Success Stories

Communities in Oregon - and around the nation - are recognizing the need to limit growth. We've highlighted several below.

Oregon Communities

Lake Oswego, OR

Case Study: Lake Oswego, Oregon- A Community with Standards (The following was excerpted from Better Not Bigger by Eben Fodor. Shown here with permission from the author. For more information see Fodor and Associates and New Society Publishers.) 

The City of Lake Oswego is located on the southern edge of Portland's city limits. It is bounded on the east by the Willamette River and on the west by the I-5 freeway. To the south is the rural area of Stafford. The city grew from 19,400 to 33,145 people between 1975 and 1995. Most residents feel that the size of the city has already grown as much as it should (in terms of land area) and their focus is on protecting the quality of life enjoyed by current residents. 

However, growth in the Portland area caused Metro, the regional planning organization, to plan for expansion of the region's urban growth boundary. In October 1997 the Metro Council designated 2,056 acres in the rural Stafford area south of Lake Oswego as an urban reverse area. The urban reserve is intended to accommodate future expansion of Lake Oswego.

Anticipating this decision, the city worked for more than a year to craft an explicit growth policy that would protect the community from the likely impacts of this future growth. The city council and planning commission carefully deliberated on the proposed growth policy. They conducted surveys, held hearings, and sought extensive public involvement. 

The resulting growth management policy received strong public support and was adopted by the city council on January 6, 1998 as a set of amendments to the city's comprehensive plan. Goal 14 of the plan (dealing with urbanization) was changed to read: Lake Oswego shall ensure that the rate, amount, type, location, and cost of population growth and development within or outside of the Urban Services Boundary will not diminish the quality of life the City has presently attained. 

Quality of life is determined through a set of quality-of-life indicators that the city had already begun to create. These indicators are to be incorporated into development regulations as criteria for determining impacts of future development on the community. The city also adopted a policy of requiring that new development pay the full cost of extending urban services to that development.

Growth Resolutions

Oregon Communities for a Voice in Annexations (OCVA) has developed two resolutions to repeal the 20-year land-supply law and expand the list of allowable systems development charges (sdcs). Cities across the state are passing these resolutions and sending a strong message to the Legislature that they want policy changes at the state level to allow them to control growth. For a list of cities that have passed the resolutions and more information, see OCVA.

Communities Around the Nation

Researchers at the Rocky Mountain Institute have found many examples of communities that have focused on developing their local economy without growing. For a list and description of the communities and what they did, click here.

Boulder, CO