Oregon Public Broadcasting

Hundreds of people have spoken for hours at Metro meetings around the Portland area over the last week and a half.

They’re discussing where urban parts of the region should grow in the next 40 to 50 years, and what should be kept rural.

At Thursday night’s final meeting in Wilsonville, one relatively small area south of Portland drew the most attention because it doesn’t fit neatly into Oregon’s typical framework of what’s a city, and what’s not. Rob Manning reports.

Nestled between the cities of West Linn, Tualatin, and Lake Oswego is a hilly and sparsely populated area called the Stafford Triangle. For area leaders trying to draw a map of future growth everyone can agree on, Stafford is the Bermuda Triangle, where agreement seems to vanish.

Metro sees Stafford’s long-term future as urban.

Clackamas County and leaders in the three cities close to Stafford have suggested leaving the triangle rural, or maybe leaving it out of the reserve process entirely.

Metro responded recently with a letter offering a collaborative process  – that would still make the area urban. At Thursday night’s hearing, Stafford resident Dave Adams scoffed at Metro’s letter.

Dave Adams: “In the last week, now messages have come from Metro – well, lets talk about conditions that would ease your comfort in an urban designation. I mean no disrespect, but honestly, are you kidding? It seems an extremely disingenuous offer.”

Regional and county leaders agree on protecting more than 200,000 acres as rural reserves and designating about 20,000 acres as urban reserves.

Stafford isn’t the only area of disagreement, but it’s the biggest. Part of the problem, says Alan Rosenfeld – who spoke in favor of protecting Stafford – is that the area doesn’t clearly fit an urban or rural future.

Alan Rosenfeld: “Because it does not meet Metro’s criteria for either. However, I – and many others – feel that Stafford is less fulfilling of the urban criteria than the rural.”

Rosenfeld and others argued that the steep slopes and existing development would make dense neighborhoods virtually impossible.

Stafford resident, Peter Ebert, questioned that assumption.

Peter Ebert: “If you look at just the city of West Linn, and the areas it’s already built on, the areas that possibly would be considered to be included in the future, are no more difficult than what they’ve already done.”

And when West Linn resident, Midge Pierce pressed the case for protecting Stafford, Metro councilor Robert Liberty asked her about the consequences. If not Stafford, then where?

Robert Liberty: “So, one of the tradeoffs, of course, is that if we’re not going to grow out, we’re going to grow up. Has that been discussed in your neighborhood – greater density, intensification of uses in existing neighborhoods in West Linn?”

Midge Pierce: “I think that’s an issue best addressed by the mayor and city council.”

But Stafford residents – like Julia Simpson – acknowledged that their area doesn’t exactly fit the rural definition, either.

Julia Simpson: “I know it doesn’t have foundation farmland – but it has many other ways of being used. I know it’s not a park, yet it does have very scenic qualities.”

Many advocates addressed Stafford as a whole community – a hamlet, as it’s called by Clackamas County. But others spoke about the long-term impact on specific properties.

Gary Rusher says his land has been in farming since the 1930s. But he can’t say it should be that way forever.

Gary Rusher: “All I ask is that you don’t put it in rural reserve. I’m going to probably make twenty more years on the family farm, but I can’t tell you what’s going to happen to it in the next thirty years.” 

Metro and county leaders hope to agree on a map by the middle of next month. It’s still far from clear whether the Stafford triangle will be preserved as rural, as many residents want, or urban, as Metro wants.

Not designating at all is one possibility. But it’s not a popular one with some officials who have been trying to establish long-term certainty about what land to develop in the years to come.