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Metro is standing down from its plans to enforce punitive actions against the city of Troutdale.

Following the Troutdale city council’s adoption of land-use codes that protect water quality and wildlife habitat, the Metro Council announced it is dismissing enforcement actions against the city. Troutdale initially refused to adopt the codes, believing its existing regulations were already stringent enough.

In February, Metro councilors voted to impose economic sanctions on the city for failing to adopt Title 13 requirements. Initial sanctions could have included closing revenue streams from the Metropolitan Transportation Program, excise taxes from construction permits and money from a 2006 property tax bond measure.

Three Troutdale city councilors 鈥� Doug Daoust, Norm Thomas and Glenn White 鈥� negotiated an agreement with Metro, and Daoust said the resolution was a mix of clarification and mitigating measures. He said their discussions with Metro helped them further understand how the Title 13 requirements can be tailored to individual development projects, which provided some peace of mind.

Daoust said Metro also agreed to lower the number of trees and shrubs that will need to be replaced following development along waterways. According to Metro, Title 13 requirements are designed to allow flexibility for development, while mitigating the effects of development on sensitive habitats.

With the conflict out of the way, Daoust said city officials are looking forward to getting back to more pressing matters.

鈥淓verybody is in agreement and feeling pretty good about it,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re over and done with it and we can move on to other things.鈥�