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Last week, the Metro Council voted unanimously to refer a $475 million bond to the voters on the November 5, 2019 ballot. The bond would continue an existing parcel tax rate of $0.19 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to provide for regional parks and open spaces throughout the Metro area. Importantly, the bond includes refined language, which limits the areas outside of the urban growth boundary in which Metro can purchase land. The HBA spent the past six months working with Metro staff and elected leaders to ensure that the bond would not provide money to buy large swaths of developable land in urban reserve areas. Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of land outside of the urban growth boundary is designated as rural reserve – and will not accommodate development for at least fifty years – several cities currently refuse to recognize the tenants of this structure and take the necessary steps to plan for future growth within their urban reserve areas. This failure completely disregards Metro’s region-wide planning approach and flies in the face of those cities who take the necessary steps to accommodate their fair share of housing. It also leads to a reduced housing supply, increased housing prices, and greater displacement pressure. Therefore, the HBA advocated to restrict the purchase of land in these areas. Given the importance of community planning that takes into account housing, jobs, transportation, and civic infrastructure in addition to parks and open space, the HBA is thankful that bond dollars will not act as the lead dollars in unplanned areas, which would have the unintended consequence of preventing a holistic analysis of land use planning for urban reserve areas. Instead, Metro correctly decided that the bond should only accompany ongoing planning efforts in expansion areas or bring new opportunities to established communities in order to build and strengthen the strategic alignment between housing, parks, and open space. Next Article Previous Article