Metro news

In what many described as a historic moment, the Metro Council today designated 28,615 acres of urban reserves around the region. For the next fifty years, when Metro considers expanding the urban growth boundary, the focus will be on these lands. Metro has worked with the counties for three years to identify lands suitable for development and to determine the region's most important farms, forests and natural areas. The four agencies reached initial agreements on a regional map of urban and rural reserves in February. Clackamas and Multnomah county commissions passed ordinances in May designating their rural reserves. The Washington County Commission anticipates designating rural reserves June 15.

Today the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation and the Metro Council each unanimously adopted the 2035 Regional Transportation Plan. The RTP, which took four years to develop, is a 25-year blueprint for how the region invests federal, state, local and regional transportation dollars in a way that supports jobs, promotes safety, protects clean air, enhances neighborhoods and provides more affordable options for getting around the region and meeting everyday needs.

Read the news release
Learn more about the regional transportation plan

On a day filled with threatening skies and passing downpours, the dozens of brave people who turned out for Metro's Walk There! tour on Wednesday evening received a double treat: a downpour-free walk and an expedition into Portland history.

Local author Laura Foster led the group through a section of Northwest Portland's Pearl District and up into the Nob Hill neighborhood. The walk started at the outdoor store REI, which along with Metro and Kaiser Permanente, sponsored the walk. Foster walked the group through Couch Park, stopping to marvel at century-old trees, look at historic houses and apartments and explain the rich past of the homes and the neighborhood.

The Metro Council today unanimously approved the distribution of $3.7 million in grants for planning projects that have the potential to lead to on the ground development in the next five years. Learn about the community planning and development grants program and the recommendations for partial or full funding of 17 projects from 10 local governments.

How can this region - and the nation - prepare for anticipated impacts of climate change? More federal funding, government partnerships, conservation education and access to climate modeling data were all suggestions relayed to the chair of the President's Council on Environmental Quality on Sunday. Chair Nancy Sutley came to the Portland region June 6 seeking input on preparing for potential climate change impacts, inviting a panel of 25 local and regional leaders to share metro area examples of climate change preparation and suggestions for the federal government.

This Thursday marks the completion of a four-year effort to shape how the region will invest in its transportation network to support jobs, promote safety, protect clean air and enhance existing neighborhoods over the next 25 years.

This Wednesday, June 9, the Metro Policy Advisory Committee will consider how the region can best plan for jobs and ensure safe, livable neighborhoods while taking into account long-term economic and housing trends.

Metro's first fitness walk in the Walk There! event series provided participants with an invigorating outdoor workout on Saturday, June 5.

More than 40 people of all ages turned out for the fitness walk along the Springwater Corridor in Gresham. They enjoyed the fresh morning air and natural scenery along the path which is a multi-use trail that on this weekend morning was filled with walkers, joggers, cyclists and people exercising their dogs.