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| Suburban and rural Troutdale, Oregon. Photo: author |
Here's a problem that could use fixing, but is prompting legislative overreach. Apparently there are some places inside the Portland region's
urban growth boundary that developers are having a hard time developing. These are usually unincorporated areas adjacent to, but outside, city limits. When a developer asks a local city to annex his/her land, it must go to a public vote. To succeed, the annexation must receive a "yes" vote from a double majority - a majority of residents in the affected unincorporated area, and a majority of residents in the city doing the annexing. Even after this hurdle, the developer must figure out how to extend (and pay for) infrastructure like roads, water, sewer and electricity, while also paying numerous system development charges (SDCs) for services like emergency services, schools and recreation. It's a tough, expensive process, and sometimes developers ask cities for financial help in extending infrastructure or reducing fees.
