Breaking: Metro Approves Urban Reserves Plan
UPDATE:
Council President David Bragdon releases a statement calling this a vote a “historic moment.” He goes on to write:
“Our work is not done. We need to refocus our efforts on how we can best invest in attracting more jobs and residents to our existing communities inside the urban growth boundary. Metro, local governments and the private sector need to work more strategically to invest limited public resources more wisely and encourage greater private investment in the communities we already call home.”
EARLIER:
The Metro Council put a final stamp of approval on a plan to guide growth in the region for the next 50-years. The vote was 5-2.
The plan creates 28,000 acres of urban reserves, areas outside the urban growth boundary that will be set aside for most new business and residential development.
It also preserves 272,000 acres as rural reserves, places protected as farmland and natural areas.
The broad outlines of this plan have changed little since it was introduced to the public earlier this year.
A series of public meetings, and an alternative plan offered by a coalition of farming and conservation groups had little impact. The coalition version called for 15,000 acres of urban reserves, saying that anything bigger could damage the metro area’s vibrant agriculture community.
In the end, the council decided to stay close to a plan that was drawn up by a group called the Core 4 committee. The committee was made up of a representative from the Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington county commissions. The fourth member was from the Metro council.
In order for any plan to succeed, it needs the approval of all four of these governments. So a version drawn up by their representatives was probably destined to survive all the others. Each of the counties approved their part of the agreement earlier today and on Tuesday.
