Study Sites - Bethany
 
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1989 Aerial View. (quarter zoom-in available - click on photo section for larger view)
1999 Land-Use
1989 Aerial View
1994 Aerial View
1998 Aerial View
2000 Zoning
This area presents the most dramatic contrast between rural and urban development and is the site of some of the most public conflicts over future land use. Suburban development has grown rapidly and uniformly up to the UGB and development has occurred across gently rolling agricultural land. 2216 parcels were developed between 1989 and 1998, second in number only to the Scholl's Ferry area. An abrupt boundary here results from this rapid growth although exurban homes dot the edges of farm fields in the part of the area. There is little in the way of exurban homes or rural residential development right along the boundary. Topography accentuates the visual impact of landscape change and contributes to the sense that the limits of UGB policy are being tested in this area. Parts of the study site are under litigation at present. Metro and Washington County have approved 109 acres for inclusion in the urban zone. Land use organizations are contesting the decision. Ironically, the adjacent campus of Portland Community College holds an annual exhibition of horse drawn farm equipment and celebration of agricultural history on a site right at the edge of urban expansion. The Bethany site has the least fragmented rural land holdings (66 owner occupied parcels), the largest total area zoned for agricultural use (1119 acres), and the largest average rural parcel size (10 acres). Rural areas of the Bethany site have had the least building activity of the four sites, with relatively few exurban homes built in the last 20 years. Inside the UGB land use was almost entirely agricultural until 1990. A small subdivision in the southeast corner of the study site was developed in the 1970s and the Rock Creek campus of Portland Community College was established in 1976. The rest of the area inside the UGB has filled in with subdivisions or commercial development within the last 10 years. Exceptions on the 1998 map of land use include a transmission line corridor, a small wetland and lots that have subsequently been developed. Pressure for growth in this area and in the Scholl's Ferry area has been particularly intense because of job growth in Washington County, the site for several corporate headquarters and or manufacturing centers including Intel, Nike, Tektronix, and other industries