Killing It Softly
Today The Oregonian wrapped up a three-part, shallow discussion of how land use planning in Oregon is being re-examined because the system, clearly, is broken - or is even more broken.. was it ever functional?
Today's story reflected on how the current system jeopardizes economic health. I'm impressed that in the first few paragraphs, the paper mentions Etek, the firm that wanted dearly to expand its operations in Hillsboro - and significantly - but couldn't because the City had no land to offer inside the UGB so the firm expanded in Austin.
And then there was the fight it took to bring more industrial land, with idiotic high-tech, large lot restrictions, at Shute and Evergreen. Too little, too late: the site still still produces nothing but top-quality clover.
But the Shute Road tech property perfectly illustrates several glaring problems with land-use planning in Oregon:
1 - Businesses are far more dynamic and make decisions faster than governments currently can... well, Oregon governments. Austin, Texas did just fine.
2 - Very little City/County economic develoment autonomy. The multiple layers of government and planning mandates completely prevent any dynamic economic development initiatives. At Shute/Evergreen, you have State, Metro, Washington County and Hillsboro planning coordination and compliance involved. All for 200 acres of fallow farm land.
3 - The system allows fallow/clover/grass hay farms to be "protected" at the expense of potentially hundreds of high-paying, high-education jobs. This happened under Crazy Susan's watch and she shouldn't be allowed to forget it.
4 - Evaluating the regionwide need for industrial land, rather than the localized need due to different industry mix/employers, is a farce. Damascus/Happy Valley industrial parcels do nothing for Intel, Etek or any other high-tech firm clamoring to be near Intel in Hillsboro.
Please, someone jump in. If the State is truly going to reevaluate the system, let's throw everything against the wall and hope something gets noticed or sticks.
Today The Oregonian wrapped up a three-part, shallow discussion of how land use planning in Oregon is being re-examined because the system, clearly, is broken - or is even more broken.. was it ever functional?
Today's story reflected on how the current system jeopardizes economic health. I'm impressed that in the first few paragraphs, the paper mentions Etek, the firm that wanted dearly to expand its operations in Hillsboro - and significantly - but couldn't because the City had no land to offer inside the UGB so the firm expanded in Austin.
And then there was the fight it took to bring more industrial land, with idiotic high-tech, large lot restrictions, at Shute and Evergreen. Too little, too late: the site still still produces nothing but top-quality clover.
But the Shute Road tech property perfectly illustrates several glaring problems with land-use planning in Oregon:
1 - Businesses are far more dynamic and make decisions faster than governments currently can... well, Oregon governments. Austin, Texas did just fine.
2 - Very little City/County economic develoment autonomy. The multiple layers of government and planning mandates completely prevent any dynamic economic development initiatives. At Shute/Evergreen, you have State, Metro, Washington County and Hillsboro planning coordination and compliance involved. All for 200 acres of fallow farm land.
3 - The system allows fallow/clover/grass hay farms to be "protected" at the expense of potentially hundreds of high-paying, high-education jobs. This happened under Crazy Susan's watch and she shouldn't be allowed to forget it.
4 - Evaluating the regionwide need for industrial land, rather than the localized need due to different industry mix/employers, is a farce. Damascus/Happy Valley industrial parcels do nothing for Intel, Etek or any other high-tech firm clamoring to be near Intel in Hillsboro.
Please, someone jump in. If the State is truly going to reevaluate the system, let's throw everything against the wall and hope something gets noticed or sticks.
posted by Screwtape at 8:41 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home