Today the Metro Council voted 6-0 to add 1985 acres to the region’s urban growth boundary for future housing and jobs. (Councilor Rex Burkholder was excused.) This represents less than a one-percent expansion of the region’s urban footprint to accommodate thousands of additional households and workers over the next 20 years.

On Friday, Aug. 19, the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission approved the urban and rural reserves map for Washington County, which was approved by the Metro Council and the Washington County Board of Commissioners last spring.

This decision, combined with LCDC’s decision last year to approve the urban and rural reserves for Multnomah and Clackamas counties, completes four years of collaborative effort to provide significant protections for farmland and natural areas while supplying enough land for good jobs and vibrant neighborhoods for the future. No other metropolitan area in the United States has ever attempted—let alone achieved—such a thoughtful and far-reaching plan.

Metro staff will talk about options for the urban growth boundary boundary at an open house and forum from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 28 at the Hillsboro Civic Center Auditorium. After the presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session.

Boards agree to make some changes to so-called Duyck/Hughes proposal. After later procedural votes, plan heads to state for review.

Metro is committed to protecting the region’s farms and forests and to providing good jobs now and in the future. That’s why the Metro Council and its partners recently approved an historic proposal that protects more than 266,000 acres of rural land from development and provides about 28,000 acres to provide jobs and housing for our growing population during the next 50 years. After a very detailed review of our growth management and land protection strategy, the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission asked that our region reconsider just a few small areas in Washington County. On Monday, the Metro Council received a proposal, developed by the chairman and chairman-elect of Washington County, designed to address the LCDC’s request. The Metro Council, at its work session today, briefly discussed this proposal. There is no support on the Metro Council for the proposed map.

The Metro Council will soon consider improvements to the Portland region’s growth rules that will require more effective and efficient use of existing public investments and that improve the management and accountability of public services. Metro’s goal is to ensure the region makes the most of its existing cities as part of the agency’s long-term strategy to provide good jobs, protect valuable farm and forest land and preserve outdoor recreation opportunities. Four public hearings will be held throughout the region over the next three weeks.

The council addressed the urban growth boundary as a board for the first time at a Tuesday worksession, and at least four councilors said they were comfortable with saying the region will need about 15,000 new residential units to meet state capacity requirements.

The Metro Council and boards of commissioners of Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties approved agreements this week that will set aside more than 272,100 acres of farmland, forestland and natural areas to be excluded from urban growth during the next 50 years. The agreements also set aside about 28,100 acres of land for potential future growth needs during that same period.

After more than two years of research, study and public input, Metro and the three counties in the Portland metropolitan region are nearing the end of an unprecedented process to agree on where and how our region will grow in the next several decades.The reserves process is unique in the nation - never before has a metropolitan area mapped out a decades-long plan that identifies areas for urban growth and lands that should be set aside as rural reserves.

The four elected officials representing the Metro Council and Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington county commissions - the Core 4 - agreed to protect more than 270,000 acres of the region's best farmland and key natural features in rural reserves while securing just over 27,000 acres in urban reserves to accommodate efficient regional growth for the next 40 to 50 years. Two years ago the counties and Metro began studying a 400,000-acre study area encircling the region's urban growth boundary. Today, these four governments are down to negotiating the final 2,357 acres before establishing urban and rural reserves for the next half century.