That was fast! Rural reserves dispute resolved

by: COURTESY OF SAVE HELVETIA - Farmland in the rural Helvetia area of Washington County figured into the land use dispute

Agreement reached in regional 

land-use dispute

Portland Tribune

Created on Sunday, 23 February 2014 19:51 | Written by Jim Redden | 

A breakthrough in the so-called grand land-use bargain was reached Sunday after days of intense negotiations involving state and local officials, conservationists and farmers.

The agreement is intended to resolve the uncertainty produced by the recent Oregon Court of Appeals ruling that rejected a 50-year land-use plan for the Portland area. It only applies to Washington County and must be passed by the 2014 Legislature to be final.

"This is good compromise for agriculture, residential and industrial interests in the county, and brings certainty future urban and rural land decisions," says Washington County Chair Andy Duyck.

The agreement is intended to ratify portions of previously approved urban and rural reserves, and subsequent urban growth boundary expansion based on them. Details of the settlement are expected to released in Salem early in the week. The session is scheduled to adjourn by March 5.

Despite the focus on Washington County, the court ruled that mistakes were made in the other counties, too. Multnomah County did not justify designating much of its undeveloped land between Portland and Beaverton as rural reserves. It include a 62-acre parcel adjacent to the North Bethany residential area that the owners want to sell for development. And the court found Clackamas County did not explain why the Stafford area should be designated an urban reserve when it is already facing growing congestion problems.