adopting and implementing a metropolitan plan: portland metro's experience

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce's American Community Survey and information from the U.S. Census, bicycling as a mode of commuting has jumped 275 percent in Portland since 1996. At the same time, driving has slowly declined. Public transportation and walking have increased 25 percent and 15 percent, respectively, according to the data.

project for transportation reform

CNU

Adopting and implementing a metropolitan plan: Portland Metro's experience

Metro CouncilorRobert Liberty

Clean Air!

Clean Air!Clean Air!

Walkable Community

Organic Farm Zone

HAZARD ZONE No

Development

Endangered Butterfly Habitat

Overlay Zone

Urban Growth Boundary

Diverse Beneficiaries

High Density Mixed Use & Mixed Income Redevelopment

Welcome to Metro Portland!

As early as 1907, the newly created Oregon

Board of Health referred to the

Willamette River as “an open sewer,” 

Urbanization of the Willamette Valley Oregon-Washington Region

By the third quarter of the 20th Century, Oregon was experiencing sprawl and Portland was experiencing……

Declining population

Sprawling suburbs

A polluted river

Air pollution

A fading downtown

Economic change & dislocation

Rising racial tensions

The future was not bright….

The context for the Portland metropolitan plan is a statewide plan for growth and conservation.

• Goal 1 - Citizen Involvement• Goal 2 - Land Use Planning• Goal 3 - Agriculture Lands• Goal 4 - Forest Lands• Goal 5 - Open Spaces, Scenic

and Historic Area, and Natural Resources

• Goal 6 - Air, Water and Land Resources Quality

• Goal 7 - Areas Subject to Natural Disasters and

Hazards • Goal 8 - Recreation Needs

• Goal 9 - Economy of the State• Goal 10 - Housing• Goal 11 - Public Facilities and

Services• Goal 12 - Transportation • Goal 13 - Energy• Goal 14 - Urbanization• Goal 15 - Willamette Greenway• Goal 16 - Estuarine Resources• Goal 17 - Coastal Shorelands• Goal 18 - Beaches and Dunes• Goal 19 - Ocean Resources

• Goal 1 - Citizen Involvement• Goal 2 - Land Use Planning• Goal 3 - Agriculture Lands• Goal 4 - Forest Lands• Goal 5 - Open Spaces, Scenic

and Historic Area, and Natural Resources

• Goal 6 - Air, Water and Land Resources Quality

• Goal 7 - Areas Subject to Natural Disasters and

Hazards • Goal 8 - Recreation Needs

• Goal 15 - Willamette Greenway• Goal 16 - Estuarine Resources• Goal 17 - Coastal Shorelands• Goal 18 - Beaches and Dunes• Goal 19 - Ocean Resources

• Goal 9 - Economy of the State• Goal 10 - Housing• Goal 11 - Public Facilities and

Services• Goal 12 - Transportation • Goal 13 - Energy• Goal 14 - Urbanization

• Goal 1 - Citizen Involvement• Goal 2 - Land Use Planning

Oregon’s Development & Conservation Goals

State Laws & Goals

City & County Comprehensive Plans & Amendments to Plans

City & County Land Use Regulations

Local Decisions Implementing the Plans & Regulations

Defining the Limits of Urban Growth

Antelope, Oregon Population 34

Defining the Limits of Urban Growth

Defining the Limits of Urban Growth

PortlandPortland GreshamGresham

Vancouver & Vancouver & Clark County, Clark County, WashingtonWashington

WilsonvilleWilsonville

Oregon CityOregon City

HillsboroHillsboroForest GroveForest Grove

TigardTigard

Defining the Limits of Urban Growth

Elected Metro Councilors Elected Metro Council President

Metropolitan Portland Regional Government (Oregon Portion Only)

Elected Metro Auditor

Background

Regional Framework Plan

Urban Growth Management Functional Plan

Regional Transportation Plan

Metropolitan Planning Organization

Other regional functions & facilities

Oregon Zoo, Convention Center, PCPA, Expo

Recycling & Solid waste

Parks & Greenspaces

Source: Arthur C. Nelson: “How Do We Know Smart Growth When We See It?” in Smart Growth: Form & Consequences, Lincoln Institute for Land Policy 2002 NOTE: Current boundary contains about 256,000 acres

Portland Regional Urban Growth Boundary Expansions 1980 - 2000

Compact Urban Development & RedevelopmentCompact Urban Development & Redevelopment

Metro Policy Advisory Committee

Implementing the Plan

Lexington-Fayette County, Kentucky

Charleston City & County SC

Lincoln-Lancaster Co. NB Concord NH

Lancaster County PA

Sioux Falls, Minnehaha & Lincoln-Lancaster Co. SD

Ventura County CA

Results

Compact Urban Development & Redevelopment

Do they work?

Compact Urban Development & Redevelopment

Compact Urban Development & RedevelopmentCompact Urban Development & Redevelopment

San AntonioColumbusCharlotte

These five regions were of comparable populations, size and growth during the 1990s.

Source: Nelson & Sanchez, “Lassoing Urban Sprawl” Metroscape IPMS Winter 2003

Orlando Portland

Compact Urban Development & Redevelopment

Regional Population Growth Allocated By Density Category 1990 -2000

Charlotte Columbus Orlando San Antonio Portland

UrbanUrban 7% 31% 64% 63% 88% 3000+ persons/sq mile

Suburban 50% 45% 23% 8% 9% 1000 to 3000 persons/sq mile

Exurban 45% 18% 12% 12% 1% 300 to 1000 persons/sq mile

Rural -1% 7% 2% 17% 3% 0 to 300 persons/sq mile

Compact Urban Development & Redevelopment

Redeveloping Outer Suburbs

Redeveloping Older Suburbs

Redeveloping Inner Neighborhoods

Photo © The Westerly 2008

Pearl District Redevelopment

South Waterfront (former industrial area)

& Oregon Health & Sciences University

Compact Urban Development & Redevelopment

In the Portland metropolitan region 1977-82:

-Acreage of residential zoned land increased 10%. - Multi-family acreage almost quadrupled to 27%.

- Maximum potential buildable units increased from 129,000 to over 301,000

More Housing Choices & Density

Average Single Family Residential Lot Size Portland, Oregon Metro Region

1978 12,800 sq. ft.

1982 8,280 sq. ft.

1995 6,738 sq. ft.

1997 6,481 sq. ft.

1999 6,151 sq. ft.

2000 5,857 sq. ft.

5,132 sq. ft.

2001 001

More Housing Choices & Density

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

1995 1996 1997 1998

Sing Fam

Duplex

Row Hse

Apts

Mfg/mob

Other

Dwelling Units Permitted by Type in the City of Portland

More Housing Choices & Density

PROCEEDINGS OF THE

ELEVENTH NATIONAL CONFERNCE

ON CITY PLANNING NIAGARA FALLS AND BUFFALO, NEW YORK

MAY 26-28, 1919

Origins of Exclusionary (Snob) Zoning

Origins of Exclusionary (Snob) Zoning

Introductory Statement by Arthur C Comey, City Planner, Cambridge Mass.

Today as we came down Delaware Avenue, a street largely built up with fine single houses, set well back, we saw a large pile of lumber and we were told that somebody proposed to put a large frame apartment house. In a few years, this apartment house would become, in the ordinary course, a poor kind of tenement house, and property values along the street would soon be destroyed. Page 159

Apartment houses and multi-family houses should be assigned to specific districts which have adequate protection against apartment houses. The single family house does not damage apartment dwellings, so that the only requirement necessary is to establish residential district where apartments are not permitted. Page 160

It may be a reasonable view that the health and general physical and mental welfare of society would be promoted by each family dwelling in a house by itself. Increase in fresh air, freedom for the play of children and of movement for adults, the opportunity to cultivate a bit of land, and the reduction in the spread of contagious diseases may be thought to be advanced by a general custom that each family live in a house standing by itself with its own curtilage…... There is nothing on the face of this by law to indicate that it will not operate indifferently for the general benefit.

Brett v. Building Commissioner of Brookline, 250 Mass. 73, 78, 145 N. E. 269, 271 (1924)

Origins of Exclusionary (Snob) Zoning

City of Euclid v. Ambler Judge Westerhaven US District Court 1925

The blighting of property values and the congesting of population whenever the colored races or certain foreign races are so well known as to be within judicial cognizance.

[But]..in the last analysis, the result to be accomplished is to classify the population and segregate them according to their income or situation in life….[thus the zoning measure was unconstitutional under Buchanan v. Warley.]

Origins of Exclusionary (Snob) Zoning

City of Euclid v. Ambler

US Supreme Court 1926

With particular reference to apartment houses, it is pointed out that the development of detached house sections [viz. neighborhoods] is greatly retarded by the coming of apartment houses, which has sometimes resulted in destroying the entire section for private house purposes; that in such sections very often the apartment house is a mere parasite…. Moreover, the coming of one apartment house is followed by others…

Origins of Exclusionary (Snob) Zoning

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Underwriting Manual of 1938

Section 937. Quality of Neighborhood Development … Areas surrounding a location are investigated to determine whether incompatible racial and social groups are present, for the purpose of making a prediction regarding the probability of the location being invaded by such groups. If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same racial classes. A change in social or racial occupancy generally contributes to instability and a decline in values.

REINFORCING Exclusionary Zoning

SOURCES

James C. O’Connell, “Thinking Like a Region: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives,” in Charles C. Euchner, ed., Governing Greater Boston: The Politics and Policy of Place (Cambridge, MA: Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, 2002), 51.

“Wide Open Spaces: The USA Today Sprawl Index,” USA Today, August 13, 2001. The areas compared are the Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas, which in the case of Boston stretches as far west as the Worcester area and north into southern New Hampshire. The Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) for Boston has 1,603 persons per square mile while the Los Angeles PMSA has 2,183 per square mile.

BOSTON METROPOLITAN REGION

1982-1997: Metro Boston Population Increased by 6.7%

1982-1997: Metro Boston Urban Area Increased by 46.9%

1950 –2000: Metro Boston Population Density Decreased 55%

2000: Metro Boston Density ½ Metro Los Angeles

Effects of EXCLUSIONARY Zoning

Income groups intermingle; Land-use planning nurtures economic integration in Portland, census data show” Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian (May 15, 2002)

“Bucking national trends, Portland and its suburbs became more economically integrated during the 1990s, new census figures show.

Poor families are less concentrated in Portland and more likely to live in the suburbs – nearly all the suburbs – than a decade ago. …..

The residential mingling of haves and have-nots can be traced to a state land-use rule put in place nearly a quarter century ago, local developers and planners say.”

More Housing Choices & Density

September 18, 2007

Portland Public Schools Enrollment to Level Off by 2011, Then Begin a Gradual Rebound, According to Portland State University Population Researchers

Enrollment in Portland Public Schools is expected to drop by roughly 2,750 students over five years, before stabilizing at about 42,700 K-12 students in 2011-12. .. From 2000 to 2006… the percentage of school-age children enrolled in PPS - dropped only slightly, from 85.6% to 83.7%.

More Housing Choices & Density

Median Single Family Home Prices in Metro Regions National Association Realtors

2007 2009 2nd qtr 2007 to 2009 2nd qtr

Portland $295,200 $246,200 -17%

Atlanta $172,000 $121,400 -30%Boston $395,600 $336,100 -15%Chicago $276,600 $204,300 -26%NY-N’ern NJ $469,700 $379,800 -19%Phil-Cam-Wil $234,900 $211,000 -10%Sacramento $342,800 $177,500 -49%San Francisco $804,800 $472,900 -41%Seattle $386,900 $328,400 -18%

Wilsonvillee

Clackamas

Between 1990 and 1999 Portland regional transit ridership grew 24 percent faster than vehicle miles traveled & 59 percent faster than population growth.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce's [2008] American Community Survey and information from the U.S. Census, bicycling as a mode of commuting has jumped 275 percent in Portland since 1996. At the same time, driving has slowly declined. Public transportation and walking have increased 25 percent and 15 percent, respectively, according to the data.

Lady Madonna, cyclists at your feet By Joseph RoseNovember 02, 2009

Church leaders and 35 bicyclists gather at St. Stephen’s Parish in downtown Portland on Monday night for a blessing of the bikes. The ceremony was part of the unveiling of what is believed to be the nation’s only church shrine dedicated to the Madonna del Ghisallo, patron saint of cyclists.

More Travel Choices, Less Dependence on Cars

Rural Lands Conserved for Farming, Ranching & Forestry

Rural Lands Conserved for Farming, Ranching & Forestry

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,000

1,800,000

2,000,000

2,200,000

2,400,000

2,600,000

2,800,000

3,000,000

1950 1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1987 1992 1997

Census year

farm

lan

d a

cres

1950-97 trend

1974-97 trend

Census of Agriculture

Trends in total acres of farmland in Willamette Valley 1950-1997

Rural Lands Conserved for Farming, Ranching & Forestry

Land Use Change On Non-Federal Land in Western Oregon, 1973-2000” Azuma, Birch, Herstrom, Kline & Lettman (May 2002)

“In the period from 1994 to 2000 the conversion rate of resource land dropped from 6,000 acres per year to 4,000 acres per year. In this period population and personal income growth rates were again high but the rate of development continued to slow. This is a good indication that the land use program has slowed the rate of resource land conversion (Figure 20.) “

Rural Lands Conserved for Farming, Ranching & Forestry

Rural Lands Conserved for Farming, Ranching & Forestry

Rural Lands Conserved for Farming, Ranching & Forestry

Politics

(Repeal) Initiative Campaigns

1976, 1978, 1982, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2007

The Battle Over NW Portland Row Houses 1989

The Battle Over NW Portland Row Houses 1989

May 1989 23 arrestedAugust 1989

The Battle Over NW Portland Row Houses 1989

CITY OF MILWAUKIE RECALL ELECTIONS Submitted to the legal voters of said City

Official Ballot, Special Election County of Clackamas, State of Oregon Tuesday, December 16, 1996

Craig Lomnicki, Mayor of Milwaukie

REASONS FOR DEMANDING RECALL OF CRAIG LOMNICKI, MAYOR, CITY

OF MILWAUKIE

Mayor Craig Lomnicki has consistently demonstrated his unwillingness to abide by the will of the citizens on issues including land use / density, neighborhood livability, traffic and light rail.

We do not have confidence in Mayor Lomnicki to protect the existing quality of life, traditions and character of our community.

Southwest Community Plan Controversy

Public and Voter Support Remains Strong and Steady

Public and Voter Support Remains Strong and Steady

Public and Voter Support Remains Strong and Steady

Public and Voter Support Remains Strong and Steady

Implementing our Plan: Making the Greatest

Place

Regional Framework Plan

Urban Growth Management Functional Plan

Regional Transportation Plan

Recommended Regional Investment Strategy

Employment: Forecasted Distribution

The Study Area (400,000 acres)

Metro Residential Capacity Analysis

Metro Residential Capacity Analysis

Local Aspirations for Urban Growth, Development & Redevelopment

Local Aspirations for Urban Growth, Development & Redevelopment

Rendering from Hillsboro’s Amberglen Concept Plan

Public Investments to Support Urban Development & Redevelopment

Public Investments to Support Urban Development & Redevelopment

The [Metro infrastructure] analysis also reported that the combined public costs of deferred maintenance and new infrastructure to accommodate growth are estimated at between $27 billion and $41 billion over the next 30 years. Only half of this cost estimate can be met with existing revenue sources, leaving a funding gap of between $10 and $20 billion.

If the relationship between land use and population in the last decade continues, [by 2025] there will be 68 million more acres of developed land in the contiguous U.S. than there are today. This newly developed acreage – equivalent to the land area of Wyoming – will almost match the amount of land developed from the founding of the country until 1983.”Dana Beach, SCCCL for the Pew Oceans Commission

Environmental Impacts of EXCLUSIONARY Zoning

The big picture.

project for transportation reform

CNU

Adopting and implementing a metropolitan plan: Portland Metro's experience

Metro CouncilorRobert Liberty