By Bruce Bartlett

This article introduces the CPO Modernization Project and how you can contribute to its outcome. Washington County offers its residents a way to be involved in local land use issues through the highly regarded Community Participation Organization (CPO) program. Our CPOs were designed in the early 1980’s by the Oregon State University Extension Service to meet the requirements of Oregon’s Land Use Goal One. The OSU Extension has a rigorous focus on community education, so the CPO’s original focus was both public participation and civic education. The program is currently administered by the county.

While Oregon’s land use policies assume urban development will be done solely by cities, Washington County’s past land use practices created a huge area of unincorporated urban development in which no city provides services. This anomaly led to the creation of our county’s unique special service districts which support the needs of modern urban living. Among these are the need for residents to be able to connect with each other to pursue issues of common concern. In the absence of neighborhood associations, such as Beaverton’s NACs, the CPO program expanded organically to include coverage of quality-of-life issues that are important in urban environments but that are not strictly speaking “land use” issues.

After three years of study, in October the Washington County Office of Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement (OEICE) announced their proposed plans to “modernize” the program. Public input will be integrated into the plan which is expected to be formally adopted by the Board of County Commissioners in the spring of 2025. Five new guidelines have been proposed to “anchor and refocus the program on its original purpose.” These governance elements are intended to align the CPO program with the county’s other advisory Boards and Commissions. The following proposed changes are taken verbatim from the announcement:

• Modernized language: remove outdated language that is gender exclusive or refers to “citizens” as opposed to “community members.”
• Updated focus and scope: Restoring the original focus of the CPO/CCI program so that it advises the Board of County Commissioners primarily about land use and transportation planning within Washington County’s unincorporated areas. The CPOs and CCI would continue to provide opportunities for community updates on other topics.
• Membership and eligibility: align the leadership appointment framework for CPOs and the CCI with what the Board has established for other County advisory boards and commissions, rather than through current participant elections.
• Program requirements: require compliance with Oregon Public Meetings and Records Law; clarify the minimum number of participants needed to activate, the duties of program leaders, procedures for making decisions, and distinct roles of staff vs. participants.
• Geography/boundaries: create new CPO boundaries that align with District Commissioner Boundaries, do not include areas inside incorporated cities, automatically adjust as redistricting and annexation occurs, and contain no less than one but no more than three CPOs per District Commissioner boundary.

Please provide input about these recommendations by taking the online survey. It will remain open for comments through December. You are also invited to participate in the upcoming online listening session on Wednesday, November 13 from 6-7:30 pm on Zoom.

The CPO Modernization Project will be discussed at the joint CPO 1 & 7 meeting on Tuesday, December 10, 7 pm at the Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue Fire Station 68, at 13545 NW Evergreen Street and online via Zoom.