Tigard anti-high-capacity transit measure riles councilors in Southwest Corridor Plan talk

TIGARD–Councilors sent a clear message to Tigard voters on an upcoming ballot measure: Don’t bind our hands in tackling traffic congestion. 

A measure on the March ballot requires Tigard to oppose high-capacity transit and hold an election before the city can update its regulations to accommodate light rail or exclusive bus lanes. This comes amid the Southwest Corridor Plan, a Metro-led regional plan that calls for new public transportation lines through Portland, Tigard and Tualatin.

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TIGARD–Councilors sent a clear message to Tigard voters on an upcoming ballot measure: Don’t bind our hands in tackling traffic congestion. 

A measure on the March ballot requires Tigard to oppose high-capacity transit and hold an election before the city can update its regulations to accommodate light rail or exclusive bus lanes. This comes amid the Southwest Corridor Plan, a Metro-led regional plan that calls for new public transportation lines through Portland, Tigard and Tualatin.

A meet your council session on Sept. 30, scheduled earlier this summer to discuss transit issues, turned politically-charged in wake of the citizen-initiated measure landing on the ballot on Sept. 23. 

The concern from most councilors: How can Tigard tell voters the price-tag and effects of transit coming into town without studying and planning for it? Metro says it’s still trying to figure out what the Tigard measure means for the Southwest Corridor Plan project and expects an answer by the end of October. 

 “Quite frankly, the current initiative would stop the city from getting the necessary facts and giving the voters enough information to make an intelligent decision,” said Councilor Gretchen Buehner in her opening remarks.

The Southwest Corridor Plan prepares jurisdictions for growth in the area stretching from southwest Portland to Tualatin. The largest component of the plan involves high-capacity transit. In Tigard, that means either a light rail or exclusive bus lanes along 72nd Avenue or Hall Boulevard.

“This plan doesn’t address congestion,” said Tim Esau, a chief-petitioner on the high-capacity transit measure. Several residents mirrored his skepticism, questioning whether transit on the city’s east side would address the congestion in the heart of Tigard, namely along Pacific Highway/Oregon 99W.

Elected officials acknowledged that the Southwest Corridor Plan wouldn’t be a silver bullet for congestion. But Buehner, a land use lawyer, said a high-capacity transit cooridor would curb some of the traffic coming from Sherwood and Yamhill county cities.

“This isn’t going to relieve traffic on 99W,” said Mayor John Cook. “It’s going to keep it from getting worse.”

Officials pointed to periodic intersection improvements – such as an upcoming project on the McDonald/Gaarde Streets intersection with Oregon 99W – and smaller boosts in bus service as existing measures to relieve traffic.

Widening Oregon 99W/Pacific Highway would be costly and wipe out businesses along a side of the highway, said Buehner.

Councilors said they fought to keep bus rapid transit as an alternate to the more contentious light rail option as part of the Southwest Corridor Plan. They also said they fought to keep a high-capacity transit route away from Oregon 99W/Pacific Highway between Tigard and Sherwood, which would have reduced space for drivers. 

As for a vote on high-capacity transit, they pointed to a charter amendment requiring voter approval before Tigard can increase taxes or fees to pay for light rail construction.

“It’s not a vote on this project at all,” said Steve Schopp, a Tualatin resident who has been involved in anti-light rail measuresaround the region. He said no other line projects involved new taxes or fees, although Milwaukie residents may face increased property taxes with a bond to pay for its lightrail obligations. “The voters are out of luck.”