Aerial photos of suburban housing encroachment around one of the last tracts of farmland in the area.

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Land inside the urban growth boundary supports urban services such as roads, water and sewer systems, parks, schools and fire and police protection. The boundary is one of the tools to protect farms and forests from urban sprawl and promote the efficient use of land, public facilities and services inside the boundary. Every six years, the Metro Council must review and report on the land supply in the Urban Growth Report. Metro prepares a forecast of population and employment growth for the region for the next 20 years and, if necessary, adjusts the boundary to meet the needs of growth forecast for that 20-year period. The Portland area urban growth boundary has been expanded about three dozen times since it was first drawn. In 2007, a system for designating urban and rural reserves was put in place, further honing criteria for bringing land into the boundary.

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Size: 10560px × 7912px
Location: Tigard, Oregon
Photo credit: © Ken Hawkins / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: aerial, area, boundary, boundry, build, building, condo, condominium, construction, dense, density, development, farm, farmland, fence, grow, growth, horse, house, housing, land, metropolitan, oregon, population, rural, small, suburban, surround, tract, urban