Speak up for North Plains Wednesday & Thursday: Planning Com. & Think Out Loud

Thank you to all who showed up for the UGB Concept Plan meeting on June 2. Your feedback was very important for the city to hear. The city's growth plan should not justify its housing projection with an out-of-date and now excessive population forecast, and an out-of-date Economic Opportunity Analysis that planned for a semiconductor factory and data centers. 

1) Wednesday, June 10, Planning Commission

On Wednesday, June 10, at Jessie Mays Community Center and on Zoom, the Planning Commission will hold a meeting including a discussion of the UGB Concept Plan. 

• ‍ ‍6-7pm Work Session on the UGB Concept Plan, agenda here. No public comment at work sessions, but listen in to the discussion. Zoom here.Passcode: 289830

• Starting at 7pm is the Planning Commission meeting, agenda here. Whether or not you can make it, please send written comments on the UGB Concept Plan to info@northplains.org before the meeting (try to send it by 3pm). Written comments will be read into the record, and you can give verbal public comments at the start of the meeting (guidelines for public comments on p. 3 of the packet). Sample talking points you might use are pasted below. Zoom here. Passcode: Passcode: 816072

2) Thursday, June 11, Oregon Public Broadcasting's Think Out Loud

The next day, on Thursday, June 11, at 6:00 - 7:00pm (doors open at 5:30 pm), at Atfalati Ridge Elementary Cafeteria, please share your thoughts about North Plains with Oregon Public Broadcasting's Think Out Loud. Talking points are below, but it's important to emphasize that it's not that the city doesn't want to grow, it just wants to do so intentionally, taking only as much land as is needed and fiscally prudent, using up-to-date population projections, providing housing for income levels that need it, and focusing first on our mainstreet for economic development. Data centers do not belong outside of Metro, or right next to an elementary school and homes. And the city should not subsidize very profitable businesses like data centers, or businesses that generate little tax revenue like warehouses and data centers. Please also share your thoughts on OPB's survey here and here: opb.org/northplains.

Opportunities for Service

Last but not least, North Plains is seeking a member for its Economic Development Commission. Find the announcement here and the application here. Applications are due by July 2, 2026 to cityrecorder@northplains.gov or City Hall.

Thank you for participating in your city's governance

Friends of Smart Growth

UGB Concept Plan Notes

1) UGB Concept Plan

The concept plan can be found here and you can see the map of the proposed expansion area on p. 6 of 51. Page 4 of the plan claims: "The City has an estimated need of approximately 127 acres for housing and associated infrastructure, 40 acres for parks, and up to 690 acres for commercial and industrial lands."

This plan is very similar to the plan that City voters rejected 71-to-29 in a ballot initiative just 2 years ago, except that it does not include as much land to the west. It is based on the incomplete review of a "ReLook Committee" convened by the former city council. This committee first decided on the amount of land they wanted to bring into North Plains' UGB, and second mapped the locations of housing and employment on that land. That is a backwards way to plan. In real planning, first the city's accurate and desired needs for housing and industry should be analyzed, and only if those needs require more land should land be brought into the UGB.

The UGB Concept Plan is based on outdated population growth figures. The housing land requested in the plan is based on a 2020 population forecast for North Plains, which estimated the city's population would nearly double from 3,400 to 7,076 residents by 2040. By 2024, that population forecast was significantly downgraded to about 5,500 residents by 2040. Yet city staff refuse to accept the new, lower numbers and are planning for an outdated amount of residents, homes, and land. In fact, the city continues to pay to defend a lawsuit supporting the old Housing Needs Analysis in order to grandfather in that now-inaccurate and inflated population forecast. The city should not acquire more land than necessary or fund infrastructure beyond its means to satisfy outdated population growth figures. This gives a major financial windfall to developers and landowners at the expense of city taxpayers. Instead, North Plains should plan for the actual, much more modest, projected housing needs.

The industrial land, which is far more acreage than a rural town needs, would likely be used for data centers and will be located right next to the Sunset Ridge homes and Atfalati Ridge Elementary School. The UGB Concept Plan is based on job projection figures from the old Economic Opportunity Analysis (EOA), which are only 4.78 jobs per acre. That ratio is very low - lower than any jurisdiction in the Metro Region and much lower than North Plains' existing EOA. This job density is typical of data centers (mentioned 58 times in the EOA) and warehouses. And they generate little tax revenue. The new AMSL warehouse, for example, earns the city only about $23,000 a year in tax revenue on 10 acres, and a state statute lists North Plains as the only whole city that can offer an E-commerce tax break to businesses. The EOA was written when North Plains expected to host auxiliary industries for semiconductor fabrication -- an industry no longer projected to come to the area. The EOA claims to emulate North Hillsboro's industrial park, which consists primarily of low-job data centers and fulfillmentcenters. That is despite the fact that North Plains is outside of Metro, it is intended for rural industry, and the EOA states that "the greatest number of new jobs are forecasted in tourism-related industries, professional services, and education and health services." To make matters worse, these data centers and related industries, which generate large amounts of traffic and pollution, would be located right next to the elementary school and residential areas of Sunset Ridge.

For these reasons and more, we urge you to attend the June 2 meeting and speak out against the UGB Concept Plan.