Older news articles (from 2013-2014) about issues we're following

• Threatened by Urban Growth Boundary, Helvetia farmer finds legal shield for his land
  (11/10/14) [Greg] Mecklem is the first known resident to use a federally recognized environmental land agreement to shield his property from someday being swallowed by the Urban Growth Boundary. Read more…
• For farmer Bob VanderZanden, the land use grand bargain means an impending farewell
  (4/14/14) “We've farmed here all my life,” he said, pointing to the roof that was installed on the barn the day he was born.  “I don't want to see it developed, but it ain't my choice.” Cue the land-use grand bargain, the swift-moving and unprecedented legislative process that undid, then redid, the urban and rural reserves in February.  The VanderZandens' land moved from urban reserves, or land set aside for future development, into the urban growth boundary, land available for development whenever a deal is struck. Read more…
• Washington County 'grand bargain' not evidence of land use system failure: Guest opinion
  (3/14/14) Let's be clear: This was brought about by local government failure.  Quite simply, Washington County overreached in the reserves process, designating high-quality farmland for sprawl by creating its own unjustifiable rules.  It got caught by local citizens and by the Oregon Court of Appeals.  The court condemned the use of “pseudo factors” in designating land for rural reserves. Read more…
• OP-ED: Back to the future: the Metro reserves decision
  By Edward Sullivan and Carrie Richter
  (3/10/14) Finally, neither the reserves process nor the court's decision demonstrates that the Oregon land use system is “broken,” as improvidently characterized by a local newspaper.  The failures were the products of bullheaded pride. Read more…
• Rep. Brian Clem's bold land-use claim: Is he right? PolitiFact Oregon
  (3/7/14) “This reserves effort is a big deal,” he told reporters on Feb. 28, 2014.  “We've never tried this before -- beyond that five-, six-year cycle, what it should look like for 50 years.”  Read more…
• Land-use 'grand bargain' heading to governor's desk, but Oregon growth debate far from settled
  Note: the print edition's front-page headline was “Senators: Land system broken”.
  (3/4/14) Oregon senators unanimously approved a land-use “grand bargain” Tuesday, settling a growth debate in the Portland area while teeing up a broader debate about the statewide land-use laws. … The bill's affects [sic] were limited to Washington County and was crafted specifically to keep the door closed on future Legislative intervention in local land use decisions. Read more…
• Listen as Carl Wolfson and John Platt discuss Save Helvetia and the Court's ruling
  (3/3/14) John is Carl's guest as they discuss the recent Court ruling and the "Grand Bargain".  The segment begins at 61:35 into the program. Listen
• As land-use 'grand bargain' moves quickly, questions remain about precedent and public involvement
  (3/3/14) A court decision released days after their initial criticism unraveled years of land-use planning, remanding the county's urban and rural reserves designs and throwing the next 50 years of growth into limbo.  And that, Washington County officials said, changed everything. … The people in the “grand bargain” room two weekends ago don't wholly represent the public, which was part of the reserves process, said attorney Carrie Richter, who represented Save Helvetia and others in appealing the reserves decision.  Though the negotiations ultimately went Helvetia's way, the idea of legislating what should be a local process and doing so privately concerns Richter. Read more…
• Believe it or not the system can work
  (3/1/14) In an era when government is often grid locked and acrimony is intense, it is reassuring to see an example of our checks and balances system here in Oregon actually work on an issue that is highly divisive, land use planning. Read more…
• Land use 'grand bargain': A triumph of pragmatism over process (editorial)
  (2/27/14) The so-called “grand bargain” that would resolve metro area land-use disputes amongst farmers, developers, environmentalists and local government officials is moving forward in the Oregon Legislature.  The legislative fix that many feared and now nearly everyone embraces passed out of a House committee Thursday, Feb. 17, still needing approval from the House and Senate before landing on the governor's desk for signature. Read more…
• Land use 'grand bargain' headed for vote in Oregon House
  (2/27/14) Lawmakers sent what's been called a land use “grand bargain” to the House floor for a vote Thursday, bringing weeks of negotiations over the package to a close.  House Bill 4078 would set urban and rural reserves and expand the Urban Growth Boundary in Washington County, as well as direct Metro to review the UGB every 6 years and other small changes to laws governing local growth plans. Read more…
• The Legislature should help the metro region in land-use planning: Editorial
  (2/25/14) A Sunday meeting to hammer out the amendments comprised several mayors, county commissioners, developers and conservationists – among them those that had sued to protect the Helvetia land – and ended with everyone signing a consensus agreement.  Before the court made its decision last Thursday, legislative intervention in the region's land-use process was feared widely as potentially meddlesome and damaging to complex and nuanced work already completed by local elected officials with extensive local input.  But the court's decision is that uncommon wrecking ball: a stunning blow that shows the price of continuing a faulty process could impede Washington County's development for years. Read more…
• Metro Supports Legislative Deal To Change Long-Term Growth Map
  (2/25/14) A few weeks ago, legislators worked up changes to the reserves' map - a move that Metro councilors opposed, at first.  Then, the Appeals Court ruled and blew big holes in the approved map, finding fault with how counties identified areas for growth or conservation.  “The court decision changed everybody's attitude about the value of holding out, of not compromising, basically,” said Metro president Tom Hughes. Read more…
• Clackamas County commissioners oppose land use 'grand bargain'
  (2/25/14) The Clackamas County commissioners oppose an amendment to the land use “grand bargain” that is expected to move quickly through the Oregon Legislature this week.  The commissioners think the amendment to House Bill 4078 favors Washington County at the expense of Clackamas County… Read more…
• Once and future chairmen put votes before facts on Washington County farmland (guest opinion)
  (2/24/14) On Nov. 1, 2010, when Andy Duyck emailed Tom Brian saying his “inclination was not to roll over on this one,” Tom McCall may have rolled over in his grave. … Duyck's email began a fast-paced effort by the once and future chairmen to garner the votes that were reversed by the Oregon Court of Appeals last week. Read more…
• Reactions to Oregon land-use 'grand bargain' largely positive, with some dissent
  (2/24/14) “The public process, in my opinion, was broken and broken badly,” [Washington County Chairman Andy] Duyck said.  “As long as litigation is a strategy, the public process is broken.” Read more…
• Hillsboro Mayor Jerry Willey: weekend meetings yielded land-use 'grand bargain' that would work
  (2/24/14) The weekend negotiations were spurred by a court ruling last Thursday that said Washington County had relied on “pseudo factors” when designating rural reserves in 2010, part of Metro's urban and rural reserves process. Read more…
• Oregon lawmakers ink land use 'grand bargain' with developers, conservationists
  (2/24/14) Clem hopes to have the plan worked up into an amendment to House Bill 4078 by Tuesday. Read more…
• Agreement reached in regional land use dispute
  (2/23/14) A breakthrough in the so-called grand land use bargain was reached Sunday after days of intense negotiations involving state and local officials, conservationists, and farmers. Read more…
• Land-use debate heats up in Salem
  (2/21/14) Washington County officials and land-use watchdogs headed to Salem on Friday to talk to legislators about how to respond to Thursday's Oregon Court of Appeals decision rejecting the designation of Portland-area urban and rural reserves. Read more…
• Land use ruling discussed on OPB's “Think Out Loud”
  (2/21/14) Listen to a discussion of the Court of Appeals ruling.  (The discussion begins at 5:12 into the program, and there's no way to skip forward on the web site.  We recommend downloading the file and using your MP3 player to skip directly to the discussion.) Listen • Download
• Legislators hope to nail down 'land use grand bargain' by next week
  (2/20/14) Clem hopes to have an agreement in place next week so an an amendment can be added to House Bill 4078 in time for legislative approval before the session ends in early March.  He's negotiating with conservation, development and local government representatives and says he will invite more people into the talks this week. Read more…
• Oregon Court Land Use Decision is a lesson in overreach and an opportunity for a better vision
  (2/20/14) This is a big win for the people of Washington County, and the entire state of Oregon.  It is a lesson to current county leadership that aggressive policy dictation, without meaningful citizen participation or regard for the laws of the State of Oregon, is not only a massive waste of taxpayer money and time, but it is also embarrassing and illegal. Read more…
• Surprise, elation, disappointment in response to Oregon court throwing out urban, rural reserves plan
  (2/20/14) “From our standpoint we feel we've been vindicated by the decision,” said John Platt, of the citizen group Save Helvetia, which fought against the inclusion of hundreds of acres of farmland north of Highway 26 in the reserves plan. Read more…
• Oregon Lawmakers Organize Meeting To Settle Disputes Over Urban, Rural Reserves
  (2/20/14) Representative Brian Clem helped design a so-called “land-use grand bargain” bill that he says would “resolve 90-plus percent of the angst around what led to the lawsuits.”  Most notably, it would address conflicts over development in the rural Helvetia community west of Portland.  He says the court ruling has motivated stakeholders to consider a settlement, and that his bill could help pave the way. Read more…
• Legislator: Court land-use ruling means we must act
  (2/20/14) The ruling was applauded by 1000 Friends of Oregon, one of the parties that had appealed some of the designations.  Mary Kyle McCurdy, policy director for the land use watchdog organization, said the court agreed Metro erred by designating putting farmland into urban reserves in Washington County. Read more…
• Hillsboro Mayor Jerry Willey: 'no winners' in Oregon Court of Appeals growth plan remand
  (2/20/14) Hillsboro Mayor Jerry Willey said there are "no winners" in an Oregon Court of Appeals decision Thursday that effectively overturned Washington County's 50-year growth planning. Read more…
• Washington County "Troika" trouble - Duyck & Brian scheme in the dumpster!
  (2/20/14) The primary culprits who caused the court to rule against the current plan were Washington County's board of commissioners currently headed by Andy Duyck.  But the pro-developer mobilization of bias began with former Chair Tom Brian who got Metro to cave in to UGB slice and dice land swapping. Read more…
• Legal analysis: Metro Reserves Decision Issued
  (2/20/14) In a mammoth 126-page decision, complete with a table of contents, the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed and remanded decisions made by LCDC, Metro and the three urban counties of the Portland region designating urban and rural reserves establishing priorities for regional growth over the next 50 years. Read more…
• Oregon Court of Appeals says Washington County used 'pseudo' factors in ranking rural reserves
  (2/20/14) Save Helvetia and 1000 Friends of Oregon, nonprofits that had appealed Metro's land designations, sent out celebratory statements.  “Save Helvetia has been vindicated by the decision of the Court of Appeals that rejected Washington County's flawed, unlawful method for designating Foundation farmlands for urban development,” said board member John Platt.  “While the county demanded that citizens adhere to statutory standards, Washington County created their own overreaching methodology that used outdated soil reports emphasizing irrigation needs rather than water where needed in their attempt to justify development on prime farmlands.” Read more…
• Plan For Development In Portland Metro Derailed By Court Ruling
  (2/20/14) The court struck down three parts of the plan – including all the reserves proposed for Washington County. … Mary Kyle McCurdy, policy director for the advocacy group 1000 Friends of Oregon, said the ruling affirms the group's legal complaint about Washington County's proposed urban and rural reserves.  “Washington County overreached in claiming land for future development, undermining certainty for both industrial land and farmers,” she said.  “Washington County knew it was going outside of the law, and could not justify it.  As a result, they put the entire reserves map in jeopardy.” Read more…
• Oregon Court of Appeals topples 50-year growth plan, setting stage for land use debate
  (2/20/14) The Oregon Court of Appeals overturned a 50-year growth plan established by Metro and Portland-area counties Thursday, setting the stage for a debate about the state's land use system.  In the opinion, the court critiqued designations of rural and urban reserves in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties and criticized state land use regulators for approving the plan. Read more…
• In search of a happy ending for a story that should have gone much differently
  (2/19/14) The Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission also failed to scale back urban reserves.  And so, the whole reserves map went to court because of a serious failure of leadership.  The process remains bogged in the courts to this day.  Washington County, which has now even stopped pretending that developers don't own County Chair Andy Duyck lock, stock and barrel, has grown impatient.  Thus is born HB 4078, a bill in the legislature intended to subvert the court process and codify the urban and rural reserves. Read more…
• Oregon Court of Appeals to issue ruling on urban, rural reserves Thursday
  (2/19/14) The Oregon Court of Appeals is expected to rule Thursday on a court case challenging the 50-year growth plan the Portland region adopted in 2010.  What the court says about the plan could determine the outcome of a major piece of legislation Oregon lawmakers are working on that would redraw the map that local governments agreed upon. Read more…
• Oregon lawmakers release map of 'land use grand bargain'
  (2/18/14) Lawmakers looking to redraw the map of where the Portland-metro area will grow over the next 50 years released the first version of those proposed changes Tuesday. Read more…
• Land-use 'grand bargain' draws strong reactions from Washington County politicians, conservation groups
  (2/17/14) “We are generally concerned that the land-use law not be dismantled to change designations back and forth for different properties,” [Cherry] Amabisca said.  “As citizens we have followed the land-use law and the laws that are set out.  We would like not to see that process degraded because it's the only process we have.” Read more…
• Readers weigh in on land-use 'grand bargain,' Washington County officials' comments
  (2/17/14) Washington County Chair Andy Duyck and Hillsboro Mayor Jerry Willey had some harsh words for a land-use "grand bargain" that would bypass court appeals, freeing up some urban reserves in limbo while also putting Helvetia land back into rural reserves. Read more…
• Oregon Legislature's land-use gambit: Take 3 For Politics (video)
  (2/14/14) Politics reporters Christian Gaston and Harry Esteve talk about a move afoot in the Oregon Legislature to essentially override a land-use decision by Metro, the Portland area regional government. Read more…
• Hughes blasts proposal to have Legislature intervene, cut urban reserves
  (2/13/14) “We spent eight years in the process of developing the reserves bill, passing the reserves bill, studying what should go into the reserves, having the public hearings on reserves.  We spent millions of dollars,” Hughes said.  “At the end of the day these guys think they can put five special interest lobbyists in a back room with no input at all, and come up with a better solution than we did.”  Those special interests, Hughes said, are land conservation advocates like 1000 Friends of Oregon, Save Helvetia and Washington County farmers, working with developers who want to turn dirt at South Hillsboro as soon as possible. Read more…
• Land-use 'grand bargain': Metro president calls it 'outrageous'
  (2/13/14) Oregon lawmakers are floating the idea of a “land use grand bargain” that would rejigger urban and rural reserves in Washington County and clear the way for 2,000 acres of new development there.  Land use advocates reacted strongly on Thursday to lawmakers interfering with the seven-year effort to establish reserves.
  … Cherry Amabisca, a member of the land use advocacy group Save Helvetia shares Hughes concerns.  She also said Rep. Brian Clem's idea would circumvent Oregon's land use system.  “This is circumventing the entire land use law in Oregon, it sounds like that would be a concern,” she said.  “It just seems very rushed.” Read more…
• Oregon lawmakers float 'land use grand bargain' to settle urban, rural reserve debate
  (2/13/14) Oregon lawmakers are working on a major piece of legislation dubbed the “land use grand bargain” that would untie a political knot in Washington County and set the course for the Portland region's growth for the next 50 years. … At the heart of the debate is Helvetia, a picturesque region of Washington County north of U.S. 26. Read more…
• Mixed opinions of potential UGB bill overhaul at Salem hearing
  (2/5/14) A bill to address the slog of legal review of Metro area urban growth boundary expansions was proposed for a dramatic overhaul this week, less than two days into this year's short legislative session.  The bill's proposed amendments give timelines to state regulators and the Oregon Court of Appeals in their review of Metro's future urban growth boundary expansions. Read more…
• Oregon bill speeding up UGB decision draws political heat
  (2/4/14) A bill aimed at speeding up the expansion of the Portland metro area's urban growth boundary hit a political buzz saw Tuesday in its first public hearing. Read more…
• Busting the Boundary: Lawmakers look at the unprecedented step of voting on local land-use decisions
  (1/22/14) The unprecedented move to wrest authority from Metro and the courts and put it in lawmakers' hands is coming from Rep. John Davis (R-Wilsonville).  He wants legislators in the February session to declare Metro's 2011 decisions sufficient under state law, nullifying the legal challenges. Read more…
• Council undecided in first briefing on expected UGB legislation
  (1/10/14) Metro councilors were undecided Thursday about how to react to legislation that could end a legal review of a 2011 urban growth boundary expansion in Washington County. … Some speculate final legal resolution of the Metro Council's 2011 boundary expansion might not come until 2019. Read more…
• Oregon Legislature may clear way for nearly 2,000 acres of Washington County development
  (12/20/13) Nearly 2,000 acres in Washington County could be freed for development if an Oregon lawmaker gets his way. … Rep. John Davis, R-Wilsonville, is drafting a bill for the February legislative session that would clear those legal hurdles, making way for a new high school near Beaverton, among other plans. Read more…
• Intel construction in Hillsboro spawns dump truck boom, headache for some rural residents
  (4/8/13) Rather than a peaceful two-lane country road, these days, Tongue Lane feels more like Interstate 5 to Marchino and the 75 other residents in the mobile park.  A cavalcade of dump trucks shepherding soil from Intel's Ronler Acres campus and other construction projects across the county travel past Marchino's home and up to the hills of Washington County six days a week. Read more…
• Hillsboro's Helvetia Winery celebrates spring with Sechseläuten and Burning of the Böögg
  (4/2/13) More than 200 people gathered at the history-steeped Helvetia Winery last weekend for the spring festival of Sechseläuten and the "Burning of the Böögg."  The Swiss tradition, with roots dating to the Middle Ages and beyond, ushers out old man winter and welcomes spring. Read more…

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