Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Portland region’s contentious two-year effort to identify where urban growth should go in future decades is heating up as it nears the finish line. Rob Manning reports.

Elected officials representing Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties, and the Metro regional government, say they need to reach an agreement this week, on where urban and rural reserves should go.

They’ve been working on a map for two years, identifying areas that could be developed in the next 50 years, and others that would remain farm and forest land.

The remaining sticking points are near Sherwood, Cornelius, Stafford, and Portland’s West Hills.

Political pressure has intensified in the last few weeks, as the team prepares to vote Monday.

Metro councilor Katherine Harrington, says the region is facing a looming deadline.

Katherine Harrington: “If we don’t have urban and rural reserves by the end of February, then Metro staff has to create a whole different body of work.”

That work would signal a shift back to the previous method of long-term planning, which prioritized protecting farmland based on the quality of its soil.

Elected leaders have said they prefer the more nuanced reserves’ process.