Sure there’s healthy rivalry in Cascadia among Vancouver, Seattle and Portland. But between Portland and Vancouver, Washington?
Willamette Week explores the idea that smug Portland benefits in many ways from the Vancouver on the other side of the Columbia River.
Strict growth rules have helped make Portland into what’s widely considered a development model. Maybe Clark County, Wash., which has nearly doubled in population since 1990, now functions as a safety valve for Portland?
What if the region’s success at controlling growth while still maintaining one of the nation’s more robust economies is because of…Vancouver? Or more specifically, because Vancouver has fewer land-use laws and limits on growth? Has Vancouver become a convenient place to handle Portland’s overflow, for those who wanted to live, work and play in the area, but who also wanted a bigger yard, lower taxes and a house on a cul-de-sac? All this so Portland could build its light rail, trams and condo towers.
The point is just as valid around the Puget Sound area and in the Lower Mainland. Dense development makes transit and the infrastructure to preserve open space feasible. Where is the safety valve for the region?
Comments
3 responses to “Cascadia cities need a safety valve”
I think Puget Sound and the Lower Mainland are doing just fine without a “safety valve”. Its not as if sprawl zones arn’t available in the Puget Sound area… Unfortunatly much of the Puget Sound region already is a “safety valve”.
I think Vancouver WA, more than anything, gives the Oregon side of the Metro area a perfectly good model to avoid: they are sprawling, sprawling, sprawling!
Unfortunately, part of the reason is that even though Portland is rapidly growing, we aren’t accomodating enough growth in higher density areas within the city… too much growth is still being handled out in the greenfields, where they expand the UGB to.
Vancouver BC, however, mandates a certain % of growth must happen within existing boundaries – which is currently around 70%. If we did this, we’d see both housing prices skyrocket, but also new construction – as developers nowadays find infill a pretty risky endeavor, as the costs are fairly high in comparison to the payoff.
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