Oregon's growth boundaries

[wagner37]

Hi everyone, Im a senior at MIchigan State University, and was wondering if I could get any good advice for info on Oregon Growth Boundaries and governmental state structure from a planners perspective. Im doing a report on it and was curious if I could get any insider info. Any help would be great.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[moose]

I would check out the Metro's website (www.metro-region.org) and go to UGBs on the Quicklinks menu (upper left). Of course, the Metro is only applicable to the Portland area, but you might be able to find something useful there.

 

[gkmo62u]

for a contrarian view, google Rich Carson.

 

[rwaltermyer]

i wrote a similar research paper....i can email you the bio if you're interested

 

[RobGuru]

Evaluate the relationship between UGBs and increases in housing prices in Oregon. I'd be interested to see what you find!

 

[jordanb]

i wrote a similar research paper....i can email you the bio if you're interested

And for $50 he can email you the whole thing. ;-)

 

[Mary]

Evaluate the relationship between UGBs and increases in housing prices in Oregon. I'd be interested to see what you find!

The only problem with this comparison is that the findings will show a corelation without showing a cause. Prices have gone up in Portland etc. but does the UGB's cause higher prices or is the percieved need for growth management associated with a similar cause as increases in prices? Prices have gone up in Atlanta too but without the UGB's

The Chicken or the egg is always a hard one to work out. To do that comparison you'd probably have to go outside Oregon and look at the other growth management states including price change rates before inacting growth management and after it's passage.

All in all I think that UGB's raise property cost and therefore housing prices at least in portions of a community so you are left with the question of if it is worth it.

 

[Lee Nellis]

I am so weary of this business about the UGB's and housing prices in Portland. I have been traveling around the West for the last few weeks and stopped to visit friends in Portland. then headed down to the East Bay, where there no UGB's, at least not in the sense as Oregon's (there are stringent planning rules!) and where housing is vastly more costly. On the way and in between we passed through lots of communities where growth is essentially unregulated and it is still easier to find a $600,000 home than $100,000 one (take a look at housing prices in Boise, for example - there are still a few bargains that you wouldn't find in Portland, but not in desirable neighborhoods). Here's the deal. In Portland, your home is set in an extremely valuable civic context, including great parks and trails, good transit, access to the same urban amenities (or better) you find in places twice the size, a mild climate. etc, etc. Homes in Portland cost more because they are worth more! Same is true in the East Bay, at least to some extent. We are condo-sitting for my wife's parents for a while. If we had to rent this condo on the rural salaries we're used to, we'd be in deep trouble, but on the other hand, can you walk 300 yards up your street and onto a 1,000 mile regional trail system? The problem with housing prices in America is the problem Henry George identified 100+ years ago: land, especially desirable urban land, is a limited resource whose owners need really make no investment at all for its value to rise as society grows. Until we accept that HG was right and tax away the unearned increment, we are creating a country where only the wealthiest will be able to afford to own a home. This shows up fastest in desirable places like Portland or mountain resorts, but the dynamic is not confined to those places, and while I won't say that strict regulations don't play some small role in the cost of housing at times, I think you have to explain why the cost of housing is rising so rapidly in so many places where there are few, if any, effective regulations, before you can attribute anything to regulations! And I have yet to hear or read about anyone doing that.

 

[czeiner]

Hi there wagner37, I have also done some research on Oregon's UGBs. Try your library for the book. Sprawl Busting: State Programs to Guide Growth. . It's written by Jerry Weitz. This should help out.