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I like the idea, but I heard that in the case of the Portland metro it hasn't worked all that well. Portland had the UGB, but the surrounding towns didn't. Portland proper is fairly dense, but the suburbs like Beaverton and Gresham sprawl just as bad, if not worse, than other metros. Can someone verify this or is this not the case?
The UGB has actually worked to some extent in Portland, and a similar system is in place in Washington state as well.
Beaverton has a UGB. Even Bend, with empty land in eight directions, has a UGB. Hence the $1000/sq ft condos in an 80K city. (Granted, not the only reason.)
Oregon requires all cities over a certain size to come up with a UGB. I don't recall what the size is, but I know that towns in the 8,000 to 10,000-people range also have UGBs.
People made predictions about Portland's UGB that turned out not to be true.
For instance, I remember groups like the Cato and Heritage Institutes predicting in the early 2000's that the UGB was creating an artificial rise in housing prices, and that this would lead to a big crash at some point.
Actually, the decline in Portland area housing prices has been a lot slower and milder than in UGB-less western cities like Las Vegas or Phoenix, despite the fact that Portland has very high unemployment, and Oregon's economy isn't all that hot right now.
In some ways, the UGB prevented wild overbuilding, and so the housing stock wasn't as badly overextended as it was in less-regulated environments.
Oregon requires all cities over a certain size to come up with a UGB. I don't recall what the size is, but I know that towns in the 8,000 to 10,000-people range also have UGBs.
People made predictions about Portland's UGB that turned out not to be true.
For instance, I remember groups like the Cato and Heritage Institutes predicting in the early 2000's that the UGB was creating an artificial rise in housing prices, and that this would lead to a big crash at some point.
Actually, the decline in Portland area housing prices has been a lot slower and milder than in UGB-less western cities like Las Vegas or Phoenix, despite the fact that Portland has very high unemployment, and Oregon's economy isn't all that hot right now.
In some ways, the UGB prevented wild overbuilding, and so the housing stock wasn't as badly overextended as it was in less-regulated environments.
I actually agree with this, what people need to understand is that UGB's are a state mandated boundary in the most dense counties in both Oregon and Washington.
Some critics like to say that UGB's dont work, but THEY DO WORK. They have worked greatly in Vancouver BC, and I have seen it work in Seattle. A good example is the I-90 corridor east of Seattle. You are easily out of the city and into wilderness areas within 30 minutes east of Seattle. What people dont understand is that alot of this area was protected through the use of UGB's.
Look at a place like Texas and Atlanta and you will see what the alternative is to an urban grown boundary.
I like the idea, but I heard that in the case of the Portland metro it hasn't worked all that well. Portland had the UGB, but the surrounding towns didn't. Portland proper is fairly dense, but the suburbs like Beaverton and Gresham sprawl just as bad, if not worse, than other metros. Can someone verify this or is this not the case?
Not the case. A government entity called Metro sets the UGB for the entire Portland area, including, Gresham, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Tualatin, etc.
That said, the UGB has really only worked to control suburban sprawl to a limited extent. It's interesting to see the sharp dividing line between dense development and farmland, but the boundaries are extended to allow for more development every few years.
I personally think they should lock the UGB in place and leave it. They say 1 million more people are going to flood the PDX area by 2020. Well, if the UGB is locked, good luck finding a house. Yup, existing real estate prices will skyrocket, but I'm well equipped to deal with that.
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Yup, existing real estate prices will skyrocket, but I'm well equipped to deal with that.
