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After a brief detour on the traditional route to expanding an urban growth boundary, Scappoose officials are back on track.

Slightly more than 53 percent of the Scappoose voters who turned out for a special election on Tuesday voted in favor of a citizen-driven referendum that asked whether they supported a city plan to expand its urban growth boundary by 365 acres. The plan is scheduled to now go before the Columbia County Board of Commissioners. Final approval would come from the state Land Conservation and Development Commission.

The UGB expansion would include 339 acres east of the Scappoose Industrial Airpark and 26 acres on the city’s southern boundary where Old Portland Road meets U.S. Route 30. Portland developer Joe Weston is the major property owner and has plans to use the land for employment purposes and potentially for a Portland Community College satellite campus.

Details aren’t worked out completely yet, but supporters of the expansion plan 鈥� including local business groups, Mayor Scott Burge and state Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose 鈥� believe it could lead to the creation of hundreds of family-wage jobs.

This belief led a group of citizen activists, with the support of statewide land-use watchdog group , to fight the UGB expansion proposal. The group, , contended that citizens don’t support the plan, which was approved by both Scappoose’s planning commission and City Council.

The group’s main gripe with the proposal, according to one of the main opponents, Pat Zimmerman, is with claims that it would create jobs. She noted that the southern end of Scappoose has nearly 200 acres of vacant industrial land considered shovel ready and not creating jobs.

Mia Nelson, a member of 1000 Friends of Oregon, pointed to flaws in the city’s justification for expansion. Under state law, cities must prove they need land for their 20-year supply before they expand UGBs.

Nelson believes the city is relying too heavily on the figures in an economic opportunities analysis, and that statistics from the Oregon Employment Department might be more accurate.

鈥淲e recognize and commend the city of Scappoose’s efforts to plan for its future,鈥� Nelson wrote in a letter to the Columbia County Board of Commissioners. 鈥淲e support economic development, including provision of land necessary for that development, when it is based on accurate facts, and realistic future assumptions and projections, and takes into account a jurisdiction’s unique attributes.

鈥淏ut 鈥� the proposed employment growth rates are neither realistic nor based on sound factual information.鈥�

Burge agreed that jobs aren’t created from a UGB expansion directly, but added that an expansion is needed for Scappoose to be competitive in the regional economy.

鈥淚f you want to be hyper-technical 鈥� adding land to the UGB doesn’t directly create any additional jobs,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut it does indirectly help create the jobs for our future by giving companies looking for a place to (locate) more options to locate and thus helps create more jobs.

鈥淣ot adding the land guarantees no new jobs over the next 20 years and guarantees turning this land into a gravel pit and only residential development. More homes and no more jobs.鈥�

Burge added that if the land wasn’t added to the UGB, then both taxes and rates would likely rise, and less money would likely be spent on public services, which would lead to more crime.

The election resulted in 609 votes in support of the expansion, and 536 in opposition.

If the expansion plan was to receive approval from the Columbia County Board of Commissioners, it would then go before the LCDC. Also, the UGB expansion could be appealed, but none has been announced.

Even if the UGB expansion was approved, the property would need to be annexed into the city, which would require approval of voters, before development could occur.