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Metro is preparing to seek new authority from the Oregon Legislature to consider changes to urban growth boundaries outside of the usual six-year cycle.

The Portland-based regional planning agency has convened a task force that is examining how to structure a new process for UGB adjustments.

Metro is pitching the changes as a necessary correction to an overly rigid process for expanding growth boundaries. But any change to Oregon’s UGB system promises to be politically charged, with municipalities, homebuilders, developers and conservationists defending their interests.

Metro wants to allow up to 900 acres to be added to UGBs outside of the usual six-year cycle.

鈥淭he (Metro) Council wants the flexibility to respond to modest requests from cities,鈥� said John Williams, Metro’s deputy director of planning and development.

Under current law, the Metro Council lacks sufficient flexibility to respond to city requests for modest residential UGB adjustments tapping into urban reserves when cities demonstrate that they can govern the area and finance infrastructure, Metro says in a task force document.

Metro is next scheduled to undergo a wholesale re-evaluation of the UGB in 2018.

The task force is wading through sticky issues, including a swap concept whereby a city could add land from outside an UGB in exchange for creating land reserves inside it. The task force, which met Sept. 21, includes representatives of Wilsonville, Forest Grove, Happy Valley, Portland, Multnomah County and the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland.

The aim of the land swap process is to remove so-called 鈥渘onperforming鈥� areas 鈥� tracts that, for one reason or another, have resisted development 鈥� from inside the growth boundary in exchange for land with development potential.

Municipal representatives were wary of how a swap would work. In a letter to the task force, a Home Builders Association representative said there are 鈥渟ignificant political and legal challenges toward implementing a swap.鈥�

Some stakeholders expressed concern about the idea of Metro removing land from within growth boundaries. Sherwood Mayor Krisanna Clark wrote in a letter that Metro should have a 鈥渉igh bar for a UGB exchange to ensure areas being exchanged truly are not suitable for immediate development and were brought into the UGB in error.鈥�

Williams sought to ease those concerns.

鈥淚 don’t foresee a scenario in which Metro takes back something,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t would be a collaborative conversation.鈥�

The idea warrants careful examination, Metro Council member Carlotta Collette said.

鈥淚t’s big, and it needs some vetting,鈥� she said.

The task force came out of the aftermath of Metro’s decision in November 2015 to not expand the Portland area’s urban growth boundary. Metro said the area has plenty of land to accommodate the growth foreseen for the next 20 years, disappointing local planners and builders who were hoping for new areas to develop.

鈥淥bviously, I think some tweaks are necessary,鈥� said John Ludlow, chairman of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners. 鈥淵ou looked at the disappointment around the region when the report came out.鈥�

Ludlow pointed to historic rises in housing costs in the county, saying more units are the sensible solution.

鈥淢ore supply means less price 鈥� it’s a fact,鈥� he said.

Metro vowed to undergo another UGB review in 2018, three years sooner than required by law.

Metro should proceed with the process, Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis said.

鈥淚 don’t disagree that this is going to take some time,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut if not now, when? If we stop, we’ll be back here again two years from now.鈥�

The off-cycle UGB adjustment process could benefit cities such as Wilsonville, Happy Valley and Sherwood.

Sherwood officials are looking to bring in portions of an area known as Sherwood West. The 1,291-acre site is classified as an urban reserve.

Sherwood would likely move forward with annexation of a portion of the Sherwood West site, where land is buildable and the fewest obstacles exist, planning manager Brad Kilby said.

鈥淲e would be looking at the low-hanging fruit, where property owners have indicated they’re willing to go into the boundary, and where we’re willing to provide an orderly and efficient extension of services,鈥� he said.

The city is moving ahead on Sherwood West even after local voters repeatedly rejected annexation requests of areas brought inside the UGB in 2002. Three times, voters have turned down growth boundary expansions.

鈥淲e have to grow,鈥� Kilby said. 鈥淲e can’t just stop planning. We have to continue to plan for growth. There’s an old adage: Cities that don’t grow, die.鈥�

Wilsonville also could benefit. The city has sought to persuade Metro to bring portions of the Frog Pond area inside the growth boundary.

鈥淲ilsonville was kind of the poster child of a place that met a lot of good planning criteria,鈥� Metro Council President Tom Hughes said.

Wilsonville has been lobbying to add Frog Pond inside the UGB since before 2010, Planning Director Chris Neamtzu said.

鈥淭hat’s a long time to wait for 280 acres to come into an urban growth boundary,鈥� he said.

The push came out of discussions of the Metropolitan Mayors Consortium, a group of Portland-area mayors. After several UGB decisions adverse for development, most notably last year’s decision to add nothing, growth advocates are encouraged.

鈥淚t’s incredible that the Metro Council has been highly responsive to the more recent concerns,鈥� Neamtzu said.

An unresolved question is how much land would fulfill the task force’s goal of adding 鈥渕odest鈥� tracts of land inside growth boundaries. It has to be large enough to be worth developing, but not so vast that it undermines the more in-depth six year growth-boundary reviews, task force members said.

鈥淪omething like 500 acres a year we think is a reasonable number,鈥� said Jeff Smith, vice president and treasurer of the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland and president of J.T. Smith Cos. in Lake Oswego, a homebuilder and developer.

A draft task force document pegs the limit for off-cycle regional growth boundary expansions at 900 gross acres.

The six-year UGB cycle means builders miss economic windows, Smith said. 鈥淚t’s just too long of a cycle,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n six years, prices change so much it’s not even funny.鈥�

Rural reserves would remain off-limits to development through at least 2060.

Time is growing short for Metro to prepare a push for legislation in the 2017 Legislature, which will convene on Feb. 1.

鈥淲e’re beginning to knock against the time where we have to decide what we’re going to carry forward to the 2017 Legislature,鈥� Hughes said.

Ultimately, the Metro Council will decide what to lobby for in the Legislature.

Hughes said regardless of what Metro decides this fall, the agency will go forward with the scheduled UGB review in 2018.

Task force members are also aware that whatever they come up with must be palatable to the Oregon communities far removed from the Portland-metro area.

Forest Grove Mayor Pete Truax put it this way: 鈥淲hat works for Metro has to work for Bend, and for Astoria and for East Jesus, Oregon.鈥�