelane area east of Oregon City, the Advance area east of Wilsonville, land west of Sherwood and acreage south of Cornelius.  As for industrial land, Jordan's recommendations pinpoint 310 acres north of Hillsboro, just south of U.S. 26 and west of Brookwood Parkway.  And should policymakers want to add even more industrial land, Jordan highlighted neighboring acreage just beyond Hillsboro's existing limits. Read more…
• Council Creek still front line of the reserves fight
  (July 28) Here’s a sampling of the objections filed with the state. …
  Carol Chesarek and Cherry Amabisca - Key quote: ”There is ample evidence to support designating this property as a rural reserve for both natural features and agriculture, especially given the valuable buffer that the Rock Creek floodplain provides between urban and rural uses, and its importance in the context of the West Hills, Forest Park, and wildlife corridors.” …
  Sam Adams - Key quote: “The urban reserves process became too focused on rural land suitable for urban uses and not on efficiency measures to increase capacity inside the current UGB.” Read more…
• Forest Grove readies push for big UGB expansion
  (July 21) When Metro planners started asking around at city halls across the region about a how much land local leaders might want to bring inside the urban growth boundary near their city limits, the general response on the east side was ho-hum.  But in Washington County, city leaders were chomping at the bit to get their hands on some virgin land.  And at a recent work session of the Forest Grove City Council the plan was to go “whole hog.”  While the City Council didn’t take an official action during the work session, a consensus developed to ask Metro for a big slice of land in the urban growth boundary decisions set for December, allowing the city to potentially gobble up land between Highway 47 and Thatcher Road all the way north to Verboort, or more than half of the city’s urban reserves. Read more…
• Beaverton mayor aims for North Bethany area, asks Metro to bring the land inside growth boundary
  (July 15) "I'm a little stunned," said Washington County Commissioner Desari Strader, who represents the North Bethany area.  "I don't understand why he'd be creating, again, another battle." Read more…
• Farm agency protest could plow under land-use plan
  (July 14) Forty-five groups and individuals filed objections.  Most were no surprise.  The conservation group 1000 Friends of Oregon and the Washington County Farm Bureau, which became unlikely allies during the process, filed a joint objection saying too much farmland was designated as urban reserves.  Save Helvetia, a rural neighborhood organization whose members became quick studies by immersing themselves in the land-use process, objected to urban reserve designations as well.  Stafford residents and city officials objected to that area being urbanized. Read more…
• Consultant begins study of urban growth boundary
  (July 12) Metro moved closer this week to a decision on whether to expand the urban growth boundary, authorizing a consultant to study the development potential of about 8,000 acres on the urban edge. … Twelve of the 18 areas to be studied by Group Mackenzie are in Washington County.  An area north of Forest Grove, lands south and north of Cornelius, the St. Mary’s property near Reedville and lands north of the Evergreen industrial area are all in this initial development study. Read more…
  [Note: the Standring property (area 8B) is also one of the study areas.]
• Comment period on urban, rural reserves ends Wednesday for Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington counties
  (July 12) … Metro and the counties agreed this spring to designate 28,615 acres of urban reserves and about 267,000 acres of rural reserves.  Not everyone agreed, of course, and objections are expected.  Some Washington County officials want more land for development, while environmental and farm groups oppose urban reserve designations in Cornelius.  Some Stafford residents are upset with urban reserve designations in that area, while some residents along the Multnomah-Washington County line east of Bethany believe their area should be urban, not rural. Read more…
• North Bethany's future relies on corralling transportation money and raising new taxes and fees
  (June 26) Paying for new roads to develop the green fields of North Bethany likely will require an extraordinary financing plan that includes creation of a tax district, corralling transportation money and increased development fees passed on to homeowners. But even then, the $69 million pool of money would pay for only one quarter of the previously identified transportation needs that come with building up to 4,650 housing units on 800 acres north of U.S. 26 and Portland Community College's Rock Creek campus. Read more…
• Commissioners deny farm rule exceptions
  (June 25) Washington County Commissioners denied petitions Tuesday from two southwest county landowners Tuesday, disagreeing with claims their properties are not suitable for farming. … County Planner Anne Elvers said the soils from both properties have been rated high value farmlands.  The fact that the Leahy property operated as a Christmas tree farm for 28 years seems to defy assertions it was not suitable for agriculture, Elvers said.  Also, the state Land Use Board of Appeals has ruled that the mere presence of adjacent residences is not enough to conclude that resource lands are irreversibly committed to non-resource use. Read more…
• Reserves plan heads to LCDC
  (June 17) In addition to exposing key farm parcels to development, farmers contend Washington County inflated rural reserve acres by including acreage not threatened by development. "From our point of view, (rural reserves) should be lands under threat of development," said Jeff Stone, government relations director for the Oregon Association of Nurseries.  "That's why they need protection." Read more…
• Metro signs off on county’s revised reserve plan
  (June 17) The final vote, which split the council 5-2, was originally expected to be an non-controversial procedure when the region's three county governments and Metro signed off on an accord to set aside more than 28,000 acres as urban reserves. But Washington County leaders decided to add a 130-acre parcel of land owned by the Peterkort family to their list of urban reserves, setting off conservation groups like Save Helvetia, who objected to the zero-hour timing. … Cherry Amabisca, a leader of Save Helvetia, criticized the timing of the added land, arguing that citizens didn't get a chance to comment on the addition since it happened after the major public outreach efforts conducted by Metro and the counties in the winter. Read more…
• Metro votes 5-2 to include Peterkort parcel
  (June 15) [The proposed addition] caused some concern on the Metro board, with some councilors even suggesting its inclusion in urban reserves come in exchange for the removal of hotly contested farmland north of Cornelius.  But a series of meetings between Washington County and Metro representatives convinced the regional government leaders to add the Peterkort parcel to urban reserves.  “I would have hoped to get more concessions,” said Councilor Carlotta Collette, Clackamas County’s representative and a swing vote on the board. Read more…
• Metro approves urban and rural reserves after closed door meeting
  (June 14) Sources tell me that the Bragdon-Brian-Duyck-Collette meeting was behind closed doors, out of the view of the public.  Further, no persons in opposition to the map additions were in the meeting, allowed to present the other side.  So basically, the largest land-use mapping approval in recent history came down to a private meeting, hidden away from the public. Read more…
• Metro approves Portland-area urban reserves
  (June 11) … But the move didn’t come without a last-minute addition of a 129-acre piece of property in Washington County just north of Portland Community College’s Rock Creek Campus known as the Peterkort property.  “I have concerns about the added land because this is a very major change that is frankly coming after the bell has rung,” [Metro Councilor Rex] Burkholder said during the meeting.  “I urge my colleagues to consider this, (which) will be my reasoning for voting against it.” Read more…
• Metro Council approves historic 50-year plan for growth in Portland area
  (June 10) [Metro Councilor Carlotta] Collette last week emphasized that she wanted to vote for the larger agreement but said she was "uncomfortable" with Washington County's late request.  Her decisive swing vote essentially blocked the broader deal.  But she later met with Metro President David Bragdon, and Washington County Chairman Tom Brian and Commissioner Andy Duyck, then changed her mind.  Collette, who did not publicly explain her changed vote, said in an interview that the change will increase the success of North Bethany development.  She said that adding the Peterkort property to urban reserves will help distribute expenses for a proposed road to connect Northwest 185th Avenue with the development, where total road costs are expected to exceed $60 million. Asked whether decisions on long-term land supply should be based on transportation needs in existing urban areas, she said, "The short answer is, 'No.'" Read more…
• Cornelius might lose out if Peterkort property brought in
  (June 9) … The swing vote, Councilor Carlotta Collette, suggested an acreage swap with controversial urban reserve land north of Cornelius.  “If there is a way to take some of the Cornelius property out of urban reserves in exchange for the Peterkort property coming in, that would be, from my perspective, a tremendous regional gain,” she said. Read more…
• Washington County leaders optimistic Metro may be warming up to putting Peterkort property in urban reserves
  (June 8) Last week, there wasn't enough support from Metro policymakers to make that happen.  But Metro, the regional government, meets again Thursday, and Washington County officials said they think there may be some movement.  "We've taken advantage of the extra time," Brent Curtis, the county's planning manager, told the Washington County Board of Commissioners today.  Curtis indicated that there may be reason to think Metro will agree with Washington County, then added, "It's not over until it's over."  Said Commissioner Andy Duyck: "I think it's safe to say, whatever's decided on Thursday, they understand what's at stake." Read more…
• Metro bristles at last-minute addition of land by Washington County
  (June 3) Metro officials, who approved the [reserves] agreement in February, balked Thursday at tweaking their prized map to enable future urbanization of a 129-acre parcel north of U.S. 26 and Portland Community College's Rock Creek campus.  Washington County leaders say the land is vital to developing nearby North Bethany and want it earmarked for future growth.  All of which sets the stage for an intriguing standoff between Metro, the regional government, and Washington County.  One side is going to have to budge or the entire deal between Metro, Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties potentially could fall apart.  "I think, really, the ball is in their court and not ours," Metro Councilor Rod Park said following Thursday's meeting, which ended in a 4-2 vote rejecting the proposal. Read more…
• Metro Council split over addition to Washington County urban reserve
  (June 3) The Metro Council Thursday was evenly divided over whether to grant Washington County's request to add an additional 129-acre property north of Portland Community College's Rock Creek campus to its urban reserves.  This leaves the future of urban and rural reserves uncertain. Read more…
• Politics trump last-minute reserve tweaks
  (May 27) “The issue is, didn't everything sort of get settled in February?” [Metro Council President David] Bragdon said.  “And if not, is there some new information that we were not aware of?” Read more…
• Council receives last public testimony on urban reserves
  (May 24) Twenty-two citizens provided testimony to the Metro Council.  Many of those who testified expressed concern that large tracts of land are just now being proposed as urban reserves after more than two years of study and evaluation.  One of the newly proposed urban reserves is a 129-acre parcel of land in the North Bethany area, owned by the Peterkort family, which was previously included as a rural reserve.  Cherry Amabisca, a citizen who is a leader of the "Save Helvetia!" coalition, echoed the concerns of many others who testified relating to the expansion of urban reserves in North Bethany and the potential traffic impacts on area roads.  "If Washington County was so concerned that [the Peterkort property] is so essential, why wasn't it called out earlier?" Read more…
• County tinkers with reserves
  (May 17) Washington County Commissioners tinkered with the region’s urban reserves agreement this week, voting 4-1 to try to add to the urban reserves a 129-acre parcel along 185th Avenue near Rock Creek. Read more…
• Washington County officials want to revise agreement for urban reserves
  (May 11) Washington County leaders today identified a 130-acre parcel north of U.S. 26 for potential development that would represent the most substantial change to an agreement outlining where the region will grow during the next 40 to 50 years. Read more…
• Reserves debate not quite over
  (May 6) When the region’s elected officials signed off on a plan to designate urban and rural reserves for the next 50 years in February, it ended the fight over where landowners could build, right?  Fat chance.  Read more…
• Reserves designation due for more process
  (April 30) Landowners who came to Washington County planning commissioners asking for changes to urban reserves April 21 brought their requests before a somewhat surprised Board of County Commissioners Tuesday, who may have thought they gave final approval on the process in February.  …   Based on the requests, planning commissioners recommended changing 335 acres of rural reserve to urban reserve, all of it north of U.S. 26. Read more…
• More urban reserves?  Planning commission suggests changes
  (April 27) Washington County’s planning commission voted last Wednesday to add several properties to the urban reserves, a move that land conservation advocates called a backdoor way of adding to the urban reserves.  … [Metro Councilor Kathryn] Harrington said the time has passed for large changes to the reserves map.  “The process for deciding if a property is in urban reserves or rural reserves or left undesignated, in my personal opinion, is over,” she said.  Still, the prospect of last-minute changes bothered Cherry Amabisca, one of the organizers of the group Save Helvetia, which has fought urban reserve designations north of the Sunset Highway.  “It’s a way to chip at rural reserves and add more urban reserves without a public hearing,” she said. Read more…
• Jean Edwards: A study in urban reserve farming
  (April 23) All nine farms along Scotch Church Road banded together to testify to the Washington County Commission and Metro against having their property placed into urban reserves.  All nine of them lost those battles. Read more…
• More Washington County land-use antics
  (April 19) As I continue to explore the esoteric land-use policy of Washington County, I'm consistenly struck by what appears to be exceptionally odd decision making.  For example, in what seems to be a complete disregard for expert opinion and reasonable public policy, the Washington County Planning Commission green-lighted a zoning change at their March 17 meeting for a 58 acre parcel inside land designated for rural reserves. Read more…
• Contractor tries to subdivide Bald Peak parcel, neighbors and county staff object
  (April 16) Over the objections of Washington County's land department staff, the county's planning commission said there's no reason why a lot surrounded by 10-acre parcels shouldn't be subdivided.  "Why we are denying one person doesn't make any sense to me," said Herb Hirst, one of the planning commissioners.  "There was no real justification not to approve it."  But Mary Manseau, a commissioner who voted against the zoning change, said it was also unjustifiable for a Cornelius contractor to say the land couldn't be farmed anymore.  "Ken Leahy is not a farmer," Manseau said. "He did not buy the land to try and farm." Read more…
• Frustration over reserves spurs candidates to run
  (April 8) For Greg Mecklem, it was the final straw.  He showed up to the last in a series of meetings Washington County was holding to gather public commentary about its designation of about 13,600 acres as reserves for future urban development.  But instead of starting the meeting off by hearing from the gathered masses, Mecklem said, the county front-loaded the session with various government representatives supportive of its reserve plan. Read more…
• At ground zero in Cornelius, Dave Vanasche leads fight to preserve Washington County farmland
  (March 12) His mother's parents, the Wunderlichs, founded the farm on Susbauer Lane where Vanasche grew up and has his shop today.  His father's parents farmed a mile away.  Many farms in Washington County have similar roots, deep and old, with place names and family names that ring of northern Europe.  Helvetia, Schefflin and Verboort.  Duyck, VanDyke and Spiesschaert.  Vanderzanden and, of course, Vanasche, which is Belgian. Read more…
• Tualatin slams Metro reserves outcome
  (March 11) 1000 Friends of Oregon, in tandem with farmers and allied groups, will contest inclusion of much valuable Washington County farm land as urban reserves, said the land use watchdog group’s policy director, Mary Kyle McCurdy.  That means taking its fight to the state Land Conservation and Development Commission and, if needed, the Oregon Court of Appeals.  “We’re in it for the long haul on some of these pieces,” McCurdy said. Read more…
• Reserves designated: it’s a wrap
  (March 4) Metro, counties agree on urban and rural reserve maps, though rumblings of legal hurdles are still being voiced by opponents Read more…
• Metro signs off on reserves
  (March 4) … But the true heartburn for Metro councilors came in Washington County, where county chair Tom Brian drove a hard bargain in exchange for his county's approval for a reserves plan.  Some said the price to get Washington County on board was too high.  "This is clearly one of those moments we need to get right," said Councilor Rex Burkholder.  "During the worst economic downturn in 80 years, Oregon can't afford to be caught up in years of litigation.  We need an agreement that provides certainty for development and agriculture."  Burkholder, who was one of three councilors to vote against Washington County's reserves plan, said the county asked for too much prime farmland, and called the county's proposal flawed.  His opinion was shared by many of those who offered one minute of testimony before the board's vote. Read more…
• County takes urban reserves 'leap of faith'
  (February 26) Holding their noses, but with eyes wide open, the Washington County Board of Commissioners took a unanimous "leap of faith" Tuesday, approving an inter-governmental agreement laying out a tentative roadmap to higher-density land development in the county over the next five decades. Read more…
• Metro approves land-use blueprint for Portland-area growth
  (February 25) … The contention continued until the very end of Thursday's hearing, when the Metro Council voted on technical agreements that formally designate acreage in each county as either urban or rural reserves.  A coalition of farm and conservation groups has consistently maintained that Washington County's urban reserves include too much of the state's best farmland.  Washington County has been far more aggressive about designating land for development than the other two, and at the beginning of the process sought 34,370 acres of urban reserves for itself.  It settled for 13,567 acres, which conservationists and farmers think is far too much and development groups believe is woefully inadequate.  The reserves designations in Clackamas and Multnomah counties were approved by 7-0 votes, while Washington County's squeaked through 4-3, with Councilors Robert Liberty, Rod Park and Rex Burkholder opposed. Read more…
• Metro Council, county boards protect more than 272,100 acres of farmland and forestland
  (February 25) Prior to its adoption of the resolution, the Metro Council cast separate votes on each of its agreements with the three counties.  The agreements with Multnomah and Clackamas counties each passed on a 7-0 vote. … The agreement with Washington County was the most contentious and resulted in a divided 4-3 vote, with Councilors Rex Burkholder, Robert Liberty and Rod Park voting no. Read more…
• Metro head: Reserves bill ill-timed
  (February 25) On Monday, the Oregon Legislature pulled the plug on a bill that would have changed the way counties and Metro can use urban and rural reserves. … At the heart of the debate was land north of Council Creek near Cornelius.  Clackamas County Commissioner Charlotte Lehan put serious pressure on Washington County leaders to exclude the 600-acre area north of town, which local planners say is a vital area for industrial development. Read more…
• Metro and the Portland-area counties head to a fractured agreement on land use
  (February 24) Washington County has been far more aggressive about designating land for development than the other two, and at the beginning of the process sought 34,370 acres of urban reserves for itself.  It settled for 13,567 acres -- and some critics think that's still too much.  As a result, it's likely to be a cracked package of land-use agreements that the local governments hand off to the state for final approval later this year.  Complaints, appeals and even lawsuits may dog the review by state Land Conservation and Development Commission or, ultimately, a court. Read more…
• Legislature could try to kill reserves –
  Agriculture committee chair says repeal of reserves law could happen in 2011
  (February 23) The Oregon Legislature brought urban and rural reserves into this world.  Depending on how Metro and the three Portland-area county commissions vote this week, the Legislature could take reserves out of this world next year.  Rep. Brian Clem, D-Salem, said Monday that he might push for legislation in the 2011 legislative session to roll back all or part of the law that enabled Metro and the counties to designate urban reserves in the first place.  Clem is the chairman of the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Communities Committee. Read more…
• Urban and rural reserves battle may have barely begun
  (February 22) Later this week, Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington Counties along with Metro will vote on a 50 year plan to set aside land for potential urbanization in the region.  The process has often been contentious and difficult, pitting farmers, conservationists and local food advocates against big development interests.  Washington County has seen a surge of local activism on the matter, with hundreds of locals turning out to public meetings--often with overwhelming testimony against large expansion of urban reserves.  Especially in Washington County, the public accessibility to the process has seemed problematic. Read more…
• Metro Ready To Approve Urban Reserves Plan
  (February 22) Two years of political brawling and bargaining over where the Portland metro area will grow in the next 50-years could be settled by the end of the week.  On Thursday, the Metro Council votes on a plan to creating new urban and rural reserves in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties.  Leading up to the big show on Thursday, each of the county commissions will meet separately this week to ratify the plan. … In terms of the overall acreage, not much has changed since Metro’s Core 4 committee drew up this plan in late December.  Farming and conservation groups tried to convince Metro and other government officials to reduce the size of urban reserves in half, to about 15,000 acres.  But that effort mostly fell on deaf ears.  Save Helvetia, a grassroots group representing farmers and residents in north Washington County fared a lot better.  The original proposals from Washington County set aside 10,000 acres in the Helvetia as urban reserves.  In the proposal before Metro, that’s been pared down to 300 acres. Read more…
• Helvetia persuades planners to preserve its farmland by hewing to motto: Don't be boring
  (February 19) You don't hear a lot of yodeling at government meetings.  But last year, Helvetia residents faced a seemingly impossible task -- persuade Washington County and Hillsboro leaders to take 10,000 acres of undulating farmland off their list of land destined for urban development.  The Helvetians needed an unusual strategy.  So they sent in a yodeler. Read more…
• Councils will vote on Council Creek
  (February 19) … “It’s possible that one county, if they dislike what’s going on in the other county enough, they would vote no on their own (county’s reserves plan),” [Tom] Brian said.  “They can’t vote no on ours, but they can vote no on their own and therefore kill the entire regional program.”  For example, if Clackamas County decided to move a swath of land south of Sherwood from undesignated land, which could be urbanized if the urban reserves fill up, to rural reserve, which can’t be developed until 2050, Washington County might vote against the reserves plan. Read more…
• As the region stewed over new growth plan, Metro Councilor Carolotta Collette helped break the political deadlock
  (February 15) Kathryn Harrington, not Collette, was Metro's representative on the Core Four group that bartered the deal.  (That group was made up of reps from the Metro Council and the three metro counties.)  But among regional leaders, it was Collette, insiders say, who did some of the heaviest political lifting, not only in helping to negotiate compromises in contentious areas of the plan, but in broadening support for it among Metro Councilors.
  [Editor's note: be sure to read the comments following the article, particularly the ones by Linda Peters.] Read more…
• MPAC recommends adoption of alternative reserves map
  (February 11) Concerns were raised by several MPAC members that their committee's recommendations were not discussed by the Core 4 at its Feb. 8 meeting, and that MPAC's recommendations may have been ignored in the development of the final Core 4 consensus map.  …  Clackamas County Commissioner Charlotte Lehan, who serves on both MPAC and the Core 4, shared her perspective on the discussion at the Core 4 meeting.  "People were so eager to go home and declare victory," she said.  "I felt like I was the wet blanket on Monday, saying that we had not come to agreement on many levels."  Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz expressed similar disappointment.  "I would like some communication [from Core 4] back to MPAC on why our views were not discussed." Read more…
• Counties split up on urban reserves talk
  (February 11) With discussions at an impasse, counties decide to negotiate directly with Metro over which land to keep rural.  Read more…
• Reserves process shifts from Core 4 to counties
  (February 9) … The urban reserves number was still a concern for Clackamas County’s Core 4 representative, Commissioner Charlotte Lehan.  “There’s a lot of things that give me heartburn, and one of those is the total amount of acres,” Lehan said.  “Part of my concern is that we have not seriously considered some of the recommendations coming from MPAC.”  …  With that committee strongly opposing expansion north of Council Creek and also opposing a swath of undesignated land north of U.S. 26 and west of Helvetia Road, it remains to be seen whether a majority of the Metro Council would vote to ignore those recommendations. Read more…
• Metro and 3 Portland counties approve urban expansion, farm protections
  (February 8) … The counties now will work individually with Metro to designate the option areas by the end of February.  However, the process could still fall apart if, for example, Clackamas County opposes the deal Washington County strikes with Metro.  "It's still possible to snap defeat out of the jaws of victory," as Washington County Commissioner Tom Brian put it. Read more…
• Paging four leaders to create a win on growth
  (February 5) In the Portland region, it's almost eerie to contemplate how much depends, right now, on a big decision resting on four sets of shoulders.  Four regional representatives, dubbed the "Core 4," have agreed to play a historic role in shaping the land-use destiny of the Willamette Valley.  But it's also true that they could fail -- and fail spectacularly -- as soon as Monday.  …  A consensus process is always hostage to the intransigence of a single individual.  In effect, any one person in this foursome could hold out for some kind of self-defined perfection and thereby trigger the collapse of the reserves process and invalidate the years -- thousands of hours of work, testimony and debate -- that have gone into it. Read more…
• Hillsboro moves closer to reserves
  (February 5) Washington County elected officials faced a grilling from their eastside counterparts Monday night as Hillsboro, Beaverton and Cornelius pitched their proposals for urban reserves.  A tag team of Portland Mayor Sam Adams, Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, Lake Oswego Mayor Jack Hoffman and Clackamas County Commissioner Charlotte Lehan presented a gantlet of questions for Washington County’s cities, who want to grow in the next 50 years but can only do so on the top-quality farmland that surrounds their limits.  … But Hillsboro’s original request also included a large swath of residential land near Helvetia, a request that was fought back by fierce community opposition from residents of the area. Read more…
• Food at stake?
  (February 2) …land conservation advocates have painted a bleak picture of Oregon’s food future if the more liberal urban reserves plan, proposed by Metro Council President David Bragdon and Councilor Carl Hosticka, is adopted.  While the Bragdon-Hosticka plan would only allow for urbanization of 3 percent of the top-tier farmland around the region in the next 50 years, compared to 2 percent in 40 years in the land conservation advocates’ proposal, the difference between the two in Washington County is substantial — more than 5,100 acres. Read more…
• U.S. Housing Market At Inflection Point: The “Old Normal” Will Not Be Part of Recovery
  (January 27) As the U.S. economy recovers, emerging trends in demographics and consumer behavior will become major drivers of new housing opportunities, resulting in a residential market vastly different from the one that existed prior to the recession, according to Housing in America: The Next Decade, a new research paper authored by John K. McIlwain, senior resident fellow, Urban Land Institute/J. Ronald Terwilliger Chair for Housing. Read more…
• Councilors losing their reservations
  (January 29) If the region is unable to designate urban and rural reserves by its deadline, a Wednesday night meeting at Metro will be remembered as a prime example of why the process failed.  Regional leaders negotiating the final reserves agreement asked the Metro Policy Advisory Committee to offer feedback on 11 questions about reserves, including five geographic areas the Core 4 negotiating team hadn’t reached agreement on yet. Read more…
• Farmers, conservation groups join to preserve farmland near Portland's suburbs
  (January 25) To an extent not seen since Oregon's land-use system was adopted 35 years ago, farmers in Clackamas, Multnomah and especially Washington County are siding with conservation groups and local-food activists on the issue of designating urban and rural reserves -- areas that will be developed or preserved for the next 40 to 50 years.  At public hearings across the region, plain-spoken farmers in Carhartt jackets, work boots and blue jeans are calling for compact cities, tight urban growth boundaries and strict protection of farmland.  Jim Johnson, the state Department of Agriculture's land-use specialist, said he's never seen such a collaboration of farmers and environmentalists. Read more…
• Save Helvetia tries to seal the deal
  (January 22) Advocates of preserving farmland in northern Washington County have fought back proposals to designate swaths of land north of U.S. 26 as urban reserves.  Maps showing thousands of acres of potential urban reserves are relics; the most recent proposals show a small urban reserve near a freeway interchange. Read more…
• Priced out?  Speakers at four hour reserves hearing say urban reserves drive up land prices for farmers
  (January 19) Former Forest Grove Mayor Richard Kidd said Hosticka and Bragdon's map was an acceptable plan. … But even Kidd said he felt it contained too much farmland.  He called on Metro to pull an area north of Evergreen Parkway, south of U.S. 26 and east of McKay Creek out of the urban reserves proposal.  That area had been planned by Hillsboro for industrial development. Read more…
• Farmers, nature advocates, 1000 Friends call for another cut to urban reserves proposal
  (January 15) A coalition of land conservation, natural resource and agriculture advocates released their own plan for urban reserves Monday, but some involved in the process say the proposal is coming too late in the process. … Sue Marshall, a former director for Tualatin Riverkeepers and a spokeswoman for the coalition, said she hopes the release of the map will force policymakers to justify their decisions for placing prime farmland in urban reserves. Read more…
• AmberGlen sale scrapes bottom
  (January 15) The sale provides a low-water mark in the Portland commercial real estate market and exposes deep flaws in the battered and tech-heavy Sunset Corridor submarket.  The office vacancy rate in the area was 22 percent in the fourth quarter.  [Editor's note: The article contains a chart showing that office vacancy rates in the Central city are about 1/2 that of those in the Sunset Corridor.] Read more…
• Please see this page for press coverage of the Ag/Natural Resources Coalition.
• Harrington explains reserves open houses, public hearings
  (January 11) At the open houses, interested residents can ask questions of experts in the process, view maps of proposed reserves down to the tax-lot level, submit written commentary and view computer-animated presentations showing the proposed reserves and data that goes along with the maps.  “We have a huge volume of information coming, compared just to the map that’s been posted in the last couple of weeks,” Harrington said. Read more…
• Urban Growth Boundary: Oregon Agriculture, Economy, and Managed Growth (video)
  …Oregon is among the very few states, and the Portland area, of the even fewer major metro areas, that have for decades effectively fought back the forces of development, and resisted converting ever more parcels of urban land for re-zoning to industrial and commercial use, overemployed in other places under the banner of job creation and the promise of wider economic prosperity. …  CUpS sat down with Jim Johnson, land use planner for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, to discuss the Reserves Process, how the land use laws in Oregon came into being, and what they are designed to accomplish. Read more…
• Pushing the Limits — In Oregon, radical antisprawl laws aim to save the state’s bucolic paradises.  But with land-hungry suburbs on the prowl, can these goats be saved?
  (January 5) “The planners and politicians who think Helvetia should be urbanized don’t understand operations like ours,” Lyn Jacobs says.  “And they haven’t really tried.  I think it’s easy enough for them to look at the CSAs and other small farms out here and say, Oh, you guys are just gardeners.  They look at us as hobbyists, I think.  Well, we are making more per acre here than any wheat farmer.” Read more…

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