SHERWOOD SEEKS BRAKES ON GROWTH

The Oregonian, Metro West Section, 04/17/03

DANA TIMS

SHERWOOD -- Oregon's fastest-growing city during the 1990s has had its fill -- and infill -- of expansion. Officials there are now rolling up their sleeves to do something about it.

And the result could have big implications for other cities in the area, such as West Linn, that are serious about stemming their levels of growth.

Sherwood Mayor Mark Cottle, in a move that already has area homebuilders uneasy, wants to convene an unprecedented growth summit meeting sometime this summer.

With key city, county, state and private planners assembled at one table, Cottle intends to announce that the city of nearly 14,000 has now shouldered its share of regional growth.

"We're not rolling up the sidewalks," Cottle said. "But communities ought to have a say in who and what they want to be. Once we go beyond about 22,000 residents, we lose forever the nature of what makes us Sherwood."

The city, in trying to preserve its standing as a homespun outpost on the edge of the region's urban growth boundary, is facing an uphill fight. That's due largely to the nature of Oregon's land-use planning laws.

While those laws have won national acclaim for focusing urban growth in designated places and protecting the farms and forests beyond, they lack one ingredient that's vital to Sherwood's overture.

Brakes.

As long as a development proposal -- whether a residential subdivision or any form of business -- meets zoning and related requirements, it can't be stopped from proceeding. Cities, in other words, can't stop growth simply by saying they've had enough.

Homebuilders, knowing that, have already raised an eyebrow at Cottle's suggestion.

"It sounds like a building moratorium," said Kevin Curry, spokesman for the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland. "It seems to go against state land-use laws, which say it's the role of cities to plan for growth."

The homebuilders have clashed often with West Linn in recent years over that city's efforts to stem a rising population. They are wary that West Linn is trying to circumvent land-use laws by imposing inordinately high development charges, an accusation the city denies.

"If this happened, we know West Linn would certainly jump on the Sherwood bandwagon," Curry said. "But for now, we'll wait until we see the proposal before determining just what our level of participation will be."

David Bragdon, Metro's president, also sees problems with the proposal.

"We're happy to participate in the discussion," Bragdon said. "But saying there's never, ever going to be growth again would indicate that no one will be born there in the future. That's not realistic."

Cottle, in response, said he realizes that interest groups such as the homebuilders won't agree to anything too restrictive. So the city may be willing to sweeten the deal by agreeing to support future residential development on land near Sherwood that Metro recently included in the urban growth boundary.

"What I'm trying to do is institutionalize the ability of cities to have a little bit more say in where we're all headed," Cottle said. "We've accommodated more growth than any other community over the past 10 years, and we're done. We don't want to become a super-suburb."

Other voices

1000 Friends of Oregon, the land-use watchdog group, is certain to get an invitation from Cottle to attend his growth summit. The city, in fact, has already struck up an e-mail relationship with the group in hopes of working together to monitor and possibly influence the alignment of a future roadway connecting Interstate 5 with Oregon 99W.

But the two groups may part ways if it comes down to a stark choice between building new housing on lands already designated for that purpose or bypassing those lands in favor of extending residential subdivisions onto protected farmland.

What Sherwood can do is rightfully tell Metro it has already absorbed more than its fair share of regional growth, said Bob Stacey, 1000 Friends' executive director. Extensive infill opportunities inside the growth boundary should accommodate future growth relatively easily, he said, thereby reducing development pressure at the edges.

Officials for Washington County, another certain invitee, have not spoken with Cottle about his summit plans, spokeswoman Anne Madden said.

"But we certainly understand their concerns," she said. "It's a real hallmark of our county that we work together with our cities, so we'd be happy to contribute to the discussion."

A statewide group that supports local control when it comes to expansion decisions threw its weight solidly behind Sherwood.

"I'm very encouraged that the city is taking the initiative on this," said Jeff Lamb, chairman of Oregon Communities for a Voice in Annexation, a group formed to help cities pass measures giving citizens the final say in whether new land can be annexed. "They are bucking Salem and saying, 'We're going to control our own future.' "

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