Bull Mountain, Oregon

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Bull Mountain is the census-designated community and place in Washington County, Oregon, USA. Bull Mountain is located on most hills where the community is named. It is bordered on the east by Tigard, to the south by King City, and Beaverton lies to the north. The northeastern part of Mount Bull hill is now within the city limits of Tigard, as the city continues to annex portions of unrelated territory at its limits. In 2010, the community became a census-determined place with a population of 9,133. Fire protection and EMS services are provided through Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue.

Video Bull Mountain, Oregon

Annexation and incorporation controversy

The Bull Mountain area has been regarded as a candidate for annexation by the City of Tigard, which includes Bull Mountain at the planned deadline. The debate about Bull Mountain's future is rather fierce.

In 2004, Tigard proposed to annex entire areas under Oregon Revised Statutes Or. Rev. Stat. Ã,§ 195,205 (2005) (Method of Inserting Urban Service Providers), not Or. Rev. Stat. Ã,§ 222.125 (2005) method. At that moment, Or. Rev. Stat. Ã,§ 195.205 is ambiguous about the method of vote counting, and Tigard has planned to use a single joint polling method where unrelated votes will be counted with the voice of the city's voters, and thus unregistered voters will be greatly outnumbered. This variation of conspiracy angered many residents in unrelated areas, and sparked a campaign against annexation. A group called "Friends of Bull Mountain" (FOBM) was then formed. The group retained the legal advisor of Larry Derr and challenged the combined voting method under Or rule. Rev. Stat. Ã,§ 268 (2005) requires a separate double-majority vote count for annexation within the Portland Metro Urban Growth Limit.

In the face of this legal challenge, Tigard relented and left the double counting method. As a result, the size of annexation [34-98] failed, the majority of urban voters (64.71%) preferred annexation, but 88.62% of unofficial voters rejected annexation.

As is common in disputes of annexation, the main problem is taxation; many residents of Mount Bull think that annexation with Tigard will increase their property taxes without a significant increase in public services, and that Tigard is only interested in annexation to expand its tax base. They also felt that the combined method of ORS-195 vote was "taxation without representation". Some Tigards complain that the inhabitants of Mount Bull use Tigard City Park and other services without paying them.

However, Washington County has actively encouraged suburbs to join the cities, to limit the need for city-level services provided by the district. After the defeat of the referendum, Tigard has examined minor annexations on a case by case basis.

Many citizens advocated a merger to allow the inhabitants of Mount Bull to control their own fate (and avoid further annexation by Tigard), in the spring of 2006 petition for the size of the ballot was filed.

The Washington County Board of Commissioners voted in August 2006 to allow a joint voting initiative to proceed. A feasibility study was undertaken by ECONorthwest and it was determined that Bull Mountain had a tax base sufficient to fund the city government and services for its residents. Tigard City protested the city limits, noting that Tigard's property was incorporated in the proposed City of Banaran, and requested that Washington County adjust its boundaries. The request was rejected. Tigard also filed a request to annex 61.5 hectares (249,000 m ² ) which is part of the proposed Bull Mountain range. Many at Bull Mountain complain that Tigard's annexation effort is little more than an 11-hour effort to gain a large segment of land without respecting the merge process and proposing merge limits. The effort was legally opposed in Washington County court. This lawsuit was rejected by the State Land Use Counsel: "the city received no unlawful consent to annexation," and the appeal was rejected by the Oregon Court of Appeals.

The referendum on the merger question was at the November 2006 ballot and failed with a vote of 1,734 to 1,887.

Maps Bull Mountain, Oregon

Friends of Bull Mountain

The Friends of Bull Mountain (FOBM) is a grassroots community organization in the US state of Oregon acting as a local support for meaningful citizen engagement and responsible land use planning in accordance with the vision of the Bull Mountain Community Plan. The FOBM Group plays a key role in defeating efforts by Tigard town to annex Bull Mountain.

After the 2004 annexation defeat, FOBM worked closely with the Oregon House Representative Jerry Krummel who successfully introduced the law based on ideas and testimonials provided by FOBM. Significant changes in the 2005 legislature include House Bill 2484 that codified a dual majority vote for all "Service Provider" annexations under ORS-195. Also, the HB-2477 eliminates a three-mile (5 km) veto that allows cities to prevent the incorporation of new cities within three miles (5 km). The enactment of HB-2477 enabled the Bull Mountain community to try merging.

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References

General

• Tigard Town, section of Appendix Mountain Bull
• The group supports Bull Mountain merge
• Map of the proposed Bull Mountain city limits
• Economic Feasibility Study
• Amy Jo Brown: "Tigard to protest the Bull Mountain border", Tigard Times July 20, 2006.

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External links

• Friends of Bull Mountain

Source of the article : Wikipedia