NOTES FROM THE METRO COUNCIL OFFSITE MEETING

Thursday, April 11, 2002

McMenamins Grand Lodge, 3505 Pacific Ave., Forest Grove

Those present included: Bill Atherton, Metro Councilor; Deena Barrett, Forest Grove City Councilor; David Bragdon, Metro Councilor; Ralph Brown, Mayor of Cornelius; Rex Burkholder, Metro Councilor; Mike Burton, Metro Executive Officer; Dan Cooper, Metro General Counsel; Andy Cotugno, Metro Planning Director; Alexis Dow, Metro Auditor; Faith Gabelnick, Pacific University President; Carl Hosticka, Metro Presiding Officer; Tom Hughes, Mayor of Hillsboro; Richard Kidd, Mayor of Forest Grove; Susan McLain, Metro Councilor; Rod Monroe, Metro Councilor; Tim O’Malley, Pacific University Vice President of University Relations; Rod Park, Metro Councilor; Vergie Ries, Forest Grove City Manager; and Pete Truax, Forest Grove City Councilor.

Councilor McLain started the meeting at 6:13 p.m. She spoke to where Metro currently stood with land use issues and a subregional analysis.

Presiding Officer Hosticka said the issues around subregional analysis had to do with timing. He said the Council had asked the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) to make a rule giving guidance on subregional analyses. He said that subregional work could not be completed before December 2002, which was the date given by LCDC for Metro to complete its urban growth boundary (UGB) amendment decision. He said that the choice was to either wait for LCDC’s ruling and delay the UGB decision, or to make the UGB decision without LCDC’s ruling and then make further decisions regarding the UGB. He said there was a high degree of urgency around this question.

Mayor Kidd strongly encouraged the Metro Council to consider the subregional analysis to expand the UGB. He said that planning in Oregon took a lot of citizen involvement. He said he wanted to see Main Street extend 200 feet to an old county road because access and service were currently impeded. He recommended that Metro continue with its current timeline and determine its UGB expansion decision, but not to implement the decision in the first year. He recommended that Metro wait for the LCDC ruling and then have an opportunity to identify the location for the UGB expansion decision at a later date.

Mayor Brown said he would like to see industry brought into the community and to attract them to land inside the UGB. He said he would take some land into Cornelius.

Mayor Hughes said the LCDC ruling was worth waiting for. He said a UGB expansion would help with housing supply in his jurisdiction. He didn’t believe that a jobs/housing imbalance was a special need, and he said it was necessary to look for a long-term solution.

Presiding Officer Hosticka said he appreciated the focus of the comments. He said the subregional analysis was not an answer but a means to an answer.

Mayor Kidd said that the hierarchy of land system had created the current situation.

Councilor Burkholder said the issue at hand was one of fiscal wholeness. He compared Cornelius and Forest Grove’s physical proximity to that of Northeast and downtown Portland. He asked if there were other choices to address the issues at hand.

Mayor Brown said his jurisdiction was working on being a community, but it lacked infrastructure such as a school district. He said Metro had been a big supporter and that it was important for the cities in Washington County to support each other.

Councilor Atherton spoke to proposed changes in legislation reforming the 20-year land supply rule. He said Complete Communities was a concept that resonated with citizens and that the Damascus debate shouldn’t revolve solely around the UGB.

Mayor Kidd said LCDC had been referring to Complete Communities.

Councilor McLain said that Washington County had always set a good model, and it was something Metro wanted to be a part of. She said Metro was offering a thorough study of subregional analyses. She reminded the group that North Plains had been trying to expand for the last 14 years. She said Metro was there for the long-term partnerships.

Presiding Officer Hosticka said the meeting had just scratched the surface of a community discussion.

The meeting ended at 6:45 p.m.

Prepared by,

Cary Stacey

Outreach Assistant