The Oregonian, 12/12/02

Four decades of nearly unchecked growth have left West Linn officials scrambling to slam the brakes on what they see as state-mandated sprawl. And if the city succeeds, the painful political exercise of expanding the Portland area's urban growth boundary may be a footnote in history.

Starting today, the city will expand what have been local frustrations statewide by soliciting support from every Oregon mayor for two changes in state law.

Both try to temper a state land-use system originally designed to manage rather than slow growth.

"These state laws are driving us places we just don't want to go," West Linn Mayor David Dodds said. "As things stand now, we'll only be circumscribed from not growing further when we bump into the Willamette River."

The letters to more than 250 Oregon mayors are intended to precipitate action by the 2003 Legislature.

The more contentious proposal would eliminate the requirement of larger urban areas to provide a 20-year land supply for residential development. The second would amend systems development charges to let cities collect fees for growth effects on schools, as well as on police, fire and library services.

Both resolutions have been introduced during past legislative sessions and promptly hammered. This time, West Linn officials hope to tap into submerged anti-growth sentiments shared by cities similarly saddled with unwanted expansion.

"A lot of things succeed because people are persevering," Dodds said. "That's one thing I've learned from the development community. They just do not give up."

West Linn's message resonates with some Oregon cities. At least 15, including Salem, Florence and Sherwood, have passed resolutions supporting one or more of the proposals.

But success is far from certain.

"You can introduce these, but I don't see how they get passed," state Sen. Peter Courtney, D-Salem, said. "The development community will go nuts."

The proposals might not get the blessing of even the seemingly friendlier League of Oregon Cities, which considered them briefly at a November meeting before assigning them to various committees.

"The truth is, there isn't unbridled growth," said Beaverton Mayor Rob Drake, the league's incoming president. "Growth, for the most part, is well thought out and well planned. And it certainly doesn't occur without fair hearing."

Land supply law in 1995

The 20-year land supply requirement became law in 1995 after a push from the Oregon Building Industry Association and other pro-development groups. The requirement was the driving force this year in Metro's decision to authorize the biggest-ever expansion of the Portland area's urban growth boundary.

"But that's a good thing," said Kelly Ross, governmental affairs director for the Home Builders of Metropolitan Portland. "It's a requirement for long-term thinking about the future, rather than just burying your head in the sand, as West Linn is trying to do."

West Linn spokesman John Atkins disagreed. "This is about power, not planning," he said. "I don't know of any other industry that gets a guaranteed supply of raw materials."

State Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby, has tried unsuccessfully three times to pass laws letting cities charge developers the cost of building the schools and libraries needed to accommodate the new residents their projects will attract. Now, cities can charge only for new roads, parks, sewers and water systems. Schrader plans to take up the cause again as a state senator in 2003.

"The opposition tries to paint this as a new tax, when in reality it reduces taxes," Schrader said. "What people need to understand is, the (systems development) money doesn't come from poor granny who's lived in the community for years. It comes from rich granny who moves into town and buys that $400,000 so-called affordable house."

The new lobbying campaign isn't West Linn's first attempt to stem 40 years of 3.5 percent annual growth. The city's population has ballooned from 3,933 in 1960 to its current 23,090, transforming it from a sleepy bedroom community south of Lake Oswego to an affluent free-standing suburb.

Some cities vote on annexation

In 1998, citizens passed a charter amendment requiring a vote before any new land could be annexed. Altogether 30 Oregon cities, representing nearly 500,000 residents, have passed similar measures.

West Linn, bolstered by a City Council dominated by no-growth sentiment, then approved the highest growth-related fees in the state for new construction permits.

Home builders have complained, to no avail, that the high fees amount to a de facto moratorium on new-home construction in the city.

"We believe that the SDC laws, as they stand now, are more than fair," the Home Builders' Ross said. "They're doing what they were intended to do, except in isolated cases such as West Linn, which has consistently misused them."

In Salem, however, strange coalitions sometimes form, giving new life to otherwise dead-end proposals.

Contrary to prevailing opinion, Courtney is convinced that the coming session, won't focus solely on budgets. Given the 15-15 party split in the Senate, he said, considerable negotiating and trade-offs can be expected.

State Sen. David Nelson, R-Pendleton, said he favors the 20-year land supply law. But, shedding light on just the kind of opening West Linn and other cities may be searching for, he said he also supports the notion of local control.

"Oregon's land-use laws are 30 years old and haven't kept up with the times," he said. "If there have to be changes, we need to look at what works at the local level."

Dana Tims: 503-294-5973; danatims AT news.oregonian.com