Oregon Administrative Rules
Chapter 660 - LAND CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
Division 32 - Oregon State Archives
Section 660-032-0030 - Metro Area Population Forecasts

(1) Metro, in coordination with local governments within its boundary, shall issue a coordinated population forecast for the entire area within its boundary, to be applied by Metro and local governments within the boundary as the basis for a change to a regional framework plan, comprehensive plan or land use regulation, when such change must be based on or requires the use of a population forecast.

(2) Metro shall allocate the forecast to the cities and portions of counties within the Metro boundary for land use planning purposes.

(3) In adopting its coordinated forecast, Metro must follow applicable procedures and requirements in this rule and ORS 197.610 to 197.650, and must provide notice to state agencies and all local governments in the Metro area. The forecast must be adopted as part of the applicable regional or local plan.

(4) The Metro forecast must be developed using commonly accepted practices and standards for population forecasting used by professional practitioners in the field of demography or economics. The forecast must be based on current, reliable and objective sources and verifiable factual information, and must take into account documented long-term demographic trends as well as recent events that have a reasonable likelihood of changing historical trends. Metro must coordinate with the PRC in the development and allocation of its forecast.

(5) The population forecast developed under the provisions of (1) through (4) of this rule is a prediction which, although based on the best available information and methodology, should not be held to an unreasonably high level of precision. For a forecast used as a basis for a decision adopting or amending the Metro regional urban growth boundary submitted to the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) under ORS 197.626, the director of DLCD or the Land Conservation and Development Commission may approve the forecast provided it finds that any failure to meet a particular requirement of this rule is insignificant and is unlikely to have a significant effect on the determination of long term needs for the Metro urban area under OAR 660-024-0040.