02-24-1997 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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**All the Ncwi That's Fit to Print’J?ctar JJork eimejs Nitiotul CdlUon Mi<wfw Monhr rluuov rhiHv » Murnr nr^r ine t«rr«i Lakes. OH« viHry. pariiv tunny. mi*d l*lams tofw tnow north, pariiat tun. qmiii mild touih Wetuter map fuiee Bt OL.CXLVI....So.i0.6i7 ■•ii MONDAY. DECEMBER 30. 1996 PnnM « CJwac*ONE DOLLAh Drawing the Hard Line on Urban Sprawl By TIMOTHY EGAN PORTLAND. Ore. — One of the great challenges of the West, the writer Wallace Stegner said, was to build a avilixauon to match the setting. But as 6 of the IS fastest-growing cities in the nation come of age in the West, spilling into forests, de serts and mountain valleys, the only urban area that appears to be most consciously trymg to shape itself as a new kind of Amencan city is Portland While other 1990*s boom cities like Phoenix. Denver. Salt Lake and Las Vegas were following a predictable pattern of unchecked growth, taking on the bloat and sprawl of Los Angeles. Portland went the other way. Ignoring lawsuits and pressure from commercial and develop ment interests. Portland — aett^ on a much-fought-over new sute law — simply drew a line around the metropolitan area, beginning in the late 1970's. On one side would be forests, farms and open space; on the other would be the city. The aim was to force jobs, homes and stores into a relatively compact area, served by light rail, buses and cars. Skepucs said it would be impos sible to contam a fast-growing city like Portland within a political boundary, without sending jobs away or killing property values. It seemed even more unlikely that a big city in the West could force people out of their cars, as Port land. with a current populauon of about 450,000 tned to do. tearing up a downtown freeway and putting a limit on parkmg spaces. But instead of lost jobs, a silicon forest of high-tech campuses and fanones grew inside the new ur- OM rtHmm Mr m Mtv V«t Portland’s light rail lystem. Max, was crudal in hs plan to keep jobs and homes within an area that would be ringed by farms and forests. BCCOMINQ LOS ANGEUS Second o/ two arn'e/es. ban boundaries. Instead of falling property values, home prices have soared. And uistead of losing popu lauon. Oregon added 500.000 peo ple. mosUy ui Portland and the Willamette Valley to the south, in the last IS years. It did so with the stnetest laws against urban sprawl in the nation. Many of the newer compaiues ui Oregon — among them Hewlett- Packard. Intel and Hyundai — say they moved here because there are forests, fruit orchards and me andering creeks just across the street from the contamed urban areas. The employers said they wanted to locate in an area that could attract educated workers who were as interested m quality of Ufe as a paycheck. “This IS where we are headed worldwide." said Bill Calder. a spokesman for InteL the computer chip manufacturer that has nearly 9,000 employees in Oregon. "Com panies that can locate anywhere they want will go where they can attract good people ui good places." A number of criucs say Oregon IS unique, and that its poliucal cul ture — It is known as New England on the Pacific Rim — and relauve- ly small populauon of 3.2 million allow It to experiment and unker. But supiwrters of the Oregon city- Contmued on Page AS. Column 1 f h *