Metro, the Port of Portland, Portland Business Alliance, Business Oregon and the Oregon Chapter of NAIOP are undertaking a comprehensive review of the region’s inventory of large industrial sites and assessing their readiness to support new private-sector jobs.

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.

Oregon's Land Conservation and Development commissioners heard lengthy testimony Thursday morning about whether the Stafford area should be included in the region's proposed urban reserves.

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.

On Aug. 26, Metro chief Michael Jordan presented his ideas about a Community Investment Strategy to a crowd of more than 150 business leaders, public officials and other interested citizens that attended a forum sponsored by the Westside Economic Alliance and the Clackamas County Business Alliance. Read the questions presented at the forum and the responses given.

In what many described as a historic moment, the Metro Council today designated 28,615 acres of urban reserves around the region. For the next fifty years, when Metro considers expanding the urban growth boundary, the focus will be on these lands. Metro has worked with the counties for three years to identify lands suitable for development and to determine the region's most important farms, forests and natural areas. The four agencies reached initial agreements on a regional map of urban and rural reserves in February. Clackamas and Multnomah county commissions passed ordinances in May designating their rural reserves. The Washington County Commission anticipates designating rural reserves June 15.

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.