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.

Cities and counties across the region have nominated 11 transportation projects for Metro to approve – and now through Oct. 13, the public gets a chance to help refine and improve those projects.

At nearly 2,000 acres, Metro’s Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area is one of the region’s most important assets. Hidden on all sides by industrial land and commercial development, it provides rare habitat for plants, birds and wildlife and unique opportunities for human interaction with nature. Visitors are often surprised to find the area teeming with beaver, river otter, black-tailed deer, osprey, bald eagles and Western painted turtles living only minutes from downtown Portland.

Cities and counties across the region are selecting transportation projects this summer they plan to nominate for Metro’s $22 million regional flexible funding program.

The Glendoveer Golf Course and Fitness Trail is one of the most treasured and used community facilities in outer Northeast Portland. A facility assessment and business plan project is underway to figure out what needs to be done to prepare for a fair and competitive process to develop and award a new contract to operate the facility starting in 2013.

Over the summer, the public can weigh in on a proposal that helps focus continued growth and investment in the region’s downtowns, main streets and employment areas. Today Metro’s acting chief operating officer, Dan Cooper, presented the Metro Council with several options to consider for small expansions of the urban growth boundary. These options are located in targeted areas to complement ongoing efforts that focus more growth and investment in existing communities.