Washington County Urban and Rural Reserves Return to LCDC; Many Problems Remain Unresolved

Last month, the Washington County Urban and Rural Reserves process entered a new phase, as a new reserves map was approved by Metro Council and the Washington County Board of Commissioners. The proposal now will return to the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC), which must approve it before it will take effect.

Unfortunately, the proposal does not adequately protect vital areas of Washington County farmlands. Agriculture is essential to the economy of Washington County, with  over $227 million in direct sales last year, the seventh-highest county in the state. Yet 80% of the Foundation farmland proposed for urban reserves in the Metro region is in Washington County. That’s 9731 vital, productive acres of berries, orchards, and grains that could be lost unnecessarily, while thousands of acres of developable land remain underutilized within the existing urban growth boundary in Washington County.  Thank you to all who have participated in this process and shared concerns about the new map.

The new map does remove part of the urban reserve outside Cornelius north of Council Creek, which was one of the primary reasons the original map was remanded by LCDC last October. Unfortunately, it leaves 360 acres of Foundation farmland north of the creek as an “undesignated” area. Washington County farmers and 1000 Friends of Oregon contend this area should be designated as a rural reserve.

Additionally, the proposal retains urban reserve status for almost all of an area north of Council Creek north of Forest Grove. LCDC remanded this 260-acre area to Metro and Washington County, with direction to reconsider whether it should instead be a rural reserve. But the newest proposal only reclassifies 28 acres as “undesignated,” leaving 230 acres for urban reserves. 


Read Policy Director Mary Kyle McCurdy's April testimony to Metro Council outlining our concerns.

Furthermore, Washington County and Metro decided to “make up” the lost urban reserve acreage with new urban reserves and undesignated areas elsewhere in the county. They were under no direction from LCDC to do so, and 1000 Friends believes such a policy is erroneous and detrimental to Washington  County agriculture.

Areas of particular concern are:

    * a new 352-acre urban reserve in the Helvetia area north of Highway 26, reclassified from “undesignated”;
    * a 383-acre area of prime farmland south of Hillsboro that was modified from rural reserve to “undesignated.”

Metro intends to consider an expansion of the regional urban growth boundary before the end of 2011. It hopes to rely on urban reserves in making its UGB decision. However, as the reserves proposal returns to LCDC for consideration, this process is not over. Until the heart of Washington County farmland is properly protected, 1000 Friends of Oregon will continue to oppose the proposal as it now stands. 

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