Urban Growth Boundaries

NEOSCC has hired three consultants recently. One is Fregonese Associates from Portland OR.

Below is a response to an inquiry I made about urban growth boundaries and Fregonese in Portland.

"Fregonese is in the middle of many of the urban planning debates here, which includes expansions of the urban growth boundary. I don't know them personally, but you only get to play the game at their level in Portland metropolitan level if you are in good with the far left. Urban growth is popular with the big developers because it increases the value of the property they own inside the boundary because of the limited supply. Then, those same players play a major role in where future expansions go, which allows them to either buy land outside the boundary before the expansion occurs or get options on it. I (the Oregon respondent) have tried to get big developers to help fight this stuff and they have admitted to me that they like the current system because they make a lot money off of it.

Companies like Fregonese help cities decide where future growth will occur, which is the ability to make poor dirt farmers millionaires overnight. If that is not a system tailor made for corrumption, I don't know how you would design a better one. Knowing where the growth (expansion of the UGB) will occur is like knowing what the stock market will do a day in advance." Response is dated Dec. 18, 2012