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The city of King City, on 66 acres in the southwest corner of the Portland-metro area, was developed in 1966 as a retirement community for residents aged 55 or older. The city is bounded on the north side by two-lane Beef Bend Road, which serves as the only arterial moving traffic through King City to Oregon Route 99W. On the south side, city limits end at the Tualatin River, where diverse wildlife surroundings have resulted in the designations of several natural areas; one, the 12-acre Bankston Nature Preserve, is a short distance west of city limits. This preserve was established in 2009 through a conservation easement conveyed to the Columbia Land Trust.

In the early 2000s, the city annexed a 90-acre area that allowed for housing without age restrictions. This decision was appealed to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals and is remarkable only because it was the only appeal involving King City since 1987. Then, in 2018, the city council adopted a concept plan for Kingston Terrace to urbanize an area twice the size of the city and potentially triple its population.

Traffic modeling conducted as part of the concept plan indicated that either Beef Bend Road would need to be expanded from two lanes to five lanes, requiring condemnation along its full length, or a new east-west collector road would need to be constructed. The concept plan identified a new east-west collector road in the city鈥檚 southeastern portion as the solution. A condition attached to Metro鈥檚 decision to expand the UGB required that the city adopt its first transportation system plan (TSP). Acknowledging that this new east-west collector may have to pass through the Bankston Nature Preserve, Metro imposed another condition requiring that the city 鈥渨ork with the Columbia Land Trust to protect, to the maximum extent possible, the portion of the Bankston property covered by the conservation easement.鈥�

The city then began the process of adopting the TSP, a master plan and zoning regulations for Kingston Terrace. The city considered four alternative alignments for the new connection 鈥� three of those crossed the Bankston property, but the council concluded that such a crossing was necessary as the only other alignment would be so close to Beef Bend Road as to remove trips from that overcrowded roadway. To address the conservation concerns, the city agreed to narrow the roadway to two lanes, avoid the highest value resources and designate the entire parcel recreational open space so that it could not be developed further. This was not enough for the Citizens Against Fischer Road Extension group, which argued that the roadway will 鈥渂ring traffic, noise and crime to our quiet neighborhoods when alternatives are available.鈥� According to Michael Meyer, the lead objector for this group and owner of a private airstrip directly west of the preserve, this was not about growth but rather about Fischer Road turning into a 鈥渃ut-through鈥� road and planning requirements being followed.

Presumably to achieve proper planning objectives, Meyer took the city鈥檚 adoption of the Kingston Terrace master plan and the TSP to LUBA through separate appeals in 2023. LUBA rejected Meyers鈥� arguments that the preferred road alignment violated Metro鈥檚 condition, Goal 5, and local plan policies by not adequately protecting or avoiding the preserve even though the condition did not prohibit a road. Meyer鈥檚 TSP challenges relating to the Metro condition were rejected for the same reasons. Other challenges were rejected as insufficiently developed.

In 2024, Meyer appealed the city council鈥檚 decision to annex and apply city zoning to approximately 40 percent of the area within Kingston Terrace. Again, Meyer鈥檚 arguments fell flat. LUBA disagreed that the 鈥渃herry-stem鈥� configuration of the annexation area where Beef Bend Road served as the 3,275-foot stem was not reasonable because the comprehensive plan identified development of the area within the 鈥渃herry鈥� before the area鈥檚 eastern portion. LUBA went on to note that the annexation majority consent statutes do not require consent of owners whose property is encumbered by Beef Bend Road right-of-way.

All this controversy would be unremarkable if it were just about land use planning. However, in 2021, after three-term Mayor Ken Gibson awoke one morning to find 鈥淣o Fisher (sic) Road鈥� spray-painted on his garage, he reported that although this type of controversy and concern was no different than what the city experienced when it doubled in size in the 1980s, the level of violence was new. In December 2021, Gibson retired as mayor, a year before his term was up, and the council appointed its president, Jaimie Fender, as mayor.

In the winter of 2023, Unite King City filed a petition to recall six of the seven council members 鈥� representing those who voted to allow the Fischer Road extension. In the meantime, one of the councilors resigned and moved out of town and another agreed to work with the objectors to revisit his vote. With a vote split that was never more than 51.3 percent in favor of recall, four of these councilors, including Mayor Fender, were recalled. This left the city with three remaining members to select individuals to fulfill the recalled members鈥� terms.

After a monthslong interview process, in mid-May, the three-member council selected replacement members to fill the vacancies. Rather than selecting outspoken members who favored recall, the council appointed Smart Ocholi, one of the recalled councilors, to an 18-month term. This has stirred even more outrage from advocates for something different.

Given recent amendments to state housing laws, it is questionable whether the city, even with a new slate of councilors, could now revisit its previous decisions. Although the city has adopted a new motto: Welcoming Residents of All Ages, this outcome seems unlikely given the latest census reports that over 80 percent of the city鈥檚 population is older than 65 and the area remains popular for seniors. Whatever the long-range demographic result, this is a cautionary tale for elected officials: overcoming growing pains not only divides communities, but those divisions can also sometimes be fatal.

Edward Sullivan is a retired practitioner of land use and municipal law with more than 50 years of experience. Contact him at [email protected].

Carrie Richter is an attorney specializing in land use and municipal law at Bateman Seidel. Contact her at 503-972-9903 or [email protected].

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the preceding commentary are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Daily Journal of Commerce or its editors. Neither author nor the 91视频 guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein.