An unprecedented long-range growth plan for the tri-county Portland area faces a vote Friday as the state Land Conservation and Development Commission wraps up two days of testimony and deliberations.



The commission will vote on urban and rural "reserve" designations that will guide development and preservation in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties until 2060. The counties and Metro, the regional government, submitted plans designating 28,256 acres of urban reserves. Those areas will be considered first when the urban growth boundary is expanded. Another 266,628 acres was designated as rural reserves, meaning it will remain as farms, forests and significant natural areas.



As expected, most of the testimony Thursday involved fast-growing Washington County, where nearly half the urban reserve acreage is located. Earlier this year, the land commission approved plans for Clackamas and Multnomah counties but remanded part of Washington County's urban reserves and its rural reserves as well.



Metro and the counties submitted amendments in May, accompanied by 14 objections from cities, neighborhood groups, individual property owners and advocacy groups.



Planners with the state Department of Land Conservation and Development reviewed the amendments, considered the objections and recommended the commission approve the package.



Many of those who testified Thursday, however, asked the commission to make changes. Cornelius officials said land north of town should be changed to urban reserves, to attract development and jobs. Helvetia residents, north of the Sunset Highway, asked that their area be designated as rural reserves because it is prime farmland.



Washington County resident Tom Black brought a hoop to the hearing and jumped through it twice, to demonstrate that the planning process was complicated and confusing.



Former Gov. Barbara Roberts, who was thrown into the urban-rural reserve issue after being appointed to the Metro Council in February, praised the collaborative regional planning process.



"I thought I had reached my last learning experience with land-use," she told the commission. "I had not."



--Eric Mortenson











