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The Road to Damascus, OR

Posted by: Tim Halbur
Thanks to: AYap
11 August 2009 - 9:00am

The Portland, Oregon area is well known for preserving agricultural land separate from urban areas. In the new town of Damascus on the border of the growth boundary, landowners are seeking a way to mix the two.

Land use is a contentious issue along the urban growth boundary in the Portland Metro area, as landowners on one side are allowed a much more valuable use of their land than those on the other.

"High-density apartments on one side, and the other side is combines," as Clackamas County Commissioner Charlotte Lehan puts it.

"Oregon land use is very dichotomous," she says. "You're either urban or rural -- urban with 10 houses per acre or rural with one house per 80 acres. I'm coming to the opinion that maybe we need to recognize another kind of animal which is neither fish nor fowl."

Full Story: Blurring the urban-rural line in Damascus
Source: The Oregonian, August 9, 2009
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If hundreds of people in your community raised reasonable concerns about a planning program you developed, how would you respond? Perhaps you might call a community meeting, or ask community elected officials to reach out to community leaders.
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