Under Oregon land use law, cities are required to anticipate and plan for growth. Every city in Oregon is surrounded by or within a UGB, which is the area outside of city limits intended to ensure a future 20-year supply of land for housing, public spaces, employment areas and infrastructure, and to protect land outside of it from urbanization. North Plains has reached its limit for buildable land supply within City limits and Oregon law requires that we plan for and accommodate a 20-year supply of land for predicted population growth.

UGBs are important for all cities, but for a smaller community like North Plains, UGBs are critical for planning a balance between maintaining the best things about the community, but also meeting the requirements of State law to have sufficient room for growth based on population growth estimates (North Plains population is estimated to increase from the current 3,410 to 7,076 by 2040). UGBs do this by safeguarding greenbelts and preventing sprawl, as well as encouraging smart growth which creates more mixed-use employment and neighborhoods within urban limits to improve the quality of life of residents.

Urban growth boundary expansions in Oregon are guided by Statewide Planning Goal 14: Urbanization.  A well-planned expansion of our city presents many positive benefits for our community. There are opportunities for supporting services that residents have said (both in casual conversation and in surveys) are important, including:

• Parks, trails, and civic gathering spaces
• Increased shopping and dining options and community services
• Local employment for our workforce
• Expanded business tax base to reduce heavy reliance on North Plains families to pay for services

This expansion is consistent with Oregon land use law and direction from the North Plains City Council to add significant nearby employment opportunities and commercial services for residents to reverse a growing bedroom community status.(132 KB)

The UGB Expansion project was initiated in August 2020, but discussion of a UGB project goes back to 2015 with the North Plains 2035 Vision Project. A Project Advisory Committee (PAC) met eight times over the course of the project, guided the process, and made recommendations for Planning Commission and City Council consideration. As part of this, the City completed a North Plains Economic Opportunity Analysis (EOA)  which specifies a variety of employment categories in both industrial and commercial sectors. The City also updated a Housing Needs Analysis, which was adopted by the City Council concurrently with the UGB expansion on June 20, 2023. However, that adoption was rescinded by City Council in order to add supplementary findings that provide additional context to the UGB Expansion report. Planning Commission and City Council public hearings were held again in August and September. City Council Approved the North Plains UGB Expansion on September 18, 2023. A final North Plains UGB Expansion Report includes a map of the expansion area.

This process has included over 20 public meetings over more than five years, including eight UGB Public Advisory Committee meetings and three Planning Commission and City Council public hearings which were promoted and open to the public. In addition, a separate public meeting was held to gather community input on the proposed UGB expansion study area. The City promoted all of these meetings and shared periodic project updates on the City website, in the monthly print newsletter distributed with utility bills, in the monthly e-newsletter, on Facebook, and in newspaper articles. See a list of public communications throughout the project so far. There were also presentations given to the North Plains Chamber of Commerce and at Washington County public meetings.

In October, a petition signed by 278 North Plains voters to place a referendum on the May 2024 ballot was certified by the Washington County Elections Division. North Plains registered voters will vote yes to affirm the City Council's approval of the current urban growth boundary expansion plan or no to reject it.

The approved UGB expansion was presented to the Washington County Board of Commissioners in a work session in September, and will go to the Washington County Planning Commission and then the Washington County Board of Commissioners for review over the next several months. It will also go to the State of Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) with the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) for review.

Concept planning for the City's long-term future will move forward beginning this fall with support from a grant from the State of Oregon (see the "North Plains Awarded State Grant for UGB Expansion Area Concept Planning" news article here). This planning process will ensure that we have a good balance of housing, parks and trails, economic development, infrastructure, and community services consistent with the land needs identified in the UGB expansion process. We are committed to thoughtful planning to maintain the character and livability of North Plains and public engagement will continue to be a focal part of this effort. We will promote public input opportunities through all of the City's communications channels for residents to engage and help shape the City's future - starting this fall and continuing with years of planning and zoning work ahead.

The North Plains Economic Opportunity Analysis (EOA), created as part of this project, specifies a variety of employment categories in both industrial and commercial sectors. More details are available in the full EOA here.

As for taxes, right now North Plains has a heavy reliance on a residential tax base (80%+), so the goal of more employment land is to balance the tax base with businesses paying a greater share, reducing the current heavy reliance on North Plains families to pay for community services. This “Budget Perspective” article explains this and the City’s economic development priorities in more detail.

Community engagement continues to be a priority and there are a variety of in-person and online opportunities for community input, as well as continued communications with affected landowners. Learn more about current opportunities on our dedicated UGB Expansion Project web page here, and on the City’s website calendar which includes agendas and Zoom links for all public meetings. You can also follow us on Facebook where we share information about all public meetings, and subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter or read our monthly print newsletter for periodic project updates.