No Sherwood West Expansion.
Update on the question of "Should we accelerate growth in Sherwood West?"
Last night (09/17/21) City council met with staff in a work session to discuss the progress on the Sherwood West Concept Plan. As part of that meeting, the staff asked us a question that is asked every three years as part of Metro and State laws around urban growth boundary expansion.
"Does Council Want staff to prepare an official letter with the associated planning asking Metro to expand the Urban Growth boundary in Sherwood West?"
Answer: No, we are not ready.
9/19/21 Sherwood CIty Council Worksession
There were many reasons cited around why this is the wrong time from my colleagues. For my part, it came down to a few simple things.
We have not completed the Comprehensive plan and the Sherwood West Concept Plan. The community in Sherwood has been clear on this; We have to Plan first, and we have to get it right.
We have sufficient buildable land in the urban growth boundary to add 1272 additional homes. We have only been averaging about 40 homes a year over the last four years.
Completing a mini-plan to meet the Metro requirements for an "Ask" over the next three months to meet the deadline would have distracted staff from critical activities. It also ignores the planning process and input from the community on what they want to see for Sherwood.
Asking to expand the UBG with an incomplete plan sends a negative message to Metro and would cause the ask to be denied anyways.
There is more work to be done with our Schools to make sure they are on board with a decision to accelerate growth.
Last but not least, the community does not want to grow at this time.
Someday, we will need to expand in a well-thought-out and intelligent way. If we do not, someone will do it for us. I have said it many times, we have a great community because of the great planning that was done 20 to 30 years ago. We have to get this right. we also have to be ready if it is forced upon us like the Brookman expansion in 2008.
The State and the Metro continue to erode our local control, or as we call it, our "Home Rule." We have to be diligent and intelligent about this. The next time you are considering who you vote for at the state level, the county, and Metro; Ask them, will they commit to the concept of "Home Rule" and rewind some of the egregious overreaches that the Salem and Metro continue to take and allow us to set their own course.
Thanks again for all the dialog, input on social media, the poll, letters, and conversations. It informed and confirmed my views, and I appreciate it.
See you again in three years on this Topic!
Cheers.
Tim
P.S. I included the poll results below.
Question One
84% of respondents agree with this statement:
Given what you have heard, could you rate the following statement: The Sherwood city council should not expand the city and preserve natural areas and farmlands in the Sherwood West area.
On this question; 84% of respondents either Strongly Agreed or Somewhat agreed with the statement. 14% strongly disagreed or somewhat disagreed. 2.56% were neutral. There was statistically no difference in the overall findings when you compared Sherwood residents to respondents who lived outside of Sherwood.
Question One Summary
Question One Detail & Crosstab
Question Two
87% of respondents agree with this statement
Given what you have heard, could you rate the following statement: The Sherwood city council should delay any expansion of the urban boundaries until planning has been completed.
On this question; 87% of respondents either Strongly Agreed or Somewhat agreed with the statement. 10% strongly disagreed or somewhat disagreed. 3% were neutral. There was statistically no difference in the overall findings when you compared Sherwood residents to respondents who lived outside of Sherwood.
Question Two Summary
Question Two Detail & Crosstab
Question Three
93% of respondents agree with this statement
Given what you have heard, could you rate the following statement: The Sherwood city council should get extensive feedback from our residents and local business before asking Metro to expand the urban growth boundaries.
On this question; 93% of respondents either Strongly Agreed or Somewhat agreed with the statement. 4% strongly disagreed or somewhat disagreed. 3% were neutral. There was statistically no difference in the overall findings when you compared Sherwood residents to respondents who lived outside of Sherwood.
Question Two Summary
Question Three Detail % Crosstab
Question Four
Respondents were asked to indicate how the cities planning should be focused on residential zoning and zoning that would support businesses that generate family-wage jobs. 75.7% of respondents indicated that there needs to be a balance between the two zoning types. 34% indicated equal focus, 30.1% wanted a balance that leaned toward residential, and 11.5% wanted a balance focused on jobs. Only 16.6% indicated we should only focus on residential, and 7.7% said jobs only.
34.1% responded, “Plans should include a balance of business (Family wage jobs) and residential areas with equal focus on both.”
30.1% responded, “Plans should include a balance of business (Family wage jobs) and residential areas with a focus on residential..”
16.6% responded, “Plans should only allow for residential growth.”
11.5% responded, “Plans should include a balance of business (Family wage jobs) and residential areas with a focus on business.”
7.7%% responded, “Plans should only allow for business (Family Wage Jobs) growth.”