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A bill making its way through the Oregon House could breach a wall in the state’s urban growth boundaries.

HB 4079 would create a pilot program for two Oregon cities to enable developers to build on land adjacent to existing urban growth boundaries.

Supporters, including the Oregon Home Builders Association and affordable-housing advocates, say the bill would address a pressing need for affordable housing.

Opponents decry the legislation as a way to end-run Oregon’s urban growth boundary system, which they say has reduced sprawl and encouraged density while providing certainty to developers.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Duane Stark, R-Grants Pass. Some legislators have discussed linking the bill with others as part of a package of legislation to address affordable housing, tenant protections and inclusionary zoning.

鈥淚t has been a concern of many of us that the urban growth boundary has a connection to high land costs and rents,鈥� said Jon Chandler, chief executive of the Home Builders Association.

Chandler said policy makers won’t know if UGBs restrict development of affordable housing unless they make exceptions and see what happens.

鈥淲hat we’re trying to do with this is create a fairly modest experiment to test to see,鈥� he said.

The bill does not identify the two cities that would host the experiment. Instead, the legislation says the UGB exception areas would be nominated by local governments according to rules promulgated by the Land Conservation and Development Commission.

The legislation specifically excludes Metro-area governments 鈥� Chandler said there are 鈥渢oo many moving parts鈥� in the Portland area 鈥� as well as those in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties, and a portion of Jefferson County.

鈥淎ffordable housing might look completely different in southern Oregon than it looks on the Oregon coast, or in Eugene,鈥� Stark said.

Stark said he wrote the bill in consultation with John VanLandingham, a well-known Lane County attorney who has served on the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission, the Eugene Planning Commission and the Housing Policy Board for Lane County.

Stark said the bill is a 鈥渟mall risk,鈥� envisioning only two UGB exceptions of 50 acres each.

鈥淲e designed the bill in a way that encourages communities to be innovative,鈥� he said.

Mary Kyle McCurdy, policy director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, criticized the bill, saying it contains no definitions or requirements for affordable housing. Also, UGBs are regularly expanded with little controversy, she said, so a question is raised: Why should a loophole be created?

鈥淢ost of them are not appealed and they go through fine,鈥� she said.

McCurdy said building advocates also tend to underrate the difficulty and expense of building roads, pipes and other infrastructure outside an urban growth boundary.

鈥淲e think that would be money and energy better spent within urban growth boundaries to provide affordable housing,鈥� said McCurdy, who testified against the bill.

Metro has waded into the debate. A report on Feb. 12 looked back at UGB expansions and the resulting construction in those areas. Metro argued that UGB expansions have resulted in little affordable housing construction.

In 2011, for example, the Metro Council brought 1,062 acres of south Hillsboro into the UGB. The expansion was approved by the state Legislature in 2014. Yet not a single home has been built in the area. Metro pointed to similar results in Cornelius, Forest Grove and elsewhere.

In other cases, such as North Bethany and Wilsonville’s Villebois area, homes were built, but they did not address the affordable market.

Meanwhile, developers are building in Portland. In Metro’s coverage area, about 90 percent of housing growth has occurred within Portland’s original urban growth boundary.

鈥淲e frequently hear from a variety of different interests about the need for more land,鈥� Metro spokesman Jim Middaugh said. 鈥淲hat we’ve found, although land is an important component, it’s not a panacea. We’ve actually approved significant expansions of the urban growth boundary and not achieved the growth we’d hoped for.鈥�

Chandler called Metro’s report 鈥渄isingenuous.鈥�

鈥淢etro is cherry-picking statistics, and I’m fairly aggravated with the approach they’re taking,鈥� he said.

Chandler also cautioned that the bill targets rural Oregon, not Metro’s area.

鈥淭he state is full of cities where the urban growth boundary is 500 feet from downtown,鈥� Chandler said.

The bill has attracted a strong response through public testimony.

Russ Dondero, a Forest Grove resident and Pacific University professor emeritus who has advocated for affordable housing, called the bill a 鈥渞etreat from good land-use policy and also evidence of pandering to the developer and real estate lobby.鈥�

And the Oregon Farm Bureau said the bill doesn’t require local governments to show a need for more land to participate in the UGB pilot program.

鈥淥FB is concerned that relaxing land use laws in an attempt to facilitate housing will only result in urban sprawl into rural areas,鈥� said Mary Anne Nash, public policy counsel for the Farm Bureau.

But several affordable housing advocates backed Stark’s bill.

鈥淗B 4079 is an opportunity for a creative pilot that would help smaller communities address their lack of affordable housing,鈥� said Peter Hainley, executive director of the Community and Shelter Assistance Corp.

鈥淲hile some may say that this is an assault on the state’s strong land use system,鈥� he added, 鈥減roperly implemented it could be the answer to the need for affordable housing throughout the state.鈥�

Lincoln County Commissioner Bill Hall said a lack of affordable housing comes up often in discussions on the coast.

鈥淲e have to create incentives and remove barriers to private investment as well,鈥� he said.

The bill was assigned to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.