When it comes to land use, where's the common ground?

Here we go again. Or as Yogi Berra once said in his famously fractured English, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

Or is it?

McMinnville established its first and only urban growth boundary in 1981 when the city’s population was 14,000. That boundary has only undergone one meaningful expansion since, and the aim was to facilitate development of the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, not expand the inventory of buildable residential, commercial and industrial land.

Under state land use dictates, McMinnville must maintain 20 years worth of buildable land within its UGB. The city began work in 1995 on expansion designed to carry through from 2001 to 2021. Six years stretched to 10 and 10 to 15, to the point we’re now looking toward 2041, when the population is estimated to be nearly 50,000.

The city was trying to bring in another 1,188 acres, with 890 designated for single- and multiple-family housing. But that plan was thwarted by a combination of expansion opponents and the state’s labyrinthian regulatory and judicial systems.

Over the yeas, McMinnville UGB plans have triggered seemingly endless legal nitpicking remands and referrals.

It brings to mind Sisyphus, a figure in Greek mythology. Immortalized by Albert Camus, he was condemned for eternity to roll a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down again every time he reached the top. For a more modern metaphor, think Charlie Brown of Peanuts comic strip fame, with Lucy snatching the football away each time he tries a placekick

We have to forgive the city for concluding, in 2012, that there was no way to get there from here.

However, state land use dictates require McMinnville to maintain five years worth of buildable land within its corporate limits. So no matter how discouraging the past, the city has little choice but to launch another UGB expansion bid and hope to avoid more years of costly and time-consuming litigation.

The city wants to avoid years of related turmoil. They should try to pull together myriad interests seeking an appropriate UGB expansion without opponents using the state agency and court system to stretch that effort far into the future.

Historic opponents of city UGB expansion are urging a collaborative effort to find common ground. One challenge is that regional and statewide interests could wade into the process without any commitment to compromise, knowing they have the ability to use the existing land use system until the city raises a white flag.

When Oregon enacted its groundbreaking land use system in 1973, the mantra was local control. The pledge was that each city and county in the state would be free to map out its own destiny. The state would only oversee the process, not the particulars.

In fact, however, the state oversight has evolved into a monolithic system worthy of Franz Kafka, who inspired the term Kafkaesque. We think the entire system needs a carefully considered overhaul.

Meanwhile, the jury is out on expectations for McMinnville’s pending UGB process. We join those hoping against a repeat of the history that helped give McMinnville its current shortage of buildable lands.