North Plains & the Urban Growth Boundary

North Plains Proposed UGB Expansion

Oregon is funny, we have a Land Use Commission that determines which land can be developed and which land is used for farming. The commission has built a corral around the Portland metropolitan area called the Urban Growth Boundary which leads to some odd situations. For instance, I live in residential subdivision that extends north to Evergreen Road. On the other side of the road we have farming fields. Those fields extend to the north for miles except for a little subdivision plopped down in the middle that is part of North Plains. It's kind of weird, all these fields and then all of a sudden a wall of houses.

Data Centers
None of these giant buildings were there last week

You go a mile to the east and we have a proliferation of big concrete boxes, which I suspect are data centers. No signs proclaiming just what's going on, but there are a bunch of them.

As long as I have been here there has been an ongoing war over the Urban Growth Boundary. On one hand we have people who want houses they can afford to buy and on the other side we have the 1000 Friends of Oregon who want to preserve farmland and keep Portland from turning into another Los Angeles.

North Plains is a small town just a couple miles north of here. It lies outside the Urban Growth Boundary but it is still within easy commuting distance of Portland, so there has been development going on there. Now they've stoked the war over the UGB by putting a measure on the ballot to expand North Plains by some 800 acres.

On one hand I suspect the Land Use Commission is staffed by limousine Bolsheviks who want to keep everything the way it was a hundred years ago. On the other hand I am repulsed by the horrendous traffic jams and two hour commutes that are so prevalent in Los Angeles. I would not like to see that here, but I'm not sure it can be avoided. Elon Musk might be onto something with his Boring Company.