91视频

Potential urban growth boundary expansion is coming to a head in another Oregon city.

Newberg staffers claim that an industrial land shortage soon will choke business and employment growth. So, they want to bring 132 buildable acres (260 acres total) inside the urban growth boundary to accommodate industrial use.

Agricultural and environmental advocates, meanwhile, contend that Newberg made its own decisions that created a dwindling supply of industrial land, and that numerous alternatives could accommodate growth. Opponents also maintain that the city used faulty reasoning to arrive at its conclusion that prime farmland should be added inside the UGB.

Newberg, 25 miles southwest of Portland, has 6.6 square miles within the UGB and a population of nearly 23,000 people. Barton Brierley, planning and building department director for the city, said approximately 5,000 of those people commute to jobs outside the city. Staffers would like to provide more employment opportunities in Newberg, but say few industrial parcels remain.

An expanded boundary would pave the way for new revenue sources, Brierley said.

鈥淚t will provide really needed jobs for the community 鈥� the kinds of jobs that will bring new wealth into the community as opposed to just recirculating money that is here,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 bringing new business opportunities that will help the community in every way.鈥�

Brierley said that approximately one-quarter of Newberg鈥檚 economy is based on industrial business.

Newberg鈥檚 proposal focuses on two prime farmland sites in the city鈥檚 southeast corner, near Oregon Route 219 and Northeast Wynooski and Wilsonville roads. In a report on the proposed expansion, staffers say that of 21 sites that were evaluated, only these two sites met city criteria.

The report also noted that 14 sites within the existing UGB were evaluated, and only one met the criteria. That parcel included just one acre of buildable land.

Mia Nelson, an advocate with 1000 Friends of Oregon, a land-use and environmental advocacy organization, takes issue with those findings. Not only are there numerous expansion alternatives (1000 Friends has presented the city with a compromise plan), she said, but the city chose the sites near Wynooski before conducting its analysis 鈥� and then reverse-engineered its criteria so that the land would be the only area that qualified.

鈥淯nder state law, you can鈥檛 (incorporate) farmland 鈥� unless there is no other choice,鈥� Nelson said. 鈥淭hey started with the conclusion that this is where they wanted to go. They master-planned this area even though it鈥檚 not in the city and it鈥檚 not in the UGB. They master-planned it years ago for industrial use; then they started on the analysis to prove that it was necessary.鈥�

Case in point, Nelson said, is the adoption of an ordinance in 2007 giving the city authority to enter into a development agreement with a private owner of a large swath of land outside of the UGB, just south of Wilsonville Road. The ordinance identifies the city鈥檚 intention of using the land for industrial purposes 鈥� three years before adoption of the economic opportunities analysis that justifies the UGB expansion.

Nelson said Newberg lacks industrial land now because it chose to rezone industrial acreage for residential use. According to 1000 Friends鈥� records, the city between 1999 and 2006 rezoned 222 acres of industrial land for residential development.

During this time, the city commissioned an ad hoc committee of citizens to identify the city鈥檚 land-use needs to meet projected growth by 2040. The committee recommended expanding the UGB in the southwest portion of the city, citing a need for 169 acres for industrial development.

In 2008, Newberg updated its urban reserves based on the committee鈥檚 findings, and Friends of Yamhill County appealed to the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. In 2010, the Land Conservation and Development Commission remanded the decision to the city, saying the appropriate venue was the UGB amendment process and not the urban reserves process.

Newberg has since followed that course. The most recent judgment came in December, when Yamhill County commissioners remanded the proposal to the city. Ken Friday, planning division manager for the county, said the reason for the remand was so that Newberg could update its population projections with more recent county numbers (higher than even the city鈥檚 projections), and so that it could take a second look at a potential compromise with 1000 Friends.

鈥淭he board wanted to make sure that whatever is adopted doesn鈥檛 go through a lengthy process,鈥� Friday said. 鈥淢cMinnville went through an 11-year process and it bore no fruit. So we鈥檙e making sure that if they鈥檙e adopting this that they really have identified the best options.鈥�

Friday referred to a proposed 800-acre UGB expansion in McMinnville that the Oregon Court of Appeals shut down in July 2012 after more than a decade of planning work.

Nelson acknowledges that Newberg needs industrial land. She believes 1000 Friends鈥� proposed compromise meets that need with a contiguous option, and preserves the best farmland. She said 1000 Friends is not trying to stop progress, but rather make sure it happens responsibly.

鈥淭he number one loss of prime farmland in the Willamette Valley is due to urban growth boundary expansion,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e lose more that way than any other way.鈥�

Brierley, in interviews with the Newberg Graphic newspaper, has said that 1000 Friends鈥� proposal does not make sense because it would be too scattered and place industrial development amid residential neighborhoods. He said the area the city is proposing for inclusion in the UGB came from a years-long public process and is supported by the community.

Newberg鈥檚 city council is slated to vote on the proposal Jan. 22; county commissioners will review it again on Feb. 7. Friday said he expects commissioners to approve the expansion regardless of whether a compromise is reached. At that point the issue will go before state officials.