I haven't written much lately. A couple of reasons. And no, spring fever isn't one of them!
Being careful of Apple Carts
If you come to meetings you know it's been a tough slog going forward this year on the vision plan. I was on the Structure Committee and now the Task Force committee - both of which are moving the Community Vision Plan forward using all of our good Consensus Building tools. The Structure group was 8 people and we did ok We were all happy with the result and felt good about each other when we were done. (Well, I liked everybody more when we were done than when we started anyhow!) We talked through tough things, unveiled those pesky elephants charging around the room, asked and listened instead of getting hurt feelings or jumping to conclusions and produced our report On Time. Go Team! The Task Force is tougher - there's 12 people on it and after a couple of meetings some folks are calling for it to be disbanded and shut down. Really? And that's with a full time mediator at the meetings. True! But that's newbie thinking. To build consensus in the Hamlet, oldtimers know you have to be able to walk on the hot coals baby! So, we'll see how that goes!
Moving Targets
Things are moving around so much it's been hard to know what to write. About the time I hit 'post' the situation may be completely different! One side wants this plan, one side wants that plan, and then there's someone who has a plan all their own.
But I'm hopeful that a plan can emerge that will benefit the most citizens the most ways.
Isn't that what SHOULD come out of a community vision?
As I wrote last time, the court case win by West Linn and Tualatin has affected us by not making full development here a slam dunk. The county is saying that there might be a slightly different pathway. We could maybe go back to our great Undesignated status and have it be possible for EFU lands to 'upzone' or create some smaller lots to build on or sell off.
There's lots of questions on that we're trying to pin down.
Only upzone for EFU? What about larger RRFF5 landowners? Is there a chance for them too? Is this only if we keep Stafford north of the river Undesignated? Upsides? Downsides? Hiddensides?
Remember we've had this conversation before? Before we were in the Urban Reserve ( a status where ALL of your re-zoning or subdividing rights are frozen until a city kindly annexes you), we were exploring this same option for some limited change, limited growth, and limited stress on our infrastructure that is possible in Undesignated areas.
Dan Chandler from the County has called our current status - Purgatory. An endless unchanging night. Hmmmmm.
Please stay involved, tuned in and Active in the Hamlet - this is the time to keep up to date!
