The plan addresses issues including projected housing and job growth, parking management, water quality and the regional road system. The urban growth boundary separates urban and urbanize land from rural land. State law requires that a 20-year supply of urbanizable land be included inside its borders at all times. Urban reserves were areas outside of the urban growth boundary designated for future urbanization as the need arose. Urban reserves are no longer designated, see the fact sheet for more details.
Rural reserves are a combination of public and private lands designated never to be urbanized.
Low-density zoning protects rural reserves from development. The lands are used primarily for farms and forests. Metro is assisting communities to reinvigorate or create main streets, town centers and regional centers to help achieve our long-range planning goals. These mixed-use districts include the smaller downtowns and main streets of our region as well as larger regional centers such as downtown Hillsboro and Gresham.