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Building Sustainable Communities: Urban Planning in the Portland Metro Region Presentation
The document outlines the role of Metro, the elected regional government in the Portland metropolitan area, focusing on urban planning, transportation, and community sustainability. It details the collaboration with local governments, the 2040 growth concept, and various investment strategies aimed at enhancing regional mobility and quality of life. A case study of Tigard illustrates how local aspirations align with regional plans for infrastructure and community development.
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Building Sustainable Communities: Urban Planning in the Portland Metro Region Presentation
- 1. Building Sustainable Communities Urban Planning in the Portland Metro Region Carlotta Collette, Metro Councilor, District 2 January 12, 2010 Township of Langley, British Columbia
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- 3. What is Metro?Metro is the only elected regional government in the United States. Six regional districts plus president elected at large. Uniquely empowered to do both land use and transportation planning. Open spaces and natural areas: 12,000 acres and growing. Solid waste and recycling coordination for region. Owns and operates Oregon Zoo, Convention Center, Expo plus… 14 Pioneer Cemeteries, a boat launch and golf course.
- 4. Metro mission .. . an elected, visible and accountable regional government that is • responsive to the citizens of the region and • works cooperatively with local governments Metro provides • planning and policy making to preserve and enhance the quality of life and the environment for ourselves and future generations • regional services needed and desired by citizens in an efficient and effective manner
- 5. Cities and CountiesMetro serves Clackamas County | Multnomah County |Washington County Happy Valley Hillsboro Johnson City King City Lake Oswego Maywood Park Milwaukie Oregon City Portland Rivergrove Sherwood Tigard Troutdale Tualatin West Linn Wilsonville Wood Village Beaverton Cornelius Damascus Durham Fairview Forest Grove Gladstone Gresham
- 6. How Metro workswith local governments Engage in development, implementation of regional land use and transportation plans Coordinate distribution of federal transportation funds throughout the region Provide resources for natural area purchase and preservation Provide tools and technical assistance for implementation of local plans Assist with implementation of regional recycling, waste reduction goals
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- 9. 2040 Growth Conceptadopted in 1995 Region 2040: Concepts for growth
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- 11. Urban Form –local aspirations, urban & rural reserves How and where do we grow? Transportation – Regional Transportation Plan How do we travel? Investments - infrastructure What do our communities look like? Making the Greatest Place: Choices for the future Urban Form Investments Transportation Choices
- 12. Sustained economic competitivenessand prosperity Safe and reliable transportation choices Vibrant, walkable communities Minimal contributions to global warming Clean air, clean water and healthy ecosystems Benefits and burdens of growth shared equitably throughout the region Desired Regional Outcomes
- 13. Linking local andregional efforts
- 14. Multi-modal solutions forthe region’s major travel corridors
- 15. Building community withtransportation
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- 18. Linking transportation toland use, the economy and the environment A Case Study of Tigard
- 19. 2035 REGIONAL TRANSPORTATIONPLAN Investment Strategy Framework 2035 RTP Investment Strategy Track 1: Regional and State Mobility Track 2: Community Building Investments that support place-making and local aspirations Investments that support integrated, multi-modal mobility
- 20. Linking aspirations topriorities: a case study of Tigard Tigard Downtown 2028 Vision Tigard Downtown Existing 2008
- 21. LINKING ASPIRATIONS TOPRIORITIES: A CASE STUDY OF TIGARD Identified Constraints Funding Market Parking Connectivity Access to I-5 & OR 217 Traffic congestion Mobility standards Potential growth in neighboring communities City of Tigard Local Aspirations
- 22. LINKING ASPIRATIONS TOPRIORITIES: A CASE STUDY OF TIGARD Highway 99W – opportunity and constraint Traffic Volumes in Tigard
- 23. BRINGING IT ALLTOGETHER: A CASE STUDY OF TIGARD Track 1: Integrated Mobility Atlas provides data on current land use and transportation RTP sets direction for I-5, OR 217 and 99W’s role in supporting community aspirations and mobility needs Mobility strategy to include land use, highway, arterial, HCT, transit, freight, bicycle, pedestrian and management solutions
- 24. BRINGING IT ALLTOGETHER: A CASE STUDY OF TIGARD Track 2: Community Building Transit service & transit-oriented development Street connectivity Boulevard retrofits Sidewalks, bikeways and trails Arterial connections to industry Improve and protect interchanges for freight access
- 25. NEXT STEPS Linkingaspirations to priorities OR 217 overcrossings New streets, trails and sidewalks in downtown and Washington Square center Westside, Fanno Creek and Red Electric trail gaps Widen key arterials to four lanes with boulevard design in downtown and Washington Square Frequent bus service on Barbur/99W More transit, including HCT connection and frequent service between WES and Washington Square Transit priority at intersections More street, sidewalk, bike and trail connections Structured parking Demand management in Tigard Triangle WHAT’S IN CURRENT RTP LOCAL ASPIRATIONS
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Editor's Notes
- #3 The Portland region’s natural beauty and bounty have cultivated among residents a fierce devotion to the landscape and the lifestyle it affords them. We have lush forests, rich soils and abundant rainfall, which leads to a strong forestry and agricultural economy. The landscape and natural resources of the region led settlers to develop a system of navigable waterways, railroads, roads, bridges and airports to facilitate international trade. The resulting economy and culture stimulated the emergence of a regional identity that led, in turns, to regional thinking, regional governance and regional growth management. Metro, the nation’s only popularly-elected regional government, is chartered by voters to protect the region’s quality of life, which includes minimizing contributions to global warming.
- #6 There are approximately 1.4 million people within Metro’s jurisdictional boundary, which stretches from Forest Grove to Troutdale and south to Wilsonville. Not all cities in the three counties are listed here. Metro’s jurisdiction does not include Banks, Canby, Estacada, Gaston, Molalla, North Plains, Sandy. It also does not include Sauvie Island, Corbett or Beavercreek. Unincorporated areas within Metro include Aloha, Boring, Cedar Mill, Clackamas, Dunthorpe, Garden Home, Metzger, Oak Grove, and Stafford (even though Boring and Stafford are outside the UGB).
- #8 Sprawling auto-oriented land use patterns have been the dominant growth pattern in the U.S. since the introduction of the auto in the early part of the 20th century. Oregon and the Portland metropolitan region have made a dedicated effort to change that pattern by containing growth and preserving forest and farmland. The region’s urban growth boundary was created in 1979. This boundary limits how far the 25 cities and urbanized portions of three counties area can “sprawl.”
- #9 There are over 2 million people in the greater Portland metro region, and the region is expected to grow by an additional 1 million people by 2020. Metro’s growth strategy calls for a compact development form, using lands inside the boundary as efficiently as possible. Maintaining a tight growth boundary has generally succeeded in channeling market forces from a sprawling edge to the designated centers. About 95 percent of all new development in the region since 1979 occurred within the 1979 boundary, despite expansions of the boundary amounting to more than 25,000 acres over those years. Only about 5 percent of new development occurred in expansion areas. Metro required by state law to every five years review capacity and future needs for population and employment land and ensure enough land is available for 20 years. That’s resulted in expansions of about 25,000 acres total since 1979, most of that – 23,000 in 2003.
- #11 In 1995, the region conducted an enormous public involvement project to determine how growth should occur in the future. More than 17,000 people were involved in the project in one way or another. People were asked to choose among several potential growth patterns Including: Let new growth occur outside the existing boundary, in neighboring cities. Let growth happen more or less evenly across the metro region. Focus growth in particular ways. The 2040 Growth Concept was the agreed to model. It focuses growth in town centers, regional centers, on main streets and along significant transportation corridors. Existing residential neighborhoods are left largely untouched, although local planning can and often has upzoned these areas to enable infill housing.
- #12 Urban growth process changed by state legislation (first Metro regional legislative agenda) in 2007. New process requires three counties and Metro to agree concurrently to designate lands that will be available for urban growth over next 40 to 50 years and natural resource and farm lands to be protected for 40 to 50 years. The region has choices for how to handle the needs that have been identified through the local aspirations process, RTP and infrastructure analysis conducted last year. Many of those choices will occur at the city and county level. The RTP related choices will occur at the regional level first and the be implemented through city and county transportation plans after the update is completed. Collectively, what we decide to do can position the region to be adaptable and sustainable or it can leave us ill-prepared for the future.
- #13 As a region, we all know what we each of us want for our communities, and MPAC and the Metro Council endorsed these principles back in May that define a successful region: These are lofty principles, but the Metro Council can’t wave a magic wand and make it happen. Achieving these outcomes will require an enhanced understanding of how the decisions made at the local level affect the results on the ground.
- #14 So, as population increases, our region will grow “up”, not “out”, which dramatically lowers the driving per capita. Metro’s regional plan merges land use planning and transportation planning to concentrate mixed-use and higher-density development in centers. For a sustained 30+ year period, Metro and its regional partners have aggressively developed a regional light rail and streetcar system, numerous smaller projects to support a more compact urban development pattern and an expanding system of bus, bike, pedestrian and trail projects.
- #15 This comprehensive view of mobility builds on past policies that we need to manage congestion in a comprehensive manner to protect the region’s highways for longer-trips and freight movement and provide for shorter trips and community travel on arterials and collector streets. Interconnected system of 24 multi-modal corridors that move people and goods Provide primary access to 2040 land uses Multi-jurisdictional Sub-areas of the region
- #16 5-10 times the transit ridership and 3 times the walking, with half the driving and half the auto ownership. Each new person moving into the Washington, D.C metropolitan area used 480 yards of space in 2000. Each person moving into the Portland metro area used 120 yards of space. Compact growth has enabled Portland-area residents to drive less than residents of other American cities, saving more than $1 Billion each year in transportation costs. A substantial portion of those saved dollars are spent in the local economy where they have economic multiplier effects, rather than flowing to largely non-local energy companies.
- #17 Work with communities to assess what is important to them – local aspirations Conducted analysis of infrastructure, population, employment centers, land use, etc. Compared existing conditions to aspirations to enable planning for achievement of aspirations Guides to adapting local plans System Expansion Policy.
- #18 … giving us this map. (This map is in the packet)
- #20 Track 1 represents those investments that support multi-modal mobility in the region’s major travel corridors. This RTP defines mobility more broadly than previous RTPs – looking at the mix of land use, management, transit, road/highway, bike and pedestrian investments and strategies need to move people and goods efficiently. Track 2 represents those investments that support placemaking and aspirations for vibrant downtowns and strong industrial and employment centers. We’ve also included environmental enhancement type investments in this track – green street demonstration projects, diesel retrofits or culvert replacements are examples.
- #21 Currently, the city is engaged in a project to graphically illustrate the long-term development vision for the Tigard Downtown – a town center in the 2040 growth concept. Next year, they wish to also do this for the Highway 99W Corridor that runs adjacent to downtown. Note green spaces actually grow larger to enable healthy/happy density. Population approaching 50,000 with potential for substantial growth up rather than out. About 10 square miles (28 km)
- #23 99W is the busiest 5-lane arterial highway in the state carrying more than 50,000 vehicles per day It is also a corridor the city would like to see accommodate more housing and transit-oriented growth as part of 2040 implementation. This tension plays out in other places in the region.
- #24 Moving forward, the region will re-examine RTP investment priorities through the two tracks I described earlier and to try to reconcile some of these tensions. One tool to help identify mobility needs and potential solutions is the Atlas of Mobility corridors that was released earlier this month. The atlas contains detailed information on land uses and transportation in each of the region’s 24 corridors. A function of the RTP is to set direction on the role of primary transportation facilities in supporting the region’ mobility needs in balance in with community aspirations and the long-term vision of 2040.
- #25 Past experience and the scenario modeling we conducted last year indicated that investments in centers, corridors and employment areas are an effective means of attracting growth to these areas. There are a number of transportation-related investments that are important for the RTP and local plans to include to support local and regional aspirations for growth in these areas. That is the focus of the community building track of the RTP – many of these strategies were identified by Tigard in the plans they’ve conducted to date.
- #26 We will be asking all the cities, counties, TriMet and ODOT to re-examine their investment priorities later this summer.