Counties split up on urban reserves talk

With discussions at an impasse, counties decide to negotiate directly with Metro over which land to keep rural

By Christian Gaston

The Beaverton Valley Times, Feb 11, 2010

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It’s not exactly what people wanted to hear.

When the “Core 4,” a group of elected officials tasked with figuring out which lands in the region should be set aside for future urban development met on Monday, it was supposed to be their big show.

And in a way, it was, but instead of agreeing on a final proposal that would put a two-year-long planning process on a countdown clock, they agreed to disagree.

The idea behind designating urban and rural reserves was to add future certainty to which areas in the region would remain “open” – for agriculture or other uses – and which would be developed for housing and industrial intentions.

At the heart of the latest disagreement were three areas that have been hotly contested throughout the process: land north of Cornelius stretching over Council Creek, the Stafford Triangle, and a piece of land on the western edge of Multnomah County.

“We are beyond close,” said Core 4 member Jeff Cogen, “we are really, really close.”

But it was clear that Cogen’s fellow Core 4 members were reaching an impasse over the last two weeks when tensions began to develop between Clackamas County Core 4 member Charlotte Lehan and Washington County’s representative Tom Brian.

Lehan felt that the Stafford Triangle should be set aside without a designation, instead of being put into an urban reserve, and she wanted Washington County to pare back its urban reserve designations.

All told, the land left up in the air (not counting the Stafford Triangle) amounts to one half of a percent of the total reserve designations, which includes 270,937 acres of rural reserves and more than 27,000 acres of urban reserves.

While the meeting didn’t result in a decision about the final acreage, it did set up a plan. Over the next two weeks, Metro and each county will hash out a plan for the remaining land and the whole trio will wind up voting the plan into effect (or not) at the end of the month.

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