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Metro Plan policy development for the “edge” or fringe area outside the City Limits, inside <br />the UGB. <br /> <br /> There are several questions that periodically arise during policy discussions and are likely to <br />continue to do so in the future: <br /> <br /> <br />1.What is urban and what is rural? <br /> <br />2.Where is urban and rural growth going to occur? <br /> <br />3.Who is going to control urban growth? <br /> <br />4.What are urban level services? <br /> <br />5.Who is going to provide urban level services? <br /> <br />6.How does the community function as a region? <br /> <br />7.Now that the region has completed the state-driven Periodic Review, what local planning <br />efforts and improvements should the region undertake? <br /> <br />8.How are the Metro jurisdictions going to implement the changes for HB 3337? <br />9. How are government services going to be funded? <br /> <br />Please think about these questions as you consider the background information presented, below. <br /> <br /> <br />B. HISTORY <br /> <br /> Cities and Counties are governmental and geographic entities that function as subdivisions of <br />the State. They operate under the Constitution, Statutes, and other laws of Oregon. They are <br />both "general purpose" governments empowered with broad authorities to provide services <br />and finance them. Local “home rule” options grant them even greater local powers through <br />their charters. There are also key differences between cities and counties; often in terms of <br />history, function, politics, and outlook. Historically, cities were seats of government, religion, <br />defense, and trade. They were compact places where people gathered for economic and social <br />reasons. Counties act more like an arm of state government functioning at a more local level <br />(courts, police, jails, tax collection, roads, deed and survey records, and election recorder). <br /> <br /> Rural was rural - people made a living off the land. A trip to town was carefully planned, and <br />sometimes an ordeal. A lot of land around cities was used for crops and livestock to meet the <br />needs of city citizens (food and clothing), and hay to power horses and feed livestock. The <br />automobile changed things. The depression and World War II delayed the impact of autos on <br />our landscape. Post WWII saw a suburban explosion. This post war growth was responding <br />to pent up demand in achieving the "American Dream": Live and work where you want; Have <br />a car in every garage; Own your own home with a lawn. Eugene and Springfield provided <br />urban services inside the city limits and special districts formed on the urban fringe. <br /> <br /> By 1956, the Bureau of Municipal Research and Service published a series of reports on the <br />major urban areas in Oregon, "Problems on the Eugene-Springfield Urban Fringe". This <br />report addressed growing concerns about suburban sprawl, proliferation of special service <br />districts, and the impacts that resulted from widening gaps in tax rates and service delivery <br /> 2 <br />