Cornelius begins study of Metro pullout

The Argus

CORNELIUS - Amidst an air of reconciliation at Monday's Cornelius City Council meeting, one line made clear that the acrimony between the city and the Metro regional government was still around.

"We're looking at what we can do to move ourselves out of Metro and into the state arena," Mayor Bill Bash said to Metro Council President David Bragdon.

It was the only mention during a relatively tame hearing to the plan, but it could mark the beginning of another phase of the relationship between Metro and its two most distant cousins, Cornelius and Forest Grove.

The animosity directed at Metro from Cornelius peaked in March, when the Metro Council voted 5-2 to deny Cornelius an urban growth boundary expansion for industrial development. Four of the councilors who voted against the measure were from Portland and points eastward.

Those voting against the plan feared the precedent that could be set by approving a growth boundary expansion outside of the pre-established cycle.

The council voted in 2005 to open the 161 acres to development, but that was struck down on appeal by the state. The earliest Cornelius can again hope to add the land to its growth boundary is in 2009, when Metro's growth boundary review cycles around again.

In the meantime, one of the city's largest employers, Sheldon Manufacturing, threatened in March to leave the Portland metropolitan area if it's unable to get land to expand in Cornelius.

Forest Grove and Cornelius are the only members of the regional government that are not contiguous to the other cities in the area - a 2-mile gap lies between Hillsboro and Cornelius. They're also the farthest cities from Metro's northeast Portland offices, a full 10 miles beyond other distant outposts like Troutdale, Oregon City, Wilsonville or Sherwood.

Meanwhile, other cities that are closer to Portland than Cornelius and Forest Grove can bypass the Metro Council when seeking to expand their urban growth areas. Those cities - including Scappoose, Sandy, Newberg and Canby - instead go directly to the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development when looking to add to their urban growth boundaries....