Langdon Farms could be first of things to come

  • Published: 3/2/2010 2:39:21 PM
Metro Chief Operating Officer Michael Jordan put it correctly a few months ago when he described his position on the reserves process as “looking into his crystal ball.”

This week, three counties and Metro are poised to approve recommendations on the next 50 years of urban and rural land use decisions, in part based on Jordan’s recommendations.

For more than a year, these counties, including Clackamas, Washington and Multnomah, have garnered public input and listened to discussion about what areas should stay rural and which ones should be zoned for future development.

Interestingly enough, another decision will occur at nearly the same time.

This time, a local business will enter into a land deal with the Klamath Tribe, circumventing the Metro decision and allowing a southern Oregon tribe to have rights to more than 300 acres of French Prairie farmland.

The city of Wilsonville is concerned and is doing what it can to clarify whether the tribes indeed can take the land south of the Willamette River into trust — circumventing local and state land use laws and essentially ignoring the reserves process.

The move by the Maletis brothers, who own Langdon Farms, to negotiate with and enter into a deal with the Klamath Tribes most likely is just the first of many we’ll see with the approval of the urban and rural reserves.

We wonder if this is the first of other loopholes that developers and property owners will find to fight what they see as an impediment of their property rights.

This Metro decision has impact not just on Wilsonville and Clackamas County, but anyone who travels up and down Interstate-5, or lives in neighboring counties.

Comments by a Hubbard city councilor, for example, demonstrated a lack of understanding about French Prairie’s soon-to-be rural designation. His statements about wanting “growth” in the area show just how necessary it is for local governing bodies to be aware of what’s happening in the region.

Those local cities, such as Canby, Woodburn, Molalla and Aurora need to avail themselves of what’s happening and why. Land-use decisions they make can be directly impacted by the Klamath Tribes desire to put development on the Langdon Farms property.

In short, the reserves process might have lofty goals, but the impacts of the decisions this week could be long lasting and have unintended consequences.

Metro may no longer be reaching its tentacles across the Willamette River, but the decisions the Metro Council makes can be far-reaching and long-lasting.

Unless, of course, you find a loophole.

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