The Affects of an Urban Growth Boundary on Portland Metro.

The state of Oregon is admired across the nation for its livability, largely because the state has adopted the “Urban Growth Boundary” initiative in 1977 to control urban growth.  This has helped the Portland Metro area grow in a responsible and prosperous manner.  After the 1977 initiative took effect requiring Oregon cities and metropolitan areas to create urban growth boundaries for each city, Portland and its surrounding cities knew they had to band together to make this work.  As a result, in 1979 voters created an entity we know today as Metro.  This entity is chartered to oversee the planning effort of the urban growth boundary.  A year later the Conservation and Development Commission approved the boundary as consistent with statewide planning goals. 

Metro didn’t stop there.  By 1990 they had developed a policy called the 2040 Growth Concept.  This policy is a fifty year plan for Portland Metro’s future.  It is designed to be a guide on how the urban growth boundary is managed to stop urban sprawl, develop a transportation system that moves people and goods throughout the area, and to preserve access to nature.  Most importantly the plan was developed to ensure the community characteristics stay intact for the citizens, and to continue to develop the Portland Metro area.

Humbolt Gardens Neighborhood is a perfect example of how the urban growth boundaries have affected Portland in a positive way.  This subdivision is located in North Portland along North Vancouver St. between North Killingworth St. and North Alberta St.  The Neighborhood used to be low income housing, but due to the Urban Growth Boundaries developers have been encouraged to redevelop inner neighborhoods like this one rather than waiting for more land to become available.  The new development includes a mix of low and middle income housing as well as a mixed use building with retail space on the ground floor to help bring local businesses to the area.  My Buddy, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1990, says the new development has greatly reduced crime in his neighborhood.

The implementation of the urban growth boundary has made better use of taxpayers’ dollars in its effort to reduce crime and add better public services.  The cost savings of emergency services has helped maintain the amount of police and fire stations.  If urban sprawl was allowed we would have to spend money on building and maintaining Policeand fire stations for sprawling neighborhoods.  By not allowing urban sprawl we have stopped the creation of endless mazes of roads that need to be maintained and policed by the city.  Now we can concentrate dollars and police manpower on existing neighborhoods.  

The stop of sprawling neighborhoodshas also been helping maintain Portland’s home prices.  Communities that have limited restrictions on where homes can be built have ended up with a large excess of houses for sale.  This extra inventory has driven down the price in many of those cities.  According to an article Home Prices by Metro Are published by MSN Money Staff, the housing prices fell in the  Portland Vancouver Metro area by 5.2 percent compared to California Merced Metro area which fell by 49.5 percent in 2008.  Much of California was hard hit with an average drop in home price of 23.25 percent.  There is no doubt that if they would have established an urban growth boundary sooner they would be in much better shape today.  California waited until 1996 to adopt such a policy and only a handful of cities did, with the rest slowly to follow.

Whenever I think of California I think of large amounts of traffic and smog.  Development of transportation plays a key role in sustaining a cities way of life.  Portland is well known for its attention to public transportation planning and bike friendly streets.  To stay compliant with the state’s urban growth policies, Metro planners developed the 2035 Regional Transportation Plan.  This plan is a model to sustain the livability of the Portland Metro area and helps plan the region’s transportation goals from now to the year 2035.  An example of this plan is the new Max line from the Gateway Center to the Clackamas mall, which is schedule to open this fall.  City planners hope this will reduce the amount of traffic on 82^nd avenue and I-205, and bring more economic prosperity to the I-205 corridor by creating better access between the Clackamas town center and NE Portland’s Gateway district.

Metro has other practices that addeconomic prosperity to the Portland area.  The 2040 plan has a provision to help economic prosperity by allowing the growth boundary to be expanded to create jobs.  Metro has moved the urban growth boundary about three dozen times since its creation to help economic prosperity.  One of the largest was in 1998 when metro expanded the boundary to allow 3,500 acres for approximately 23,000 houses and 14,000 jobs.  Another notable expansion was in 1999 where another 380 acres where added for a concept called “Sub Regional Need.”  This was done to balance the number of Homes to Jobs available.  Most recently was in 2005, Metro added 345 acres of land for industrial purposes.

There is no doubt that Metro will continue to make adjustments to the Urban Growth Concept as we continue to make Portland Metro the best livable area in the nation.  There have been some tough initiatives on the ballot in recent years.  So the next time you see an initiative on the ballot regarding land use, do a little research before casting your vote.  You may not think that it will affect you, but directly or in an indirect way, it will.  I’m sure you don’t want to be stuck in traffic, breathing smog on the way to a job interview wondering how you are going to make your next mortgage payment on a house that is worth less than you are paying for it now, and with no chance of selling it because it is in a crime ridden neighborhood.  Or do you?