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.

The Metro Council voted 6-1 Thursday to adopt the last piece of an historic 50-year plan for protecting farm and forest land while allowing for additional housing and jobs in limited areas outside the current urban growth boundary and focusing additional investment and redevelopment in existing communities. The ordinance establishes the urban and rural reserves map for Washington County in Metro’s code, along with the findings that support those reserves. This is the last product of nearly four years’ effort on the part of Metro and Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties, plus citizens, land owners, business leaders, city and county officials, farmers and others, to allow for sufficient land needed to support future growth while protecting farms and forests that contribute to the local economy and define the character of the region.