In September of 2023, the city council in the small city of North Plains voted to more than double the size of the city's Urban Growth Boundary over the objections of neighboring farmers and their own residents. Our group organized and brought the first referendum on a UGB expansion in the history of Oregon. When brought to a vote, the city residents overwhelmingly rejected massive growth for data centers and warehouses by a more than 40% margin. While we work to defend the right to referendum in court, we know that massive sprawl has been soundly rejected in North Plains.

In late 2022 and early 2023 members of our group heard about the dangerous land use provisions of the proposed SB 4. The law would allow the governor, unilaterally and with exceptionally limited public input, the power to completely circumvent land use laws to turn farmland into developable land. We worried that we would see thousands of acres in Washington county that had been protected for farming come into cities. We worried that the lack of oversight and lack of planning involved would open the door to insiders and the well connected to do the planning process that is supposed to involve all of us. Our opposition helped ensure a two year sunset on the law and, so far, no land has been brought in under this provision.

After our opposition to the city of North Plains' UGB expansion, we have been working to make sure that any future expansion or development will be smart and respectful of our working lands. We are working with and monitoring the city's "relook" process to make sure that it is inclusive and realistic - and correctly interprets the relevant laws. And we are proudly supporting a slate of candidates who are running on smart growth principles and respecting the 72% of voters who voted their opposition to data centers and warehouses taking over their town. We are showing that advocacy for smart growth leads to great results!