MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

COMMUNITY PLANNING COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING

Thursday, October 10, 2002

Damascus Community Church

14251 SE Rust Way, Boring

Members Present:  Rod Park (Chair), Bill Atherton, David Bragdon, Rex Burkholder, Carl Hosticka, Susan McLain, and Rod Monroe

Members Absent:  None.

1.  CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL. Chair Park called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m.

2.  OVERVIEW OF URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY AMENDMENT PROCESS. Chair Park gave an overview of the public hearings, the Urban Growth Boundary amendment process and the outreach efforts to the citizens of the region to notify them of the hearings and the process. Metro Planning Director Andy Cotugno briefly explained the Executive Officer's recommendations and the process they must go through. Mr. Cotugno said Metro Executive Officer Mike Burton recently made an additional recommendation to try to meet the need for industrial land. Chair Park said November 1^st was the deadline for the Community Planning Committee to receive public testimony. The next opportunity to submit public testimony or testify would be before the Metro Council on November 21, 2002.

Chair Park then asked Clackamas County Commissioner Michael Jordan to address the citizens.

Commissioner Michael Jordan, Clackamas County, 807 Main Street, Oregon City, OR 97045, thanked the councilors for holding an evening hearing and commended Metro staff for their participation. He also thanked the community for their response and participation for over a year on this issue. He told the committee they would be listening to an engaged, sophisticated community. This was an ominous issue for the community to think about, he said, as they had seen urbanization as it had happened in the metropolitan region over the past 20 years or so. Clackamas County east of I-205 and in the Sunnyside corridor expanded in a way he was not proud of, he said. He encouraged the committee to be bold when looking at an expansion, to expand it in a way so as to give Clackamas County a way to plan for growth and create a complete community. This was what Clackamas County hoped for and this was what it looked like they would get. The Executive Officer had recommended 1600 acres of employment land in the Damascus area, Commissioner Jordan said, and he also amended his recommendation to include areas around Boring and some exception lands in Damascus area. The Clackamas County Commission endorsed those recommendations and was prepared to argue for them. They have had three major policy principles that they had been concerned about through this entire process: 1) if the boundary moved, they had an opportunity to create jobs for people. This had been an issue for Clackamas County for some time and they needed that land for those jobs. 2) Clackamas County was not interested in being the city council for another large city in this region.

Commissioner Jordan said the Commission was committed to working with local residents to enhance the opportunity for municipal governments. We need municipal governance, he said, and 3) most important, in the county’s experience in the last twenty years with Sunnyside Road, was concurrency with infrastructure. Clackamas County had changed their code language and had worked with the City of Happy Valley to change their’s as well to require concurrency and transportation infrastructure. A significant public effort would be necessary to provide the transportation infrastructure for the area. Should this area come into the boundary as recommended, they would see a slower absorption rate to provide the transportation infrastructure to urbanize well. He said he thought the commitment of this community was to make sure that was in place as development occurred. There was also a tremendous commitment to collaboration in the area, he added. A group had been formed, Damascus Firehouse Group, which included the cities of Happy Valley, Gresham, Boring and Clackamas County Fire Districts, Sunrise Water Authority and three neighborhood organizations to try and work out the governance issues. The provision of infrastructure will be in an orderly fashion and that group was committed to making it happen.

Commissioner Jordan continued, saying this area had been studied a great deal. He said he knew that if this area were brought into the boundary it would present challenges never experienced before. He said he believed it would also present opportunities never seen before, opportunities to look at urban development in a different way – how to place urbanization with the lightest footprint on the environmental landscape. It would also present opportunities to create a new town center from scratch, in a way perhaps, that had never been done before. Commissioner Jordan said he felt this community was mobilized should this occur, and he said Clackamas County supported the Metro Council's efforts.

Chair Park said the region was lucky to have Commissioner Jordan as the Clackamas County representative as he was very able to represent the area in front of the rest of the region.

Mayor Eugene Grant, City of Happy Valley, 12915 SE King Road, Happy Valley, OR 97236, said the City of Happy Valley was somewhat resigned to the inevitability of a large expansion in this area because of state land use laws and the requirement that exceptions lands be brought in as the first priority. He said they were sympathetic to the feelings of many of the residents in their reluctance to see this area urbanized. It was a difficult process. There were periods of resistance, fighting, and foot dragging. He said he was encouraged when he heard from this area a more positive approach occurring than had occurred with Happy Valley, and this would be to their benefit. He concurred very strongly with what Commissioner Jordan said about concurrency and complete communities. Happy Valley was strongly committed and had an ordinance in place. They also believed it was important that if this area was urbanized that it be a large enough expansion to create a complete community. Happy Valley was nowhere close to being a complete community. He said they were in a position where it was important to Happy Valley to have enough room to grow, to add employment areas, to be a complete, sustainable community with enough tax base to service the citizens with urban services that were adequate. They were committed to being a good neighbor and would do everything they could to make this expansion a success for the areas to the east as that was in Happy Valley’s own best interest. Their livability will depend a great deal on this urbanization being done correctly with infrastructure being financed and provided sufficiently to avoid Happy Valley's infrastructure being overwhelmed and suffering unbearable congestion. They have had that and were resolving those problems with great expense, a lot of effort and a lot of help from the county, and they didn’t want to see this expansion turn into a setback that turned back the clock and made things worse. What the region was doing because of the state land use laws was requiring that a majority of the expansion happen here. If that was the case, we have to cooperate in allocation of regional resources in that same way, he said. In the past, Mayor Grant said transportation funds (like the Oregon Transportation Investment Act (OTIA) went to Washington and Multnomah counties and Clackamas County got about 10%. That kind of imbalance in the allocation of regional funds cannot continue or there would be a voter rebellion. That was a critical issue that needed to be addressed and it was a critical factor in how Happy Valley dealt with this expansion.

Another concern of Happy Valley, Mayor Grant said, was that this expansion put the majority of the housing in the region in this area, but not the majority of the jobs. The jobs/housing imbalance would worsen, he said. That reinforced that there would be some real issues to deal with on this. It was important and Happy Valley supported the county’s request that there be some flexibility on the part of Metro concerning the Comprehensive Planning and zoning in this area to allow the community to maximize the jobs and keep to a reasonable minimum the amount of housing that was added. It was important to avoid a worsening of the jobs/housing imbalance. Mayor Grant said the City of Happy Valley also supported Clackamas County's request for additional industrial lands.

Max Talbot, Community and Economic Development Director, City of Gresham, 1333 NW Eastman Pkwy, Gresham, OR 97030 spoke for Mayor Charles Becker and the City of Gresham. He said Gresham wanted to go on record as supporting the request from Clackamas County for inclusion of the Boring and Damascus lands within the Urban Growth Boundary. The eastside was experiencing a huge jobs to housing imbalance. The Springwater area was a first good step in bringing the balance back to the eastside, and they could serve that area almost immediately. This development would prime the pump for services to Damascus, Mr. Talbot said. Also, he said there was a service issue, that Gresham was at the table not to provide services, but because whatever developed here would impact surrounding areas. Gresham was there to help, we were all in this together, he said. Our economic future is to provide new jobs, Mr. Talbot said, and Gresham wanted to go on record to support this proposal.

3.  DRAFT ORDINANCE NO. 02-969, For the Purpose of Amending the Metro Urban Growth Boundary, the Regional Framework Plan and the Metro Code in order to increase the capacity of the Boundary to Accommodate Population Growth to the Year 2022; and Declaring an Emergency.

Chair Park opened a public hearing on Draft Ordinance No. 02-969 and explained the process for testifying.

Dee Wescott, Committee for the Future of Damascus, 12042 SE Sunnyside Rd, #561, Clackamas, OR 97015 gave an overview of the history of Damascus which had been around a long time. Damascus had been rural for a long time, he said, and they would like to retain the rural character. If the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) moved, they were prepared to face the challenge. He talked about the past services and parcelization of the area (a copy of the Committee for the Future of Damascus’ written testimony is included in the meeting record and was summarized by Mr. Wescott, Mr. Hartsock, Mr. Beaudet).

John Hartsock, Committee for the Future of Damascus, 12042 SE Sunnyside Rd., #561, Clackamas, OR 97015 also spoke about the Committee for the Future of Damascus (again included in the Committee's written testimony).

Marty Beaudet, Committee for the Future of Damascus, 12042 SE Sunnyside Rd., #561, Clackamas, OR 97015 continued summarizing the Committee's written testimony and spoke to the survey and results portion of the written testimony.

Mr. Hartsock and Mr. Wescott concluded their remarks saying the singular comment they heard the most was to leave the area as it was. They said they knew there needed to be adequate land for the expansion, they needed the land to be able to plan. They supported the Executive Officer's recommendations. It allowed for a complete community. There were challenges such as finances, preservation of natural areas, and infrastructure requirements.

Dan O'Dell, Committee for the Future of Damascus, 12042 SE Sunnyside Rd., #561, Clackamas, OR 97015 did not testify but yielded his time to the above mentioned committee members.

Dave Zoph, Community for the Future of Damascus, 12042 SE Sunnyside Rd., #561, Clackamas OR 97015 did not testify but yielded his time to the above mentioned committee members.

Les Otto, Boring Community Planning Organization Chair (BCPO), P. O. Box 391, Boring, OR 97009 said Metro’s responsibility was huge and he appreciated the leadership Metro had taken in controlling urban sprawl. The people in this community have identified the things they value most in this community. If they have collective agreement at every step of planning and development, he said, they can enhance those values rather than ignore them. Members of the BCPO have endorsed the Greenbelt and Small Town Concept Development Plan. He brought a position paper as evidence (a copy of which is found in the meeting record and signed by Dean Apostol). Mr. Otto said the BCPO had agreed on six principles that must guide future planning and development of this community. He detailed those principles. They urged Metro not to make a top down decision that affects livability of the communities but asked that Metro, Clackamas County and surrounding communities assume leadership in helping them to realize the vision and make it a reality. He asked that they help them create a complete community that was viable, vibrant and sustainable and a place we could all be proud of.

Dean Apostol, Boring CPO, 23850 SE Borges, Gresham, OR 97080, said he was Landscape Architect, and that he supported the Greenbelt/Small Town Concept Plan (as noted in the previous testimony). He summarized his written testimony and the Concept Plan (a copy of which is included in the record).

Marcia Sinclair, Boring CPO, 23850 SE Borges Rd., Gresham, OR 97080 summarized her written testimony (a copy of which is found in the meeting record). She said she believed that growth must be planned and not overwhelm existing communities.

Christine Roselli Ferguson, 19110 SE White Crest Ct., Boring, OR 97009 yielded her time to John Ferguson.

John Ferguson, 19110 SE White Crest, Boring, OR 97009 suggested expanding the UGB to include Sauvie Island which had flat land, few residents and was much like Damascus. If the people in the region knew what they were about to lose in the Damascus area, he said, they would demand protection similar to Sauvie Island. Most didn't know what Damascus was. He suggested having people get out on the back roads between here and Gresham to see the farms, the woods, the trees and the natural areas. This was the land that was being targeted for industrial area. He asked if they realized this was what was about to be destroyed. Metro has recognized how unique the land was; they bought parcels of land for greenspaces. Mr. Ferguson said Jim Desmond, Metro Openspaces Senior Manager, was frustrated because of limited funds, which did not allow Metro to buy more open space in this area. This was his home, Mr. Desmond said, and he didn’t plan on selling out. He said he couldn't bear to see this land destroyed. With industrial sites, housing units and strip malls, it will be destroy. Mr. Ferguson said he still held onto the belief that this was a democracy and the will of the people would come through. He challenged the Metro Council show those who lived in this area that this was more than a dog and pony show. He told them to listen to what the people were saying. He said they were willing to accept some growth, but were not willing to let their homeland be destroyed. The only growth concept he had seen that worked was the Greenbelt and Small Town alternative.

Diana Bradshaw, 11201 SE Diana Ave., Boring, OR 97009 said she had moved here from Sunnyside Road and had lived here for 10 years. If this area was going to stay as livable as it was now, she said, it needed to maintain its rural environment character. She concurred with all of Mr. Ferguson’s comments. The wildlife habitat and open space needed to be preserved, and she commended the Metro Council for their commitment to the greenspaces program and, if this expansion went through, she said she would like to be assured that greenspaces, parks, wildlife habitat and corridors for wildlife were maintained.

Jim Closson, Three Rivers Land Conservancy, PO Box 1116, Lake Oswego, OR 97035 read his testimony into the record (a copy of which is found in this record) and submitted a copy of a letter to MPAC from the Three Rivers Land Conservancy for the record.

Craig A. Smith, Clackamas County Economic Development Commission (CCEDC), 2441 SE Sherman St., Portland, OR 97214 said he was an employee of rural development initiatives, a statewide nonprofit organization. As a member of the CCEDC, he said he was very concerned about enough jobs-producing lands. Mr. Smith said he supported including more land (he noted a letter already in the record from the CCEDC who supported this as well). It was important that the opportunity to form a complete community in the area be given. He had had the opportunity to work with the community of Damascus. They were working to plan the future and on self-governance options. The citizens of the community, not outside influences, drove this plan, he added. They supported moving the UGB far enough to allow for development in a complete manner. They saw the need for job producing lands. Clackamas County had the second highest commute time, second only to Columbia County. In order to address this issue, Mr. Smith said they needed to have lots of jobs locally. If Damascus were going to grow, they would need to have more jobs here to deal with the increase in population and to help offset those who lived here already. Mr. Smith said he endorsed the MPAC recommendations, which included job-producing lands, and he endorsed the August 28^th letter from the Clackamas County Commissioners. He said he hoped the Council would consider moving the UGB far enough for a complete community and job producing lands.

Marjorie Reid, 13550 SE 157^th Ave., Boring, OR 97009 did not testify.

Mike Dhillon, NORCO, 16514 S. Holcomb Blvd., Oregon City, OR 97045 said he agreed with what Mr. Smith had just said. He lived in Oregon City and said he felt they should get some of the share there, too. He suggested putting more houses in this area. He said he had a dead filbert orchard on his land. He had been to the county to request breaking his property into smaller lots, and Clackamas County had told him it was farming land. There was public water between Holcomb and Redland. He encouraged the council look at this area for expansion. Chair Park asked Mr. Dhillon to show one of the staff exactly where he wanted the expansion to happen. Mr. Dhillon asked if the councilors would look at the property, physically. He said that Mr. Burton had said this land was steep and not suitable to build houses on, and that he disagreed with Mr. Burton. This area was a good area to put houses on not to farm.

Burton Andersen, 16020 SE Keller Rd., Clackamas, OR 97015 suggested theMetro Council go away. He said he would rather have the land stay the way it is. According to Metro's proposed boundary, he said it would go around his 58 acres. He wondered if he was going to be eliminated and would end up providing a park for the people around him. He was currently farming part of his acreage; he had a nursery on 30 acres of it. He would like to be taken in when the rest of it came in, instead of it going around him, so that if and when it got so bad out here he would have the choice his neighbors would have now. His property was on Hwy 212. The people would like this area’s land to stay in farming, he said, but he had news for them – the land would not stay in farming. He talked about the difficulty of moving farm equipment with cars backing up for ½-mile behind his tractor. Mr. Andersen said he would like to stay a rural, small community. He was in favor of what Damascus was trying to do to form a city and have control of themselves in the future. Chair Park asked that Mr. Andersen make sure staff identified his piece of property.

John Lee, Jr., 11185 SE 282^nd Ave., Boring, OR 97009 said he was a small organic farmer and a member of the CPO. He was also a physicist and the owner of a small technology robotic and laser company in Portland. Mr. Lee talked about the Greenbelt Plan. There were a few issues he would be addressing. He asked that Metro acknowledge that these were two separate communities, Boring and Damascus, each with it’s own history and it’s own future. Both had active citizen groups that were attempting to help direct the future of their respective communities. Most of the citizen input had been focused towards the Damascus community because they were closer to the existing boundary. Most Boring citizens considered the UGB expansion as a future concern, he said, and they have only been involved in the process as a learning experience and to support their friends and neighbors in Damascus. They figured it would be Boring's turn in five years. Mr. Lee said he felt that Mr. Burton’s eleventh hour change to include Boring, past 242nd or 257th, was unfair to Boring residents and counterproductive to gaining citizen support. The current economy would not support the industrial growth being considered, and he asked where the jobs would come from. The Boring CPO had been actively involved in two synergistic proposals to help direct the future of their community. A village concept had been discussed with county and regional authorities so that Boring could have local control of land use issues without the substantial expense of immediate incorporation. An alternative Greenbelt and Small Towns Concept for the urbanization of both Boring and Damascus had been developed, he said. This alternative vision proposed a two-phase approach to the urbanization of the area from two town centers with a defined greenbelt for division. He strongly urged the committee to express their support for these two synergistic proposals and specifically in favor of a urbanization approach for this area.

Bill Taylor, 16396 SE 232^nd, Boring, OR 97009 said Metro was in a tough position as mandated by law to make a decision that would change their lives. He said he would also like to see Metro go away. The UGB sounded like a moving target to him. One of these days, the Metro Council was going to make the decision and tell the citizens to make of it. A few months ago, Mr. Taylor said that CouncilorAtherton had said there was a one-year moratorium available to them which he said he would take care. The other night, Mr. Taylor said he had asked some people about that and they told him nothing had been done on that. He said he then had asked if it could yet be done and wasl told it was too late. Mr. Taylor asked Councilor Atherton why he didn’t do anything if he said he would take care of that. Chair Park told Mr. Taylor that the committee didn’t want to get into a dialogue at this meeting, and he explained the process of an extension request. First, Chair Park said, the Metro Council, with advice from Metro Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC), would need to request of the state Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) a one-year extension. This would mean that Metro would have to have good cause on why the Council couldn’t complete the state assigned task. Mr. Curcio, the current Director of LCDC, had sent Metro a letter stating that he did not believe there was good cause to request such an extension. Thus, Metro was compelled at this point to move forward. Mr. Taylor then suggested that they clarify for the public the difference between open space and greenspace because he said open space could be asphalt or concrete. Chair Park responded that this was not in Metro's definition of either open space or greenspace, that they would not include concrete. Mr. Taylor said Clackamas County had allowed open space to become asphalt.

Sharon Marsh, Boring CPO, 14130 SE 268^th Ct., Boring, OR 97009 said she was second generation citizen of Boring and that she hoped Boring would remain a village with increased population and more services. Formerly she was a Beaverton resident and teacher. She saw that pleasant small town in 1960 grow to a suburban community with high tech jobs and shopping malls in 1969. That sounded similar to what was being proposed for this area, she said. Now Beaverton appeared to be an unattractive congested city with impossible traffic and little character. She said she didn't want that to happen in this area. She was grateful for Community Planning Committee’s careful planning for the expansion of the UGB. She supported the Greenbelt and Small Town Concept, as did 40 of her neighbors. These people had signed petitions in support of this concept. If they were allowed to form a village with the citizens planning group to keep the size of Boring within reasonable bounds, there was a good chance that they could maintain some for the beautiful productive county side as well as their identify as the village of Boring. Ms. Marsh said this would help make sure this area was maintained for future generations of Oregonians to enjoy.

Mike Hammons, 20320 SE Hwy 212, Clackamas, OR 97015 said the question was where should the line be. This was a very cohesive community, and there had been a lot of thought and effort that had gone into incorporating self-governance. Metro had a rule on its books that said they could not incorporate an area within Metro's jurisdiction that was outside the UGB. At the very least, he asked that Metro include the boundary of the water district which was formed in 1960. There were some questions on the south where the line should be. Clackamas County had gone on record requesting inclusion of some areas at Keller and Tong Road as well as the areas at 232^nd south of Hwy 212 east of 232^nd as a primary job area. Mr. Hammons suggested using the water district line as the boundary line. This was an area that had been somewhat urbanized, he added, and the residents had shown they could work together and accomplish something. Rather than putting an arbitrary line out here, he asked the committee to do something that made sense and that kept Damascus whole.

Kevin Hawkins, Boring CPO, 12722 SE Burt Lane, Boring, OR 97009 said at the Community Forum the previous week there were three large groups of questions that were asked of the participants: 1) What were the strengths of this community? One of the things that was obvious to him, he said, was that all of the top ten items the citizens came up would be lost if this area was urbanized in the way it had always been done, in what he called the amoeba approach, similar to the way Los Angeles was planned. It would be similar to the line between Gresham and Portland now where one could walk across the street and go from one city to the other. There was no definition between them other than a line drawn a piece of paper. Mr. Hawkins noted two new words that had been invented over the last year, “Damascus/Boring,” and “Boring/Damascus.” He informed the committee that there were no such places, that these were two unique towns. They were farther apart than Gresham was from Wood Village or Troutdale. He said he knew urbanization was coming, but the methodology of it wasn’t inevitable. He said there is a choice to take these two towns, start from the centers and grow them out as two unique towns. He offered his support for the Greenbelt and Small Town Concept.

Debbie Gardiner, 12135 SE Winston Rd, Boring, OR 97009 addressed the audience. She asked them to not accept any of Metro’s plans to destroy all the reasons why she lived in Damascus. She said she lived here because it was rural. She said she was 200% opposed to any ideas to develop Damascus due to obvious failures to solve existing problems. She said this week's Daily Journal of Commerce said existing office space exceeded 20% vacancy rate. Would it not be wise to renovate and consolidate existing prior commercial office space rather than sucking up more rural property for commercial use, she asked. New high tech and new business were not doing well in our economy. Why were we putting up more buildings when 20% of them were sitting vacant, she asked. She listed areas all over the region, which had large vacant track of land that could be developed. If high-density homes were placed in those areas, she said, they would be putting them by existing businesses. This made a whole lot more sense to her. Metro should look for projects such as Barbur Boulevard and Capitol Highway, solve some of the existing problems. Something should be done about existing problems instead of looking to rural Damascus. Metro's plans were not a done deal and it was the people’s job to fight them. She invited citizens to come to the Monday meetings, telling them to talk to their neighbors, and to stay informed. The majority of people in her area had no idea what Metro planned, she said. She would fight Metro every step of the way, she said, to ensure Damascus remained exactly as it was today.

Karen Perl Fox, 1000 Friends of Oregon, 534 SW 3^rd, Portland, OR 97201 read her comments into the record (a copy of which is found in the meeting record). Councilor Burkholder said 1000 Friends had done a lot of work on the Damascus area but he would like some more concrete suggestions in terms of what could be adopted to make sure they were in compliance.

Patricia Sudul, 19565 SE Tillstrom, Boring, OR 97009 said she had 13 acres northwest of Gresham and north of Damascus close to Foster Road. As she understood it, she said, any plans to add them to the Urban Growth Boundary meant that their property would be considered for high-density housing. It currently was to be no more than one dwelling per ten aces. She talked about the natural habitat in the area. They have a nature place, she said, and that would go away with development. It was quiet now. With expansion, it would get noisy. A stoplight was needed on Tillstrom Rd. before they started building homes. She said supported the Greenbelt/Small Town Concept, that she was not sure it would save their acreage but there would be at least more greenbelt.

Wendall L. Jones, 12295 SE Anna Ct., Boring, OR 97009 read his written testimony into the record (a copy of which is found in the meeting record).

Paulette A Spencer, 12525 SE 272^nd Ave., Boring, OR 97009 said she didn’t think this would matter much to her tonight or that she would testify. Since yesterday, however, she said her property had been included in the expansion area. She thought this was totally inappropriate that she be included at the last minute, ambushed without giving anyone in the City of Boring time to make any plans or do anything about it. Councilor Monroe responded that the Council learned at the same time she did that Mr. Burton had amended his recommendation and that they had not decided whether to include that land. He said Mr. Burton didn’t discuss his proposed amendment until after he’d made it, and he asked Ms. Spencer and the citizens to please not assume that a decision had already been made. Mr. Burton didn't get a vote, he made recommendations, Councilor Monroe said, but this council exclusively had the authority to make those decisions. Chair Park clarified that Mr. Burton was, however, also an elected official.

Bill F. Woolstenhulme, 20531 SE Dogwood Ln., Boring, OR 97009 said he hadn’t thought he would speak, but he became so angry that he decided to say something. He didn’t want Damascus to become like Chair Park’s neighborhood. He said there could be three to five meetings over a period of 90 days, they could give this to Clackamas County and they had no authority to do anything with it. He said he hoped tonight that the committee was actually listening to the citizens and doing their jobs. This was all in the name of growth. He said he’d watched Highway 212 grow so that they couldn’t get out onto it. He asked how many people had to shed their blood on Hogan Road, and why it would have to be like Barber Boulevard or like Beaverton. Beaverton and Hillsboro were not fun places to go, he added. All this in the name of growth apparently controlled by Metro, Mr. Woolstenhulme said. Why did we have to grow, he asked. There are plenty of people on this planet. Why did we have to create jobs for transplanted Oregonians, he asked. Councilor Atherton said he appreciated Mr. Woolstenhulme's statement. It was full of the same passion that they were all feeling. As to why the growth, said it was state law, the state rules; it was the state that was doing this. Mr. Woolstenhulme replied, sir, we are the state.

Jeff Kincaid, 22892 SE Belmont Ct., Boring, OR 97009 referred to an Oregonian article about the Port of Portland and asked what the rush was to expand the urban growth boundary. Why not give the community another year to figure out where they wanted to be, he asked. He said he’s seen the growth in the Pearl District. There were two ways to expand, out and up, he added. The Pearl District should build higher. He said he didn’t think expansion needed to take place so quickly. He didn’t like it coming here, but he'd put up with it. He wanted it planned and all the services put in before the houses. Councilor Bragdon told the audience that Mr. Kincaid was his mail carrier and that he heard this speech five times a week. Mr. Kincaid asked if LCDC could tell them why it had to be done so quickly. Councilor Hosticka said LCDC they would make everyone come to hearings for another year.

Jim Vanderpool, 16650 S. Holcomb Blvd., Oregon City, OR 97045 did not testify.

Patti Gentry and Leo Gentry, Leo Gentry Nursery, 22643 SE Tillstrom Rd., PO Box 749, Boring, OR 97009 said they employed about 220 people year around in the Damascus/Boring area. They farmed over 300 acres. They were already having a hard time with the amount of housing around the farm, from dust and spraying, etc. Mr. Gentry said he didn’t know how they would be able to farm with additional housing development unless there was a buffer. He noted that Chair Park had already personally experienced that. He said they provided quite a few jobs, there were not enough of the higher paying jobs, but it was a living. He said they would like to keep farming here but there needed to be planning for buffers around the farm area. The revenue the farm generated was about $13 million this year so that affected taxes. If you kept it rural, you needed buffers. Chair Park asked about buffering with light industrial. Mr. Gentry said that seemed to work well, for the most part. If it was done in the planning, he said he thought it would work fine. Ms. Gentry spoke from the resident side. She had lived in Happy Valley, she said, and they had escaped. Their daughter attended Deep Creek School. The population was manageable now. When growth came, inevitably, she said she’d like to keep the school numbers down and to plan for new schools, not just add more kids to the same school. She expressed concern about crime and traffic, which was already a problem. She originally thought this was unfair to put the burden on the area’s citizens, but after hearing the complete community testimony, she thought that was a good idea. Ms. Gentry said she was worried about density, and that she had heard Metro mandated density of eight units per acre. She said she would support the small town idea. If it was within Metro’s power to change the density requirement, she suggested looking into it. She asked for a one-year moratorium so they could hear from more people around the area to give Metro more information. Another point she made was that this area was too far from the I-5 corridor (a 40-minute commute, so when development occurred, the traffic would make it an hour-and-a-half commute. The idea of bringing jobs here to keep people from commuting would not happen, she added. She thought people lived where they wanted to and their jobs changed. Making this a livable community was a good idea but a job could be gotten anywhere. Ms. Gentry said she supported a one-year moratorium and the Small Town Concept.

Kathy Henton, 2129 SE Douglas Place, Gresham, OR 97080 said four to five years ago she had asked Mr. Burton what Metro would do to help the citizens protect the quality of life and the neighborhood they had. He told her to get involved. Through that involvement, she said she believed many of the Metro Councilors would make their decision both with their brains and their hearts. If she had some of the people involved in her community in her neighborhood four to five years ago, she said she wouldn’t have what she had now. She was impressed with the spirit and dedication of the people of this community and particularly with the Greenbelt/Small Town Concept. She urged the committee to give careful consideration to their proposal.

Chair Park addressed her concern about the number of units per acre, and said Metro was required to look at ten units per net acre average, everything from single-family to multi-family units. He gave an idea of density in the future of about 3.5 units per acre. Councilor Monroe talked about outer residential neighborhoods, and said the guideline was about 6 units per acre. Chair Park talked about the greenspaces concept, that if it was decided to bring this area into the boundary, it was within the community's power to create that greenspace between communities. He suggested they come up with a plan. Someone in audience said this was not what they were proposing. Chair Park said he was trying to say up front that if Metro brought this area into the urban growth boundary it did not have the ability to create the greenspace between the communities, the communities must do this.

Testimony taken and audio taped by Cheryl Grant outside of the main public hearing auditorium:

Douglas D. Dahms, 18857 SE Highway 212, Clackamas, OR 97015 said he lived very close to Damascus because of the quality of life. He said he could actually go outside and see the stars at night. He was very much against opening this area up for many reasons. One, this area had some of the most productive vegetable farms than he had ever seen and he was a little concerned about what would happen with that. The other main concern was that the area had absolutely zero roads; three main roads and those were only two lanes. It had taken him ten minutes to get out of his driveway tonight, he said, with no expansion. He said he thought it was a very, very, very bad idea. He thought housing was needed elsewhere at a greater need than here. He thought the only reason this area was getting opened up was it appeared to be the lesser of farm ground that he thought was absolutely not true. He said he thought the wheat ground in other areas was a lot less valuable than the vegetable farms over here in Damascus. Of the wheat, probably 99% of it got exported, he added. He said he would guess that the products from the vegetable farms here, and the very productive nurseries, would all stay in the northwest. He said he would just hate to see this area ruined for something that was not really a good idea.

Kit Cody, 14113 SE Hollyview Terrace, Boring, OR 97009 said he was sorry he didn’t get involved in this much sooner. He was for the small town concept of the greenways that the Boring people had been working on. It was a great concept. He moved to this area six years ago thinking that he wanted to get out of the big city and move into a rural area and be happy with that. He had been very happy with that and he hated to see it change much. He knew it was going to change some but he would do anything he could to make sure that it would stay as close as possible to what they had now. He said he realized there was going to be some growth, but he didn't think it should be like the lower Gresham area with apartments and all the masses of people. He said he hoped they could stop that kind of growth. It would be good to have a village for Damascus and a village for Boring even though it may not be a full town concept.

Chair Park closed the public hearing and thanked everyone for coming.

There being no further business before the committee, the meeting adjourned at 8:18 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Rooney Barker

Committee Clerk

ATTACHMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE MEETING OF OCTOBER 10, 2002

The following have been included as part of the official public record:

TESTIMONY CARDS.

Max Talbot, Community and Economic Development Director, City of Gresham, 1333 NW Eastman Pkwy, Gresham, OR 97030 spoke for Mayor Charles Becker

Dee Wescott, Committee for the Future of Damascus, 12042 SE Sunnyside Rd, #561, Clackamas, OR 97015

John Hartsock, Committee for the Future of Damascus, 12042 SE Sunnyside Rd., #561, Clackamas, OR 97015

Marty Beaudet, Committee for the Future of Damascus, 12042 SE Sunnyside Rd., #561, Clackamas, OR 97015

Dan O'Dell, Committee for the Future of Damascus, 12042 SE Sunnyside Rd., #561, Clackamas, OR 97015 (did not testify but yielded his time to the above mentioned committee members)

Dave Zoph, Community for the Future of Damascus, 12042 SE Sunnyside Rd., #561, Clackamas OR 97015 (did not testify but yielded his time to the above mentioned committee members)

Les Otto, Boring Community Planning Organization Chair (BCPO), P. O. Box 391, Boring, OR 97009

Dean Apostol, Boring CPO, 23850 SE Borges, Gresham, OR 97080

Marcia Sinclair, Boring CPO, 23850 SE Borges Rd., Gresham, OR 97080

Christine Roselli Ferguson, 19110 SE White Crest Ct., Boring, OR 97009 (yielded her time to John Ferguson)

John Ferguson, 19110 SE White Crest, Boring, OR 97009

Diana Bradshaw, 11201 SE Diana Ave., Boring, OR 97009

Jim Closson, Three Rivers Land Conservancy, PO Box 1116, Lake Oswego, OR 97035

Craig A. Smith, Clackamas County Economic Development Commission (CCEDC), 2441 SE Sherman St., Portland, OR 97214

Marjorie Reid, 13550 SE 157^th Ave., Boring, OR 97009 (did not testify.)

Mike Dhillon, NORCO, 16514 S. Holcomb Blvd., Oregon City, OR 97045

Burton Andersen, 16020 SE Keller Rd., Clackamas, OR 97015

John Lee, Jr., 11185 SE 282^nd Ave., Boring, OR 97009

Bill Taylor, 16396 SE 232^nd, Boring, OR 97009

Sharon Marsh, Boring CPO, 14130 SE 268^th Ct., Boring, OR 97009

Mike Hammons, 20320 SE Hwy 212, Clackamas, OR 97015

TESTIMONY CARDS (continued):

Kevin Hawkins, Boring CPO, 12722 SE Burt Lane, Boring, OR 97009

Debbie Gardiner, 12135 SE Winston Rd, Boring, OR 97009

Karen Perl Fox, 1000 Friends of Oregon, 534 SW 3^rd, Portland, OR 97201

Patricia Sudul, 19565 SE Tillstrom, Boring, OR 97009

Wendall L. Jones, 12295 SE Anna Ct., Boring, OR 97009

Paulette A Spencer, 12525 SE 272^nd Ave., Boring, OR 97009

Bill F. Woolstenhulme, 20531 SE Dogwood Ln., Boring, OR 97009

Jeff Kincaid, 22892 SE Belmont Ct., Boring, OR 97009

Jim Vanderpool, 16650 S. Holcomb Blvd., Oregon City, OR 97045 (did not testify)

Patti Gentry and Leo Gentry, Leo Gentry Nursery, 22643 SE Tillstrom Rd., PO Box 749, Boring, OR 97009

Kathy Henton, 2129 SE Douglas Place, Gresham, OR 97080

Douglas D. Dahms, 18857 SE Highway 212, Clackamas, OR 97015

Kit Cody, 14113 SE Hollyview Terrace, Boring, OR 97009