North Plains Residents Resist Land Grab by City and Developers

In what was being termed one of the biggest threats to Oregon's land use system in 50 years, the City of North Plains, just outside of Hillsboro, attempted to double the size of the city by proposing the biggest-ever Urban Growth Boundary expansion by percentage basis and the largest by acres in the metro counties.

"A single increase of this magnitude to a city’s boundaries is unprecedented in Oregon, and most of the expansion would be for industrial and commercial use, with only about 167 acres set aside for housing," according to a 1000 Friends of Oregon article on the battle between residents, developers, city bureaucrats and state regulators.

Local residents and farmers opposed to the land grab banded together under the banner Friends of North Plains Smart Growth, which quickly organized a coalition against the city's ballot measure on the expansion, explaining to voters what the city was attempting and notifying residents of upcoming public hearings.

Led in large part by farmer Aaron Nichols, whose 15-acre Stoneboat Farm was just one farm removed from the city's proposed boundary expansion, the opposition effort became what he called his "second job" for a year, learning the labyrinthine intricacies of Oregon's land use system, first notifying the 500 families served by the farm's Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscriptions and then contacting local media and conservation organizations.

Citing an almost complete lack of public engagement, Nichols testified that "of the 26 meetings North Plains pointed to as public evidence, only three of these were public hearings that both followed proper noticing requirements and had an opportunity for the public to engage." His testimony charged that the plan itself was "poorly supported" and that much of the basic evidence was exaggerated or was simply missing, pointing out that even Dr. Brenda Bateman, the director of the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) stated that the city's plan relied on "incorrect facts."

Just-released figures from the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture show that the number of farms in Oregon decreased by six percent since 2017, and the acreage those farms occupied was down four percent in the same period. 1000 Friends of Oregon detailed that only about 16 percent of Oregon (excluding federal lands) consists of high-value soils, with only about four percent of those rated as prime farmland, and that efforts like those of the city of North Plains endanger those remaining valuable soils.

Putting those figures into perspective, 1000 Friends said that "while cities normally need to prioritize expanding onto non-resource lands or lands with lower-quality soils when proposing a UGB expansion, North Plains is surrounded almost exclusively by high-value farmland and prime soils. This means that any expansion would almost certainly pave over some of the best soils in the state and raises the ethical bar for proving that the expansion is what’s best for the greater community."

Expansion advocates tried to propose a separate bill (HB 4026) that was characterized as "intentionally designed to circumvent and suppress democratic participation by blocking future ballot referendums." Nichols said the efffort was a warning to those who might face challenges to their own local urban growth boundaries: "What [HB 4026] does, in fact the only thing [it] does, is have the legislature insert itself into a local issue to put a roadblock in the way of a community group. This bill forces our group to sue the state and, though as we and the city know full well the law will be quickly overturned, the city hopes that we will either be unable to raise the money for the lawsuit or it will exhaust our resources and harm our campaign. It is obvious that…placing a hurdle in the road for one side in one election, is not the place of the Oregon Legislature nor worth the time used on this bill."

On May 22nd of this year, the voters of North Plains rejected the city's ballot measure by a margin of 70 percent.

The city's response to the vote indicated the battle is not over: "The recent dialog on Measure 34-327 has highlighted a shared commitment among North Plains residents to prioritize our community’s livability and managed growth responsibilities,” said Mayor Teri Lenahan. “We are very early in assessing next steps for a future UGB expansion area." A hearing to discuss next steps is scheduled for Monday, July 15.