>
>
> Accomplishments of The Oregon
> And Metro Portland Planning Programs
> September 1997
>
> Oregon's statewide planning program was adopted by the
>Oregon Legislature in 1973, under the leadership of Republican Governor
Tom McCall. The state land use planning program mandated urban growth
>boundaries around every city in Oregon regardless of size; it also
required cities and counties to rezone land for affordable types of housing
(which
>had the effect of increasing permitted residential densities), increasing
>urban transportation options, protective zoning of farm, range and forest
>lands,the identification and protection of natural resoruces and
fundamental changes in the way land use decisions are made.
>
> Upon this foundation of Oregon's statewide planning program, the
Portland, Oregon metropolitan region is in the process of adopting a
40-year regional framework plan that may do even more to address the
problematic patterns of metropolitan sprawl and decay in the U.S.
>
> Here is a summary of some of the accomplishments of the Oregon and
Metro planning efforts to date and some information about additional
prospective efforts under consideration. This summary focuses on the
planning efforts' acheivements in the
>Portland metropolitan region.
>
>A. Urban Growth Boundaries
>
>* Every incorporated city in Oregon has a UGB, from metropolitan Portl
and (population 1.3 million in the Oregon part of the region) to
> Greenhorn, population 3.
>
>* The Portland metropolitan UGB encompasses 24 cities and parts of
> three counties and 1.3 million people. It is 232,000 acres in size and
has been in place for 17 years.
>
>B. Land Savings & Densities Within the UGB
>
>* In 1960 the density of metropolitan Portland was 3,412 people per
square mile and the density of metropolitan Atlanta was 3,122 people per
square mile. In 1990 the density of the Oregon part of the
> Portland metro area rose to 3,734 people/square mile while Atlanta's had
dropped to 1,898 per square. In 1994, the Oregon portion of the Portland
metropolitan area reached a density of 3,885
> people per square mile.
>
>* If the Atlanta metropolitan region had been able to grow during the
1980s, as efficiently as the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area has been
able to grow in the early 1990s, Georgia would have saved
> 93,000 acres of rural land - farmland, pine forests and rural
> homesites.
>
>C. Protection of Farm and Forest Lands Outside Urban Growth B0undaries
>
>* Oregon has adopted statewide zoning for 16.4 million acres of farm
land and 8.7 million acres of private forest land (about 40,000
> square miles.) By contrast, the land set aside for urbanization and
rural residential development and commerce in Oregon totals
> 1.6 million acres.
>
>* Minimum lot sizes in farm and forest zones range from 80 to 240
> acres. (Houses are subject to additional restrictions beyond
> lot size.)
>
>* The two large counties which contain the western, eastern and
> southern parts of the Portland regional urban growth boundary, rank
second and fifth out of 36 counties in agricultural production.
>
>D. Urban Reinvestment and Revitalization in the Portland
> Metropolitan Region
>
>* In the last year, 29% of all residential development inside the
> Portland metro UGB has come from infill and redevelopment, as
> contrasted with about 4% in the Cleveland metropolitan area.
>
>* In the last five years, the most rapid appreciation of home prices
> in the region has occurred in poor inner city neighborhoods. For
> example, in March 1992, the average sale price of a home in poor and
working class North Portland was $44,500. In March 1997 the average sale
price was $102,000; a 150%. By contrast, in the exclusive
> Lake Oswego/West Linn area the sales prices increase for that period was
31% (from $169,900 to 221,900.) The biggest problem in
> many poor neighborhoods now is not urban decay but gentrification.
>
>* The share of regional employment in the central city area of the
> metropolitan Portland region has held steady at 20% of the regional
total (compared to 10 to 15% for many metropolitan areas of similar size),
even as the entire region has experienced rapid growth. The downtown is
lively, vital and busy on weekends and weekday evenings.
>
>E. Reducing Barriers to Housing Affordability
>
>* The average vacant residential lot size in 1978 was 12,800 square
> feet but was reduced to an average of 8,280 square feet by 1982,
> reducing the cost of the land for a home by $7,000 to $10,000
> in 1982 dollars.
>
>* Between 1977 and 1982 the amount of land zoned for residential use
> increased by only 10% but land available for multi-family
> residential development almost quadrupled, from 7.6% to 27% of net
> buildable acreage.
>
>* Overall, the maximum number of buildable units in the metropolitan
> area increased from 129,000 to over 301,000.
>
>* Oregon state law requires local governments to allow manufactured
ho using in all residential zones. Cities and counties must all zone
> adequate amounts of land for multi-family housing. City charters or
zoning regulations cannot be used to block government subsidized
> housing.
>
>* Today these gains are eroded as accelerating growth during a period of
modest wage increases has made housing less and less affordable
> in this region (like other high growth parts of the U.S.) However, the
average sale price of a home in the Portland metropolitan region in 1996
was only $139,400, about the same as Reno ($139,000)
> slightly more than Denver ($132,300) and less than San Diego
> ($173,600), Seattle ($163,800) and the San Francisco Bay Area
> ($269,900).
>
>* Additional steps are now under consideration to assure affordable ho
using. For example, in 1996, the Metro regional government adopted
> a regulation which requires cities and counties to allow accessory
> housing units in any residential zone.
>
>F. Transportation Options
>
>* In 1997, the Portland metropolitan area decided not to build a
> beltway around its most rapidly growing south-western quadrant.
> Over the next 40 years, the region plans to build only a few short
> highway segments totaling less than 40 miles.
>
>* Between 1990 and 1995, transit usage (measured in trips/person/year)
increased 4.4% in the Portland region. During the same period,
> transit usage in the 20 cities closest to Portland in size decreased by
an average of 9.1%.
>
>* In 1998, the second light rail line, 18 miles long, reaching to the
western suburbs, will open.. There are already 6000 new houses and
> apartments that are permitted or under construction in transit
> oriented developments next to the line.
>
>* Projections are that as many as one-third of the people living in
> these new suburban communities will get to work by walking, riding
> their bikes, or taking public transit.
>
>G. Urban Greenspaces
>
>* In the Portland metro area, the voters approved a $136 million bond
measure to buy an additional 6,000 acres of greenspaces in and
> around the regional UGB.
>
>* Prohibitions on development on steep slopes or in flood plains, now
being considered, will save significant amounts of additional
> greenspaces.
>
>H. Metropolitan Regional Governance
>
>* In 1979, citizens in the Portland metropolitan region voted to
> replace their Council of Governments with a directly elected
> regional council and executive to handle a moderate portfolio of
> regional responsibilities including solid waste disposal, to
> regional visitor facilities and transportation planning.
>
>* In 1995, the voters approved a home rule charter for the regional
> government, now called Metro, emphasizing that its primary function was
long-range land use and transportation planning. The charter re affirmed
Metro's statutory authority to require local government's
> local land use and transportation plans to conform to
> a regional framework plan.
>
>* Metro's planning program is the subject of extensive public
> participation; over 17,000 people have returned surveys,
> with their own postage, on the regional planning effort. Voters
> get to express their preferences on the subject by who
> they elect to the Metro Council.
>
> For Additional Information
>
>The following documents are available from 1000 Friends of Oregon. Prices
>include postage.
>
>Questions & Answers About Oregon's Land Use Planning Program 35 pages (1997)
>$5.00
>
>Evaluation of the Oregon planning program's performance in Landmark 30 pages
>(February 1997) (photocopy only) $4.00
>
>Oregon's Comprehensive Growth Management Program: An Implementation Review
>and Lessons for Other States Environmental Law Reporter News & Analysis 24
pages and 337 footnotes (June 1992) $3.00.
>
>
>