Buildout needs jobs and will take time

09/26/02

STEVE MAYES
The Oregonian

Clackamas County officials hope that when Damascus is brought inside the urban growth boundary there will be enough land set aside for jobs that will employ some of the 100,000 or so people who eventually will live there.


Just how much land is needed and how much will be available, however, is an open question and won't be answered for several years. Planners and public officials are making their best guess knowing that before large-scale development occurs, a land-use plan must be adopted and highways must be built and that some property may be unsuitable or unavailable.

The county has estimated that it needs 2,600 acres of industrial land to meet demand over 20 years and expects the Damascus area to supply most of it. The calculation doesn't include land needed for office buildings or other commercial uses.

Metro may add 9,400 acres in Damascus to the urban growth boundary in December. Of that amount, less than 1,500 acres is earmarked for employment.

"What's been identified isn't adequate if we're going to provide enough jobs to make a difference," said Dee Wescott, a longtime Damascus resident who heads a group that wants to form a city.

Currently, most of Clackamas County's work force commutes to jobs in adjoining counties. The county has little industrial land left and has had little success luring large employers. Officials hope that the Damascus expansion will help level the job imbalance.

"I don't want any development out there unless there's (sufficient) job producing land," Clackamas County Commissioner Larry Sowa said.

County officials are lobbying Metro to add another 800 acres of land for jobs in Damascus and Boring. The county also is taking steps to preserve large parcels for industrial use by putting limits on subdividing land brought into the urban growth boundary.

Mike Burton, Metro's executive officer, acknowledges that his recommendations for employment land for the whole Portland area fall short of what's needed.

Burton said he wants to spur a regional debate on where employment land should be added.

Simply adding industrial land doesn't guarantee jobs, Burton said.

In making his recommendations, Burton said he is asking questions that businesses will ask: "Are there services available immediately or in the near future."

Attracting large employers to Damascus may be difficult. As a rule, industrial firms want locations near freeways, rail lines or shipping terminals. By that standard, Damascus is isolated.

The county has been trying for more than 15 years to build the Sunrise Corridor, a highway would connect Interstate 205 and U.S. 26, but doesn't have the money.

"We're unlikely to see a full buildout without a major improvement in east-west highway capacity," said Greg Jenks, a Clackamas County economic development specialist.

The proposals Burton is studying to add more job-producing land include the former Vanport lumber mill in Boring and big parcels along Oregon 212 owned by nurseryman Leo Gentry and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Cash vs. crops Successfully balancing jobs and houses depends on many factors -- including some beyond Clackamas County's control.

The large parcels are owned by or leased to farmers or nurseries. Some agricultural land may not be available for development. Some property will be off-limits to development because of wetlands, streams, steep slopes or other environmental limits.

Most of the parcels targeted for employment are agricultural but not classified as prime farmland. Decisions made by farmers and nursery owners will shape industrial and office development.

"A lot of them just want it to stay the way it is," Wescott said.

But the pressures of farming in an increasingly urban area, where new neighbors may complain about noise, dust and smells may be incentive to relocate or quit the business, said Jim Siri, who wants to keep farming his 125 acres of vegetables.

Then there's the trade off between a truckload of cabbage and a bushel of cash.

"How would you like it if someone put a million dollar check in front of your face and said, 'You want to sell, or do you want to farm for the rest of your life?' " Wescott said.

"Oldtimers are leasing out their land until they can cash in on their nest egg. They realize it's going to take years and years," said George Faris, a real estate agent working with Damascus-area property owners who want to sell or develop.

Before any development occurs, the land brought inside the urban growth boundary will have to go through an extensive zoning process that will take years.

"Some of these people out in Damascus think it's going to happen overnight. It's not," Faris said.

Land in nearby Pleasant Valley moved inside the boundary in 1998, and the land-use planning process there still isn't finished.

The land-use debate probably will be contentious, pitting those who want to preserve the area's rural character against pro-development forces and interest groups such as 1000 Friends of Oregon, which supports low-impact development that protects the environment and minimizes commuting.

Damascus and Boring residents could vote to form cities, which would add another level of land-use planning.

"We've been pretty clear that when areas urbanize they need to be in municipalities," Clackamas County Commissioner Michael Jordan said.

Putting brakes on subdivisions The county is taking action to preserve as many big parcels as it can.

As soon as Metro approves the expansion, landowners would be allowed to split up their acreage. Properties couldn't be carved into high-density residential subdivisions, but big parcels could be broken into smaller ones. Such splits make it harder to ensure there will be 50- and 100-acre industrial sites needed to attract big employers, county economic development officials said.

"We do not know exactly where those sites are going to be. We have some ideas," said Karen Buehrig, Clackamas County land-use planner.

"If you have a 20-acre piece out there and you split it, you've lost the ability to put in a road."

The county plans to put the brakes on the breakups by tweaking its land-use ordinance. The change will coincide with Metro's decision in December.

The county would continue imposing a state rule that affects properties within one mile of the urban growth boundary. The state requires that any new parcel be at least 20 acres, regardless of its zoning.

The proposed 20-acre minimum will preserve parcels large enough for future employment sites and make it easier to plan for urban services, Buehrig said.

The county ordinance would affect rural zoning and put limits on new schools and churches. Property zoned as farm, agricultural or timber land would still have an 80-acre minimum lot size.

The county planning commission will hold an Oct. 28 hearing on the proposal. Steve Mayes: 503-294-5916; stevemayes@news.oregonian.com