Battle of the lands

County and Metro officials will decide which lands will develop and which will remain rural

By Jim Hart

The Sandy Post, Oct 20, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

ADVERTISEMENTS

It’s almost like a battle of the towns. Some residents of Boring would like urban development to occur, while officials of the city of Sandy fear too much development would eventually fill the Highway 26 corridor from Gresham to Sandy.

But it is likely neither community will decide its fate.

County officials and Metro are standing in the middle as referees and decision makers.

No decision is final yet, but it seems to be favoring the Boring residents who want some urban development.

Sandy leaders are upset the Clackamas County Commission is recommending urban reserve land north of Boring near Highway 26.

Instead, they want a wide buffer of preserved, rural, agricultural land between Gresham and Sandy.

Metro and the three metropolitan counties are in the process of choosing where development should be allowed over the next 50 years.

Sandy officials believe the plan as outlined by Clackamas County commissioners is illegal.

“Designation of the area adjacent to Highway 26 as urban reserves violates the Green Corridor Agreement, signed by Clackamas County and Metro,” Sandy Planning Director Tracy Brown wrote in early August to the county’s policy advisory committee (PAC).

He also said most of the land in question is “Foundation Agricultural Land, containing some of the most productive and valuable nursery land in the state.”

But Boring area CPO Chairman Les Otto, who was a member of that PAC, doesn’t see it the same as Sandy city leaders. He doesn’t want Boring to be swallowed by urban sprawl and become a bedroom for Gresham.

“Whatever is going to happen to Boring in the future, up to 50 years from now,” he said, “needs to provide jobs and enough land for it to be an independent, sustainable community.

“I think the commissioners recognized that and took in enough (land) to accommodate that (growth potential).”

Otto wants the residents of Boring to have a chance to determine the direction of their community’s development and not have their history lost to the whims of another city.

“I think the commissioners realized the amount of urban reserve land the policy advisory committee had come up with was too small to allow Boring to be anything but annexed into another community,” he said.

“This will give the (Boring) community a chance to decide its own future.”

The Sandy City Council has had a firm position for a long time on the urban/rural reserves issue, according to City Manager Scott Lazenby.

1 | 2 Next Page >>