Portland, Orgeon
Photo by Hi-Cam Photography
The City of Portland's regional growth is regulated by the Metropolitan Service District, known as "Metro." It was created by popular referendum in 1978, and is the only elected regional
government in the United States. Metro has earned a reputation for innovation in "smart growth," including mass transit and density initiatives, and the implementation of an urban growth boundary.
But Oregonians recently voted 60-40 in favor of Ballot measure 37, which would require local government agencies, including Metro, to compensate landowners when zoning changes affect their property values. And the law is retroactive, so if a property owner thinks any zoning change made during his tenure as owner has devalued his property, he can file a claim for compensation.
Measure 37 went into effect on December 3. No money was allocated to pay property owners' claims. If the legislature can't come up with the money by June 3, zoning changes will be waived and development will proceed largely free of the control of state land use planners. States with a similar law include Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.
The really interesting thing about Measure 37 getting passed is that before the vote, the referendum was being framed as a showdown between urban blue-staters and rural red-staters. An article in The Oregonian, the state's leading newspaper, portrayed the measure as pitting "people frustrated by run-ins with the government" against "people who tie Oregon's identity to its environment."
The real genius of the pro-37 campaign was convincing voters that a vote for 37 was a vote to safeguard rights, not curtail them. Proponents used the language of individual rights, rhetoric usually reserved to defend widely accepted civil liberties like free speech and the right to vote; not the right to sell property.
The effects remain to be seen, but I predict creeping sprawl like the kind in a lot of the rest of the country slowly taking hold in the Portland suburbs. Developers and some area residents will reap a short-term financial benefit. They will use the money to buy SUV's to drive and pick up fast food, and eat sitting at home playing video games, content in the knowledge that they have the freedom to do whatever they want, dammit, even if that means making a mess out of what once was the countryside.
government in the United States. Metro has earned a reputation for innovation in "smart growth," including mass transit and density initiatives, and the implementation of an urban growth boundary.
But Oregonians recently voted 60-40 in favor of Ballot measure 37, which would require local government agencies, including Metro, to compensate landowners when zoning changes affect their property values. And the law is retroactive, so if a property owner thinks any zoning change made during his tenure as owner has devalued his property, he can file a claim for compensation.
Measure 37 went into effect on December 3. No money was allocated to pay property owners' claims. If the legislature can't come up with the money by June 3, zoning changes will be waived and development will proceed largely free of the control of state land use planners. States with a similar law include Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.
The really interesting thing about Measure 37 getting passed is that before the vote, the referendum was being framed as a showdown between urban blue-staters and rural red-staters. An article in The Oregonian, the state's leading newspaper, portrayed the measure as pitting "people frustrated by run-ins with the government" against "people who tie Oregon's identity to its environment."
The real genius of the pro-37 campaign was convincing voters that a vote for 37 was a vote to safeguard rights, not curtail them. Proponents used the language of individual rights, rhetoric usually reserved to defend widely accepted civil liberties like free speech and the right to vote; not the right to sell property.
The effects remain to be seen, but I predict creeping sprawl like the kind in a lot of the rest of the country slowly taking hold in the Portland suburbs. Developers and some area residents will reap a short-term financial benefit. They will use the money to buy SUV's to drive and pick up fast food, and eat sitting at home playing video games, content in the knowledge that they have the freedom to do whatever they want, dammit, even if that means making a mess out of what once was the countryside.
This post quotes liberally from an article recently published in Legal Affairs, which you can access by clicking here. For more on "framing" political issues, check out the work of George Lakoff.
