Study Sites - Happy Valley
1999 Land-Use, RLIS 2000.
1999 Land-Use
1989 Aerial View
1994 Aerial View
1998 Aerial View
2000 Zoning
The Happy Valley study site is located in Clackamas County, southeast of Portland. The jurisdiction of Happy Valley is recently incorporated (1965) and exclusively residential. It is the fastest growing community in Clackamas County. Development occurred most rapidly in this area between 1994 and 1998 when 1043 lots or 42% of the total lots in the study area were developed. Four hundred twenty lots (17%) were developed between 1989 and 1994. There is still considerable undeveloped land within the UGB in this study site. New housing is concentrated on the slopes of Mt. Scott and along the edges of the UGB indicating a preference for rural views and Mt. Hood views when site conditions permit. Newer development within the UGB consists mostly of larger homes (3000 square feet or larger) on smaller lots (7 to 10 homes per acre). Immediately south of the study area and within the UGB is Sunnyside Village, a neo-traditional community in the New Urbanism style. Happy Valley has the most rural residential development of the four Oregon study sites. This is attributable to the lack of prime agricultural land, hilly topography, and a zoning history that allowed farmers and rural residents in the 1960s and 1970s to subdivide their land into five acre lots. Within one mile of the UGB many of these lots have been developed within the last 10 years. Rural areas in the Happy Valley study site consist primarily of large lot residential (older ranch style homes, remodels, and new rural 'mansions'), minor farming activities, a few true farm operations (cattle, hay, nursery), and a golf course. In December of 1998 the UGB was expanded in the Happy Valley area to include parts of our outside UGB study area and took effect 90 days later. In our analysis we used the pre-1999 UGB in order to match air photography and RLIS coverage. Our field survey in 2001 indicates some new homes, but no subdivision developments in the newly expanded UGB area. This reflects a different subregional demand for housing and is in contrast to the Bethany area where a development permit for a subdivision, approved by Washington County, is on hold pending a legal decision on the boundary expansion.