Former Clark County planner in documentary about growth

Richard Carson

Richard Carson

Richard Carson, who led Clark County's planning department during a time of rapid development, shares his views on growth management in a documentary airing Sunday.

"Making Sense of Place: Portland" tapped Carson because of his reputation as a contrarian planner.

"My main focus was kind of a tale of two cities," said Carson, 61. His 30-year career included not only a stint in Clark County, but also across the Columbia River as planning director for Metro, Portland's regional government.

He said Oregon's tight land-use controls fueled Clark County's influx of population, which increased 45 percent in the 1990s.

"This is the place people want to live," Carson said. "Portland was so restrictive they had no place to go other than Clark County. The American dream of a 10,000-square-foot lot and a 2,000-square-foot house wasn't available there. … If you've got kids, you don't want a tiny lot."

So families flocked to Clark County, and county commissioners eagerly expanded the urban growth boundary to make more land available for new housing subdivisions. He said that meant the housing crash hit Clark County especially hard.

"(Commissioners) put in way too much land. It's still sitting out there. It's not built. The ones who did get something built lost their shirts because there were no buyers," he said, referring to Pacific Lifestyle Homes, Renaissance Homes and other builders that have filed for bankruptcy protection.

The housing market here isn't likely return to the frenzied days of 2006, he said. "I don't think it will ever come back to peak levels, but there will always be a growth differential," with more rapid growth here than across the river.

Northern Light Productions of Boston interviewed Carson for two hours at his home in Hockinson last year.

The snippets that made their way into the final documentary were reflections on Oregon's Measure 37, a 2004 initiative that rolled back Oregon's strict land-use laws.

"It was very embarrassing for them to be the nirvana capital of planning in the country and then have the population turn on you and slap you around and say, 'No, you aren't going to do this anymore,'" Carson said.

In 2007, another ballot measure restored the thrust of Oregon's land-use laws.

That's the year Carson left his job as director of Clark County's Department of Community Development. The housing market was already beginning to slide, and he was facing layoffs in his department.

"I could see the tsunami coming. I said, 'Look, I quit. I don't want to do this anymore.'" Carson said he didn't want to gut what he saw as the best planning department in the country.

Carson now runs a Pacific Northwest office for Citygate Associates, a consulting firm headquartered in Folsom, Calif.