Submitted by michele on Tue, 12/08/2009 - 12:41

Finding the Rural-Urban Balance

Daniel Rice
The Statesman Journal
December 6, 2009
 
As Oregon residents, terms like "urban growth boundary" or "urban-rural interface" form part of our ordinary vernacular. We remain keenly attuned to the balance — and often the conflict — between urban uses and agriculture, between preservation and growth and between planning and accommodating expansion.

Yet for all our familiarity with the state's general land use planning concepts and the urban-rural balance, some of us (this author included) often fail to appreciate the daily impact decisions these areas have on our community, businesses and neighborhoods.

I and other members of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Salem program recently gained firsthand exposure to these local impacts during the program's natural resources day Nov. 17.

Offered by the chamber the last 25 years, Leadership Salem exposes area professionals and other interested individuals to several key issues facing our community, with the goal of encouraging participants to take on local leadership roles.

During natural resources day, participants heard from a land-use panel with differing perspectives about Salem's urban growth boundary, met with business leaders in the agricultural and natural resources fields and toured their facilities, and heard about the most recent plans by Portland General Electric and NW Natural to continue providing energy to our area.

Stops included the SeQuential-Pacific Biodiesel plant off Turner Road, where the group toured the facility that converts used cooking oil and other materials into biodiesel, and Willamette Valley Vineyards, where founder Jim Bernau held court about the suitability of the region's soils for wine grapes and his childhood experiments of making "wine" from Concord grape juice.

The day focused not only on providing information but also challenging the group to consider how the Salem area will respond to growth.

About 200,000 people live inside the Salem urban growth boundary now, said Vickie Hardin Woods, city of Salem Community Development director, during the land-use panel discussion. That number is projected to increase to 300,000 by 2030.

As our community grows, we will face increasingly difficult decisions about accommodating housing demands and other urban uses while still protecting our agricultural businesses and rural qualities.

Perhaps no one is more aware of this challenge than John Zielinski, whose family-owned E.Z. Orchards off Hazel Green Road NE is just outside the northeastern edge of the Salem urban growth boundary.

Zielinski marched the Leadership Salem group through neatly lined rows of fruit trees to the point where the orchard and an adjoining property meet, the urban growth boundary dividing the two.

Gazing across the adjoining property (currently a grass seed field), Zielinski said he worries that development closer to the edges of the boundary will threaten area agricultural operations like E.Z. Orchards. For Zielinski, who is also Salem Chamber president, preserving agricultural uses around Salem is not just about economic issues but also about ensuring that people have a connection to their farm roots.

Regardless of their viewpoints on the urban growth boundary or other land-use issues, many of the Leadership Program participants said they enjoyed visiting and hearing from a business directly affected by the issue. (They also enjoyed the complimentary apple cider donuts from E.Z. Orchards Farm Market).

One theme emphasized throughout the day is that land-use decisions affect all of us in the community, not just businesses like E.Z. Orchards. >From the size of our home lots to the types of businesses we can attract to our area, all of us has a stake in the decisions our state and local leaders make in the land-use arena.

The Salem-area community faces difficult decisions about how we utilize the region's land and other resources. However, we also enjoy a well-informed and involved group of professionals and citizens who make me, for one, confident in the outcome.

Daniel J. Rice is an associate attorney at the Heltzel Williams law firm, where his practice focuses on commercial litigation, creditors' rights and real property. He is a member of Leadership Salem's Class of 2011. He can be reached at drice@heltzel.com.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200912060312/BUSINESS01/912060318