Beaverton hasn't updated its Comprehensive Development Plan since 1981?
Thank God, Don got there when he did. Another few days and the city would have crumbled into dust.
It's a miracle that 29 years slipped by without an updated plan. I would have thought there'd be a complete breakdown in society.
I guess we'll never know how close they came to disaster.

Bill is right, my goodness! How have they survived? Quick!Let's roll out some Urban Renewal, some Tax Increment Financing, add in a few Local Improvement Districts to grease the way for Homer and the boys. Then bring on the tax abatements and the $1.00 land deals with no building restrictions or covenants. At least we know now what the Don has been working on...

"What will Beaverton look like in 20 years? That is what Denny Doyle, the city’s mayor, asked citizens"

If today is any indication - More potholes, worse schools and higher taxes and utility rates.

I love these politicians who won't fix stuff today and get people to buy this 20 years out smoke screen.

How much is Beaverton paying the Don for his expertise?

Isn't he about retirement age? Course that doesn't stop these people. Look at Vera!
She was a consultant for Paulson.

Who else should be retired?
Hasn't Saltzman had enough? Still think he would be happier if he had his own foundation. Wouldn't we be happier too?

According to the Portland Biz Journal this Friday, "The Don's" salary is $127k a year. Look for that to go up with a padded expense account if history is any indicator.
And urban renewal is coming to Canyon Road soon too.
How Beaverton has gotten by without all this crap is beyond our comprehension.

May be that Beaverton has gotten by without all this crap is because the plum was pretty ripe for pickings here in Portland. On to another orchard now.

So will they get eco-roofs and a Tram? Maybe a AAA baseball stadium?

“When I came here last year the first thing I asked was, ‘Where is the plan for the city?’ ” said Don Mazziotti, community development director for the city of Beaverton.
= "Thank God I landed somewhere still in the public trough. Now how can I make sure this one lasts awhile for my buddies and me?"

Hudnut will be presenting the concept of a first-tier suburb to city staff and citizens on June 24 at the Arts & Communication Magnet Academy’s theater in Beaverton. The event will officially kick off the development plan process."
= "Gaze deeply into my eyes. Your pocketbooks are getting heavy, heavy. Let me tell you what you are. When you awake, you'll be true believers."

While the Beaverton development plan will definitely address basic issues associated with growth, it also will identify ways to beautify the city and brand it, Kelly said.
= And then be herded off to financial plucking and slaughter -- with fantastic press releases.

What a bunch of ginned up excuses for wasting tax money on planning.
What for?
So Beaverton can have some think glossy filled binders with failed plans like SoWa, The Round or Cascade Station?

What a load of BS.

"gathering phase.
socioeconomic and demographic study
community visioning plan
other studies, reports and recommendations,
development plan.
1,000 bullet points
Vision Project
synthesize them into 100 strong goals.
time line, a funding plan and an implementation strategy,
development strategy for downtown,
housing strategy to upgrade and stabilize neighborhoods,
a land-use and transportation plan to alleviate congestion,
economic development strategy
and a set of citywide sustainability principles."

Every public dime should be pulled from this misappropriation and the entire process halted immediately.

Beaverton should know there's no chance of them passing their 900 acres Urban Renewal scheme?

So that leaves a general obligation bond approach which taxpayers would never vote for.

Better just focus on the boring task of running the city effectively on as little as possible.

There's a reason why all of the good in "Beaverton" actually isn't even in Beaverton.

Nike? Just outside city limits. Tektronix? Ditto. St. Vincent Hospital? Same story. Washington Square? Well, a small portion of the property is in city limits, but the majority of it is in Tigard. Columbia Sportswear? Right outside the city line...

Beaverton isn't even a full-service city; it lacks a parks department (it's the sovereign Tualatin Hills Park & Rec District) or a fire department (Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue), or any city utilities (Unified Sewerage Agency and Tualatin Valley Water District). It does, however, have an Arts Department, but no public art museums or any significant public monuments of art. It doesn't have a transportation hub (unless you count the Beaverton Transit Center), hidden behind strip malls, and is the city's top location for police calls). It's downtown is in shambles and overlooked.

The one time Beaverton had the ability to remake itself (the Round at Beaverton Central) - it screwed up, massively.

Beaverton has an identity crisis. Heck, half the time you don't even know if you are in, or outside, Beaverton. Look at its city map. You KNOW when you're in Portland. Many people think Cedar Mill, Cedar Hills, Aloha, and Tanasbourne are all part of Beaverton. What exactly does Beaverton stand for?

The obliteration of good farmland and open space for the glory of asphalt and concrete nothingness. Honk if you remember the single blinking red light at the crossroads!

The obliteration of good farmland and open space for the glory of asphalt and concrete nothingness.

You forgot to put a "for the children" in there somewhere.

Oh, right -- thanks, Jon! Why should kids walk a couple of tree-lined blocks to school when they can be bused over miles of pavement across a far-flung expanse of ticky tacky?

The Womenfolk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rva3pogJX8E

"first-tier suburb", a term coined by Bill Hudnut III of Indianapolis. That says it all, no?

Mojo comments:
The obliteration of good farmland and open space for the glory of asphalt and concrete nothingness. Honk if you remember the single blinking red light at the crossroads!

Could not find the link, but had this August 14, 2005 Oregonian article "Curbing urban sprawl Canada style".
Oregon vs. British Columbia - two approaches to protecting farmlands:

Created: Both systems set up in 1973;both lauded as successful.

Emphasis: British Columbia drew boundaries around farms;Oregon around cities.

Acreage: British Columbia gained 160,000 productive farm acres; Oregon lost 900,000 acres since 1980.

Would like to add:
British Columbia has regularly shifted Agricultural Land Reserve lines, but mostly based on better analysis identifying the most productive soil.

"In British Columbia, it is all about food" says Brian Underhill, director of strategic planning for the Agricultural Land Commission. "We want to keep the option open for agriculture."

What about a bike plan? Don't forget that. Make Canyon a green,one-way boulevard with traffic calming roundabouts and put big wide bike lanes in with some curb extensions and bioswales. Then I'm sure the developers will complain about all those ugly car dealerships so those will need to be driven out by new regulations, fees, and some prolonged streetcar construction. And while we're at it, how about renaming Canyon Rd after some obscure political figure who never set foot in Oregon...

I thought Doyle would be a nice change for that city, but more and more I'm thinking we should look into his ties to all things Neil...

Hey, Don! So what's the plan for that decade-old fenced-off pile of rubble and half-finished little collection of random buildings that was supposed to reshape Beaverton? Shouldn't we start there?

"Protecting farmland" claims in this state are a joke. They say they care about farms, then in places like the Klamath Basin they take away the water needed to farm it.
They let wineries build hotel-like businesses on the "farm land", but we cant build homes people need. Instead, they only allow developers to build condos in places nobody wants to live.
We only use like 4% of the land in this state anyway, would it kill us if we used 6% or 8%?

Probably, since most of the rest is lava, rocky slopes, and desert. That BC comparison looks intriguing, btw.

The obliteration of good farmland and open space for the glory of asphalt and concrete nothingness. Honk if you remember the single blinking red light at the crossroads!

Downtown Portland version:

"The obliteration of prime wetland, wildlife area and fish spawning grounds, for the glory of asphalt, and tall buildings built now on unstable soil. Honk if you remember Guild's Lake and Balch Creek!"

If sprawl is so bad, Portland should have never existed: Vancouver predated Portland by at least 100 years.

Erik H. Let's get the facts straight about "Vancouver predated Portland by at least 100years". Vancouver WA was founded by the Hudson Bay Co. in 1825. Portland had white-man habitation in the early 1840's and was named in 1845.

Erik H. If you were talking about Vancouver BC, then its starting date is 1867.

British Columbia has regularly shifted Agricultural Land Reserve lines, but mostly based on better analysis identifying the most productive soil.

I thought this would be of interest.
Was any of this land use plan in our state done on a basis of identifying the most productive soil farmland? I don't think so. Most likely artificial UGB lines were drawn around the cities instead.

The land that has been covered with asphalt and development - was that not the best fertile farmland in this valley?

"In British Columbia, it is all about food" says Brian Underhill, director of strategic planning for the Agricultural Land Commission. "We want to keep the option open for agriculture."

So it looks like our best soil farmland has been and is being covered with asphalt and development. Why is it when I go outside the UGB, I don't see productive farmland growing food? I see mostly nurseries planting street trees on our former farmland. I see mansions with huge yards, yet inside we are being pressed to accept more density and forced to deal with congestion.

And forests saved?
Take a drive out Hwy 26 on the way to the coast. How did that happen? People from out of state are shocked as they don’t expect to see this in “Green Oregon”?

A very important issue is food. Apparently it is a priority in the British Columbia plan, not here. There is food from China in a high end store here, frozen vegetable packaged french green beans with a stamp on the package: Product of China. We are covering our best fertile farmland and importing food from China!!! We have rain here folks to grow food, we have land here to grow food.

Acreage: British Columbia gained 160,000 productive farm acres; Oregon lost 900,000 acres since 1980.

900,000 acres lost since 1980 (article was dated 2005) How many more acres of productive farm acres have we lost since then?

None of this sounds like a smart growth plan to me. Those that buy the mantra - words are one thing, what do your eyes and reason tell you?

I recently took a walk around downtown Beaverton, using the Metro "Walk There" book. I was quite surprised that Beaverton does indeed have an old fashioned "Main Street," Broadway, which is sandwiched between State Highways 8 and 10. Grinding through those two traffic sewers, you would never know it's even there.

The area south of Farmington Road, around the City Library, is also quite nice. The Beaverton Round, even if it is some day successful, is a monstrosity.

The other thing that impressed me about this area of Beaverton is that, if you wanted to, you could walk or bike to just about any commercial service you would ever need, from Fred Meyer up against 217, to the Sunset Bowling Lanes on Walker Road, and lots of stuff in between (Everyday Music and an Asian Market on Cedar Hills, e.g.).

Beaverton doesn't look so bad, after all.