In a restrictive housing
market, only resourceful
builders survive
When Portland, Ore., put limits
on urban growth in 1979, the
measure enjoyed broad public support.
The Urban Service Growth Boundary,
or UGB, was designed to preserve farmland
and prevent urban sprawl by
imposing a strict outer limit on residential
development. But this year, as
the UGB approaches its 21st birthday,
area builders are severely pinched by a
shortage of land within the boundary,
and many are calling the policy deeply
flawed.
At the heart of the controversy is
Metro, the regional agency responsible
for land-use planning in the area
enclosed by the UGB, which encompasses
parts of three counties, the city
of Portland, and 23 of its suburbs. As
the region's population