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In one of his last official duties as Metro’s Executive Officer, Mike Burton made his final urban growth boundary recommendation Tuesday to Metro Council’s Community Planning Committee.
Burton made two recommendations earlier this year. This third recommendation is his last to Metro Council, which will make the final UGB decision in December.
Based on information he has received from the region’s cities and Metro’s advisory committees over the past several months, Burton’s final UGB recommendation includes additional land for parks and schools inside the urban area.
“Local officials from throughout the region clearly want more land set aside for future parks and schools,” said Burton.
The Metro Policy Advisory Committee also recommended that more acreage be dedicated for schools and parks.
Burton concurred with MPAC’s recommendation of adding 200 acres for schools and 1,200 acres for parks.
Acreage in the Boring area, which Burton originally recommended, was not included in this recommendation. He believes that further study of the area is necessary for proper planning. Burton also eliminated a portion of an area in Oregon City at the city’s request.
Burton said that increasing land inside the UGB used for schools and parks, plus his recommended eliminations, require the UGB to expand more than he had originally recommended to accommodate needs for housing and jobs.
To provide for residential units, Burton has recommended the Stafford Basin be brought into the UGB. This area includes about 10,000 acres located east of Interstate 5 and north of Interstate 205. Portions of the area lie in Tualatin, Lake Oswego, Rosemont and West Linn.
“Clackamas County wants a long-term plan for that area,” said Burton.
Burton believes one portion of the Stafford Basin area could be used as a new town center and another portion could assist in the completion of the West Linn town center.
Burton’s recommendation includes about 200 additional acres for housing near Sherwood and approximately 350 housing acres in the Bethany area, which is north of U.S. Highway 26 in Washington County.
Additional employment land in Burton’s latest recommendation includes areas east of Highway 26 to support Gresham’s Springwater development, 166 acres in the Stafford Basin area, portions west of Tualatin and land near the city of Cornelius, which Burton proposes be planned with adjacent farmland in mind.
The executive officer’s final recommendation brings his total UGB recommendation to 21,506 acres for future residential development and 2,778 acres for new jobs.
Those numbers slightly exceed the region’s need for housing but fall short on employment land needs by about 1,500 acres.
That employment land shortage was about 2,500 acres after Burton’s last recommendation in early October, but is now less because the council passed an amendment last month that restricted the poaching of industrial land for commercial purposes, thereby reducing the amount of industrial land the region will need over the next 20 years.
Meeting that 1,500 acres of employment land shortfall, Burton said, is a task left up to the council, who must send a final UGB decision to the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development by the end of December.
“A lot of these things I would prefer not to be recommending,” added Burton, who advocated for comprehensive planning of large areas rather than snippets of land here and there around the boundary.
A lack of sense in some areas of state law make Metro’s UGB decisions very difficult, said Burton.
“Our artificial benchmark of calculating a 20-year land supply every five years is not only insignificant, it’s an insult to this wonderful place,” he said.
Burton challenged the council to take up the task of outlining a new legislative strategy to help Metro develop the region while protecting its natural resources.
“The strategy should be ready to go for the first legislative session in January,” challenged Burton.
Council Presiding Officer Carl Hosticka agreed that the legal land-use system needs reform.
“(The legal system) forces us to know things we really don’t know,” he said.
Hosticka advocates a conservative approach to changing the system, acting cautiously so nothing is done that can’t be undone.
Burton’s position as executive officer has been eliminated and he will leave Metro in January. David Bragdon, Metro councilor, won the seat of Metro president on Tuesday over challenger Kate Schiele. The new office of Metro president was formed to combine the agency’s legislative and executive leadership into one position.