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A Thriving Cities Alliance is being formed to promote quality economic and community development in the Portland metropolitan region. To thrive, our cities must become ready for greater community and economic development within their existing growth boundaries.

Greater development readiness requires all stakeholders to share a consensus regarding desired development that will: 1, generate job growth; 2, adequately protect and enhance quality of life; 3, preserve our environmental assets; and 4, reflect our social and cultural values. Such a consensus requires all interests – government, business, civic, community and environmental – to work collaboratively to develop plans, processes, policies and practices that ensure each city’s development approach enhances the local and regional quality of life.

This alliance started from two converging sources: The local leadership of both the Urban Land Institute and the Community Investment Initiative serendipitously saw this need and have been working in recent years to find the best means to regional improvement.

The ULI and CII are convening the alliance as a collaborative partnership of civic, environmental, business and development organizations committed to promoting smart growth and quality of life in the greater Portland metropolitan region.

While there are many alliance supporters, the key members who will direct the alliance are nearly complete. In addition to the ULI and the CII, directing members include Portland State University, Metro, the Port of Portland and 1000 Friends of Oregon. The following organizations have been invited and are nearing completion of their board approval process: the Home Builders Association of Metro Portland, the American Planning Association’s Oregon chapter, the American Institute of Architects’ Portland chapter, and NAIOP’s Oregon chapter. If any of these elect not to participate, then a substitute organization may be selected.

The initial focus of the alliance is continued implementation of the Development Readiness Communities pilot program on a regional basis. The alliance will provide low-cost technical advisory services of the highest caliber to willing local jurisdictions to diagnose their strengths and opportunities to enhance their community development plans, and develop a program to continually improve their development readiness. Over time, the alliance expects to undertake additional initiatives to fully achieve the vision of a thriving regional economy.

Development readiness is intended to mean that jurisdictions will accommodate development in an efficient and predictable manner, consistent with their needs for economic vitality, environmental protection and community livability. Development readiness is not defined as a pass/fail diagnosis, but rather an assessment of a continuum of factors that impact development actions. This program does not promote a single growth strategy, but is intended to assist each jurisdiction to find and promote its own vision within the context of the region’s future growth plans.

While alliance members are a diverse group who will sometimes disagree on issues, a thriving region depends on these members engaging in a positive dialogue that finds areas of common ground and aligned interests, and that fosters unity and nonpartisan solutions to our regional development impediments (and there are many). Too often these impediments result in missed opportunities for quality economic and community development in the Portland metropolitan region.

The alliance’s goals are to:

• Improve city readiness for quality new development, infill and industrial development;

• Encourage mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly and transit-oriented development projects;

• Ensure there is a sufficient supply of shovel-ready industrial land for new and expanding businesses;

• Promote housing and transportation choices for a range of incomes throughout the region within existing growth boundaries;

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by supporting land use patterns that require fewer car trips;

• Respect and conserve significant environmental, cultural and recreational resources;

• Support infrastructure investments that revitalize cities.

To achieve these goals, the alliance will administer the development readiness program as created by the CII in its pilot project with Oregon City. Washington County and Hillsboro city officials have recently expressed interest in being the next jurisdictions to use this program. The program will be nimble enough to respond to different conditions and needs in each jurisdiction and be able to change the design of the program as needed by each jurisdiction.

The program requires the right people in each jurisdiction to engage at the right level, developing a shared vision of the outcomes and developing a plan of action that works for each jurisdiction to ensure the ongoing positive impact of the program. ULI staff and alliance partners will proactively engage other jurisdictions to participate in the program, but in no circumstance will it proceed without their explicit support. The alliance will engage consultants to deliver technical assistance on an as-needed basis.

Over time, the alliance expects to expand its programmatic activities consistent with its mission and as resources allow. The type and nature of these activities will be determined in the future based on needs of the region.

We are planning a TCA kickoff program on Feb. 5, 2014, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., so stay tuned for the detailed program announcement to learn all the details about this new alliance organization and its work plans.

Gene Grant is a partner in the Portland office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. He formerly was co-chairman of the firm’s real estate and land-use group. Contact him at 503-778-5427 or [email protected].