January 2010 update from the Steering Committee

Are we done yet?

...Well, no, although many public officials would like to be, and some are sending out newsletters that lead you to believe the process is already over.

So here's the latest from Save Helvetia. This issue's theme is "I'm tired and cranky, and I don't want to hear any more."

Here's a summary, followed by the long and glorious details for those who can't get enough of this stuff. :-)

1. Meeting recaps: Core 4 and MPAC

The Core 4, Metro Council, and Commissioners' positions are hardening. It's doubtful to us that any significant changes will be made to the maps. See the latest ones here: http://www.savehelvetia.org/map1.php

Metro Councilors Rod Park and Robert Liberty are staunch supporters of foundation farmland who have been consistently advocating for more rural reserves. Councilors Kathryn Harrington, Carl Hosticka and David Bragdon are advocating for the most urban reserves (about 28,000 acres). We'll have to see the final vote (this week) to see how Rex Burkholder and Carlotta Collette vote. The Metro Council is not interested in any more information, even when it comes from their own advisory committee (MPAC). Read the full report below to learn how MPAC reacted to being ignored by the Council!

2. The twin realities of public testimony - captured on video

In the last two rounds of testimony before the Washington County BCC in December and Metro Council in January, it was apparent that our elected officials are tired of the process and not receptive to testimony from some citizens. Even though we presented new testimony on the new areas of concern, Tom Brian and David Bragdon (who officiated at the hearings) were curt and short with us. But developers spoke at length. You can contrast their treatment of Save Helvetia to that of developers in the video links below.

3. And finally, some perspective:

A profile of Save Helvetia in the Oregonian, and song lyrics that roll around in Brian's head... now they can roll around in your head, too!

1: Meeting recaps:

There were two meetings of note recently: the "final" Core 4 meeting on Monday, February 8th, and the MPAC meeting the following Wednesday night. Here's a rundown on each:

1a: Core 4 (Brian Beinlich reporting)

A report was presented on the January public outreach, which basically showed that people want farmland preserved and urban development to be compact. This is the same message they're been receiving all along, and they even acknowledged that. Areas 4 & 9 received the most comments.

A new map was presented, but there was little substantive discussion of it. You can see the map here: http://www.savehelvetia.org/map1.php

This version has the "fingers" 8F-W, 8F-NP, 8F-BK shown as Rural Reserves, but 8F-S remains undesignated and 8B is still urban. That's great progress, but obviously not where we'd like to end up. During the map walk, Tom once again stated that the "fingers" were not productive farm lands ("not tillable" was the expression). I don't think a lot of the property owners in those areas would agree with that!

After that, Jeff Cogen made a proposal to "agree in principle" on all the areas of the map that were not listed as "option" areas. This represents over 99% of the study area. He proposed finalizing the remainder during the IGA (Inter-Governmental Agreement)process, having Metro work separately with each county to conclude its portion of the map. Tom and Kathryn went along, with lots of self-congratulation along the way. But Tom did manage to say that "it was still possible to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory".

Only Charlotte Lehan expressed concerns about the map, citing "serious reservations" about some of the areas, and about the total UR acreage. She said they need to discuss the MPAC recommendations (which they did not do) and decide on the timeframe (40 or 50 years). She expressed concern about "undesignated lands along major transportation corridors" in Clackamas and Washington counties, the "Highway 26 view corridor", and the Tonkin area. She wants Metro to take the lead on resolving the remaining issues. All in all, I thought Charlotte was by far the most engaged of the four, and she is obviously our best ally. The others just seem ready to be done. (More about that in section 2.)

The agreement was approved. It seems rather odd to me -- there was "agreement in principle", but it was understood that everything was still on the table. It didn't seem like much of an "agreement" to me; perhaps it was just a necessary formality. They then discussed several minor (to me) issues regarding language in the draft IGAs.

Since this was supposedly the last meeting, there were a lot of self-congratulatory speeches. However, they were asked to hold March 8 open in case there was need for another meeting, but it seemed like this would be the last one. Tom made sure to thank Kathryn, Brent, and the various staffs.

The new map contains 27,127 acres of UR, with 2,357 acres still listed as "options". By comparison, the Bragdon/Hosticka map has 28,610 UR acres, and the Liberty/Park map has only 18,742. The new map does not represent much of a decrease from the B/H proposal. I remember Kathryn Harrington telling us that the B/H map was just a starting point from which further RR could be negotiated. We don't feel like that's what has happened.

For the press' perspective on this meeting, see:

Metro and 3 Portland counties approve urban expansion, farm protections (Eric Mortenson, the Oregonian)

Reserves process shifts from Core 4 to counties (Nick Christensen, the Argus)

1b: MPAC (Linda Peters reporting)

The Metro Policy Advisory Committee is made up of representatives from the region's counties, large cities, small cities, special districts, and citizen participation networks. MPAC had met twice within a week -- unprecedented -- for a total of maybe 6+ hours hashing out recommendations for Core 4 and the Metro Council regarding Urban, Rural and undesignated parcels proposed on the map Core 4 had sent out for review in December & January. They finished their recommendations in time for Core 4 to consider them, but as reported above, 3 of the Core 4 ignored MPAC's work.

At its Feb. 10 meeting, all MPAC members, including chair Bemis (Mayor of Gresham) took offense at the Core 4's failure to acknowledge or discuss their recommendations, and at the dismissive attitudes and comments of some Core 4 and Metro Council members regarding MPAC's input.

Councilor Hosticka pointed out that MPAC had gone beyond what it was asked to comment on, and that differences between MPAC recommendations and Core 4's almost-final map are minimal -- here the snickers began -- "in the areas on which the Core 4 asked for MPAC's advice!" The laughter was spontaneous and derisive, if brief. For much of the meeting, some members prefaced comments with something like "I'm not sure we've been asked for advice on this point, but . . ." It was most interesting to see so many elected officials in the same position that citizens often find themselves, treated rudely for offering testimony they've spent hard, unpaid hours preparing on an issue of importance to them (again, more about this in section 2).

Mayors, particularly, commented on how important it is for Metro to listen to and respect the local officials who will be charged with implementing the map, IGAs, and Functional Plan (that MPAC reviews before Metro adopts it) to enact these agreements. Jack Hoffman of Lake Oswego remarked that perhaps never before had Metro managed to insult all the elected representatives of a million+ people around the region with one action (or inaction, depending on how you look at it). The vote was 15-2 to forward the recommendations adopted at the last MPAC meeting to Metro Council for formal consideration. Tom Brian missed the meeting, but Hillsboro mayor Jerry Willy and Sherwood mayor Keith May were the two dissenting votes.

MPAC recommendations include Rural Reserve protection for the 1200 acres of foundation farmland west of area 8B (Standring's property), and Urban Reserves north of Cornelius stopping at Council Creek. On the down side, they'd leave land undesignated from Council Creek north to Long Rd., which the State Agency report recommends for Rural Reserve protection. And where the State Agencies recommend Rural Reserve south of Hwy 26 to Meek Rd./Waibel Creek, MPAC recommends undesignated, with UR south to Hillsboro's current boundary at Evergreen.

I encourage all of us who care about how this process ends to continue being in touch with decision-makers: write letters, send e-mails & make phone calls encouraging Metro Councilors, Washington County Commissioners, and Washington County's mayors to think twice before signing a deal just to get one done. As they make final decisions, they need to respect State Agency and MPAC recommendations and honor their overwhelming public input in favor of strong rural protection and minimum urban reserves.

The official perspective:

MPAC recommends adoption of alternative reserves map (Metro)

Related to this is an op-ed by Andy Parker of the Oregonian, which has drawn several excellent comments -- two from Save Helvetia Steering Committee member Linda Peters, and another from Laura Masterson, so be sure to read the comments that follow the article:

As the region stewed over new growth plan, Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette helped break the political deadlock

And finally, even though the final meetings to approve IGAs between Metro and the counties are being held this week, Council Harrington issued a newsletter this week that would lead one to believe it was all a done deal. The newsletter that's on the Metro web site differs significantly from what was sent via e-mail, even though both are dated February 19:

E-mail newsletter: "On behalf of the Metro Council, I am pleased to report that Metro and Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties have produced final proposals for urban and rural reserves that will shape how our region grows for up to 45 years."

Read the entire message here: http://www.savehelvetia.org/letters/harrington-feb19.php

Web newsletter: "After more than two years of research, study and public input, Metro and the three counties in the Portland metropolitan region are nearing the end of an unprecedented process to agree on where and how our region will grow in the next several decades. Next week, the commissions of Clackamas, Washington and Multnomah counties and the Metro Council will vote on approximately 270,000 acres of land for rural reserves and 28,000 acres for urban development."

Read the entire post here: http://news.oregonmetro.gov/5/post.cfm/counties-metro-scheduled-to-vote-on-historic-agreements

2: The twin realities of public testimony

As you know, we participated in three public meetings during January. We've posted the video from these meetings to our web site, adding to our comprehensive archive of citizen involvement. You can watch it at http://www.savehelvetia.org/ourcase/index.php#public

As I (Brian) was reviewing the video, it became clear to me that public officials are no longer very interested in hearing from citizens. In fact, they're becoming downright testy about it. Unless.... you are a developer, then you may testify for quite a long time, and will be received warmly. I submit the following examples to support my observation:

At the 1/19 WaCo Board of Commissioners meeting, the BCC spent 5 minutes debating whether or not to allow citizens to testify on the reserves process, then denied the last person on the list the chance to speak -- for 5 minutes!

2a: Brian Beinlich's testimony, including the 5 minutes of BCC debate: http://www.savehelvetia.org/ourcase/bcc-jan19-2010.php?img=2

2b: Allen Amabisca's testimony, following which Cherry was denied the opportunity to testify: http://www.savehelvetia.org/ourcase/bcc-jan19-2010.php?img=3 Also note Commissioner Strader's attitude toward Mr. Amabisca after his testimony.

At the 1/20 Metro public hearing, Save Helvetia members were admonished to "present new information, especially if you've testified previously" -- before they even began their testimony.

2c: Casey Schoch: http://www.savehelvetia.org/ourcase/metro-jan20-2010.php?img=5
2d: Spencer Gates: http://www.savehelvetia.org/ourcase/metro-jan20-2010.php?img=6
2e: Allen Amabisca: http://www.savehelvetia.org/ourcase/metro-jan20-2010.php?img=17

Kudos to these Save Helvetia members who "kept their cool" despite this less-than-cordial treatment!

Now contrast those episodes with this one: Greg Specht, a developer who has appeared before Metro multiple times, also testified on 1/20. However, he was allowed to speak for 4 1/2 minutes without interruption (the limit was 3 minutes), then was engaged by the Council for another 5 minutes. It was also fascinating to hear Greg say that "the business community has no vested interest" in the process! It does seem that developers inhabit some sort of alternate reality!

2f: Greg Specht: http://www.savehelvetia.org/ourcase/metro-jan20-2010-d.php?img=0

3: Some perspective

It's good to step back from all this once in a while. Casey Parks of the Oregonian published this profile of Save Helvetia, featuring some of the more "colorful" aspects of our work:

Helvetia persuades planners to preserve its farmland by hewing to motto: Don't be boring

And I'll leave you with this, even though it isn't directly related to reserves. Lately I've had a particular Pink Floyd song rattling around in my head. I keep hearing...

Generals act
and the lines on the map
move from side to side

from their song "Us and Them", which has to be one of the greatest songs in the world. :-) The lyrics of this tune seem to be a fitting summary of the process. So, for your musical enjoyment, here's a great video of Pink Floyd performing this song live.

Turn your speakers up, and play this full-screen:

Us and Them, by Pink Floyd (live): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsxd0gcvzeM
WARNING! This excellent clip ends rudely and abruptly about 15 seconds before the end of the song.

That's all for now. Be sure to catch the note we just sent about the upcoming meetings this week.

Thanks once more for your continued support as this chapter of a long process draws to a close.

Brian Beinlich
Save Helvetia Steering Committee member

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