WaCo Commissioners' Urban/Rural response draws controversy
by Virginia Bruce
In November, The Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) rejected part of Washington County's proposal for Urban and Rural Reserves. Outgoing Board of County Commissioners (BCC) Chair Tom Brian and Chair-elect Andy Duyck have reportedly been meeting with LCDC and Metro representatives to frame a response and replace the acreage that was rejected by LCDC.
Duyck and Brian sent a memo, with maps attached, on December 4 to the other Commissioners, Desari Strader, Dick Schouten, and Roy Rogers. In the memo, they suggest replacing the parcel north of Cornelius, rejected outright by LCDC, with a parcel north of Highway 26 in the Helvetia area. That parcel was considered for the original proposal but strong opposition from Save Helvetia, a group of citizens including landowners, farmers and conservationists, took it off the table.
An additional 592 acres north of 26 and 900 acres in the Rock Creek area would be changed from Rural Reserve to Undesignated, meaning they could be changed to Urban land if the county says it has an urgent need to do so.
Additionally, the memo indicates that the BCC should quickly approve the changes, without public involvement and before the two newly elected commissioners, Greg Malinowski (replacing Strader) and Bob Terry (replacing Duyck) will take office.
During a work session held December 7, Strader accused Schouten of leaking the memo. Dana Tims, of the Oregonian, reports Strader as saying, “It's a sad day in leadership in the region when things get out before colleagues even have a chance to review them," Strader said, with Schouten seated a few feet away. "The result is a lot of misinformation out there that set some of us up for an onslaught from constituents.”
In response to public outcry over this issue, the BCC has added an hour of public testimony to its December 14 meeting schedule.
The process of designating reserves took over three years and weeks of testimony. Some question whether this should be modified over the space of a couple of weeks with little public input. Many, including several Metro councilors, felt that Washington County asked for too much Urban Reserve land, considerably more than Clackamas County. The Metro Council has responded negatively to the Commissioners' proposal.
|
