THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996 TAG: 9609070178
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 72 lines
The executive director of the Portland, Ore., area government told a roomful of local politicians and business leaders Friday that working together could help increase economic growth, clean up the environment, protect farmland, and make cities more livable.
Mike Burton is the executive officer of Metro, a regional government covering three counties, 24 cities and the 1.2 million people that make up the Portland area.
``It is the only directly elected regional government in the country,'' Burton told the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
The Portland region and Hampton Roads are similar in population, as well as education and income levels. These similarities were key to convincing Nordstrom, the luxury department store, to build a store in downtown Norfolk. The Seattle-based company has four stores in the Portland area but none yet in Hampton Roads.
But Hampton Roads has, in recent months, struggled without much success to cooperate on water, a light rail line, recycling and other regional tasks.
A key tool to cooperation in Portland, Burton said, is the region's urban growth boundary, which is handled by the Metro government.
Outside the boundary, little development is allowed. The land inside is meant to handle all growth in the Portland region for a period of 20 years.
Over the decades, Portland has come to be seen as a leader in urban growth strategies and downtown development. It was one of the first cities to build a light rail line. It also was one of the first to tear out a freeway, building a Town Point-like park in its place. It also has torn down parking garages and restricted parking construction to boost use of mass transit downtown. It is one of a few regions with a strong urban growth boundary.
Over time, Burton said, Portland's strategies have shifted the nature of development and business decisions. Now banks are backing downtown redevelopment, and mall owners are talking of replacing parking lots with housing.
Intel, the local computer giant, decided to expand because it trusted that apartment buildings likely to be built around light rail lines would provide affordable housing for its workers, Burton said.
The shift toward regionalism and more comprehensive growth strategies have been a slow process, Burton said. Much of it began in the early 1970s, when Portland opted against another downtown freeway and the state ordered all regions to cooperate in forming regional growth boundaries.
Burton took office last year after being elected on a campaign of maintaining the urban growth boundary, and increasing the density of housing inside the region.
Key to managing growth, Burton said, is convincing people to accept a higher density of housing so sprawl can be limited and farmlands and forests saved.
``We got people to accept higher density by convincing them that it would help preserve greenery,'' Burton said.
The speech met with a warm response from several officials interviewed.
``It was very interesting; it's worth exploring,'' Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said, as she hurried from the luncheon to make her way to a meeting of Hampton Roads Partnership, a group set up to examine ways to increase regional cooperation. ``We want to find projects we can agree should be handled regionally.''
Councilman Cameron C. Pitts of Portsmouth said, ``I'm enthusiastic about getting people to look at the concept.''
Virginia Beach Councilwoman Louisa Strayhorn said she favored studying the idea of turning some city and state services over to a type of regional government. She said the state must give some of its powers to a regional body.
Burton said he was not advocating regional government, but said areas should find ways to cooperate on the decisions that cross political boundaries.
``You may not need a regional government, but you need someone who makes decisions,'' Burton said.
KEYWORDS: REGIONALISM LOCAL GOVERNMENT by CNB