Only so much land in gorge
January 20, 2008
BRAD SCHMIDT
The Oregonian
THE DALLES -- Just seven square miles in size, this skinny, crescent-shaped agricultural city is searching for the answer to the question that may set Columbia River Gorge precedent: How do we accommodate population growth?
The Dalles is the first city in the gorge looking to significantly expand its 20-year land supply, or urban growth boundary. The effort also marks the first time city, county and state officials will be asked how -- or if -- large-scale growth can occur in the gorge.
City leaders say available property in The Dalles is running dangerously low, and 55 percent more land is needed to accommodate growth by 2026. But expansion would infringe on land federally protected by the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act.
So complicated and unprecedented is the debate, there is concern The Dalles would be allowed to expand only with congressional approval.
In coming months, policymakers will discuss whether a city's desire for expansion trumps preservation of natural resources, or whether both can coexist in the nation's most strictly protected scenic area.
Conservationists and growth advocates agree this is one of the most important decisions in gorge history, one that could shape how the 85-mile canyon between Oregon and Washington looks for years to come.
"We do have to look at it on a gorge-wide basis," said Jeff Condit, chairman of the Columbia River Gorge Commission, the group that may have final say on expansion. "What does this mean, in terms of the overall long, long term?"
Explosive growth
East Scenic Drive winds through The Dalles' southern hillside, the elevation shooting up to match the land values. Perched atop the hill is Columbia Gorge Community College, where Mayor Robb Van Cleave earns his living as human resources director.
In his sixth term, Van Cleave says the city is in a revitalization period. The future looks brighter than it has in years, ever since the aluminum plants shut down and unemployment soared.
Internet giant Google has moved in. The past five years have brought nearly $100 million in downtown redevelopment. And a 10-year, $150 million community housing project is in the works.
An improved economy in 2007 helped The Dalles add nearly 400 people (for a total of 13,045) -- the largest population gain since 1990, according to estimates from the Portland State University Population Research Center. And the city recently funded a study projecting area population, now 15,472, will balloon 46 percent, to 22,545, by 2026.
The Dalles needs more land, Van Cleave says, even if that means chipping away at the National Scenic Area.
"Communities all have to expand and grow. To clamp a wall around a community and say it can grow no more, I just can't envision it," he said. "Communities that can't grow, they go away."
Clashing with Scenic Act
Expansion in the gorge is limited not only by urban growth boundaries but also by the National Scenic Area Act. Approved by Congress and President Reagan in 1986, the legislation preserved 292,500 acres of forest hillsides and stunning canyon views in Oregon and Washington, "to protect and provide for the enhancement of the scenic, cultural, recreational, and natural resources."
Left exempt from the restrictions were 13 designated urban areas, The Dalles the most populous.
Dan Durow, community development director for the city, said the existing urban growth boundary has enough land for just the next 10 years -- half what's required by state law.
The City Council last year approved a long-range land plan to accommodate population into 2056, called an urban reserve area. But the 20-year expansion proposal within that 50-year plan is proving controversial.
To acquire about one square mile of buildable land, the urban area would need to expand nearly four square miles, according to The Dalles' proposal.
Two-thirds of that new land is within the National Scenic Area.
Digging in for a fight
Conservation group Friends of the Columbia Gorge and former U.S. Rep. Jim Weaver, D-Ore., who sponsored the gorge legislation, say the law is clear:
Growth is limited along the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington. Buildable land someday will fill up, and, they argue, federal law prohibits growth from flowing into the scenic area.
Weaver said The Dalles should not be allowed to expand.
"Look at the gorge," said the 80-year-old, now retired and living outside Eugene. "It's a unique wonder. I hope we have the sense to keep it that way. And that's what the act was to do."
Michael Lang, Friends' conservation director, said The Dalles' proposal doesn't meet requirements for urban expansion outlined in the act -- and his group is willing to go to court to argue that point.
Lang says growth should first go to designated urban areas that are uncrowded, naming Dallesport, Wash., as a prime example.
Dallesport juts into the Columbia River directly across from The Dalles. It is a barren, flat peninsula equal in area to its Oregon neighbor -- but with one-tenth the residents.
And there's a bridge connecting the communities.
Searching for answers
Thoughts of forced expansions into another state puzzle Van Cleave, The Dalles' mayor, and Dave Sauter, chairman of Washington's Klickitat County Commission. "Growth across the river is an issue they deal with," Van Cleave said. "I'm elected from an Oregon community, and that's what I have to focus on."
Said Sauter: "I don't know that we can have success at their expense."
With other, more modest growth proposals from Lyle and Hood River looming, the gorge commission is searching for answers. Tasked by Congress to oversee management of the scenic area, commission staff and its 12 voting members from Oregon and Washington began discussing in December how to handle the dilemma.
The National Scenic Area Act gives the commission authority to approve minor boundary revisions that meet specific criteria. But nowhere does it define a "minor" or "major" revision -- the latter of which would require congressional approval.
There is other confusion. In Oregon, a city, county and the state Land Conservation and Development Department must sign off on a plan, but it is unclear whether the state agency or the gorge commission should review the proposal first.
Issue divides residents
The divide between growth and preservation reaches even to the most local levels.
At Momma Jane's Pancake House, 35-year-old Ryan Cyphers hopes one day to be able to afford a house. Not like the ones on East Scenic Drive, where the empty lots with views of Mount Adams run $125,000. A simple house.
The waiter is worried about prices. He wants to see the urban growth boundary expanded to keep home values in check -- even if doing so cuts into the land that makes the gorge so unique.
"A town's gotta grow," he says during the afternoon rush. "It brings more business, more jobs, more opportunity."
Just outside the city, 54-year-old Matt Bowen pulls up a seat inside his engine shop, next to the wood-burning stove in the center of the room. Bowen lives in a house that would be drawn into the urban growth boundary, on Cherry Heights Road, a curvy two-lane road leading to hillside orchards featuring The Dalles' top export -- cherries.
He gathered more than 400 signatures last year to petition against the city's plan to expand. Bowen says growth will bring congestion and crime, destroying the charm of small-town living.
"We have character here," he says, an orchard of cherry trees a few hundred feet up the road.
"We're a small town with the benefit of the mountains and the river and the forest. . . . That's what I'm trying to protect."
Brad Schmidt, 503-294-5940; bradschmidt@news.oregonian.com
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