Media
Ariel Goodwin enters race to become North Plains Mayor
SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 | FOREST GROVE NEWS TIMES
Championing a platform focused on community advocacy, transparency and smart growth, Goodwin carries experience as a leader in a number of civic and occupational roles, including as the North Plains Elementary PTO president and a Citizen Participation Organization officer.
A longtime volunteer with the Oregon Special Olympics and a Girl Scout leader, Goodwin brings attention to her deep community involvement in influencing her community-minded decisions regarding the future of city development.
Read more HERE at The Forest Grove News Times.
Aaron Dumbrow makes bid for North Plains City Council
SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 | FOREST GROVE NEWS TIMES
Boasting leadership experience as a former military police sergeant, Dumbrow plans to harness a varied skillset as a small business owner and technical sales manager for a local software company. With a focus on community, he finds himself spending his time on church committees, the American Legion, youth sports and as a veterans mentor.
Among priorities, Dumbrow emphasizes how he is in the race to advocate for the over 71% voters who rejected the proposed urban growth boundary in May’s primary election, which sought to double the size of the town.
Read more HERE at Forest Grove News Times.
Mandy Hagedorn inspired to change North Plains leadership with city council run
SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 | FOREST GROVE NEWS TIMES
“I am not a politician. I’m a concerned citizen invested in the long-term success of the place I call home,” she said. “We have a critical need for leaders who are passionate about our future as a community, not as a cash cow for urban sprawl with no accountability.”
Her campaign focuses on developing smooth channels for communication across the city, fostering collaboration to find common ground and calling for clearer timelines and progress reports on major city projects.
Read more HERE at Forest Grove News Times.
Katie Reding seeks seat on North Plains City Council
SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 | FOREST GROVE NEWS TIMES
According to Reding, she aims to streamline communication between residents and city government, and she also plans to prioritize community projects such as developing a recreation center or swimming pool. She said she also plans to advocate for boosting small, local businesses and improving state partnerships for contract opportunities.
“I want to listen to my fellow citizens, unite our entire zip code as a whole and move forward with best laid plans for smart growth,” Reding said. “I want smart decisions made based on facts and best practices.”
Read more HERE at Forest Grove News Times.
Saving North Plains means voting for these special community driven candidates
SEPTEMBER 19, 2024 | THE HILLSBORO HERALD
Voting for candidates is never easy. In general, Americans assume that who they are voting for will lie to them to get a vote and stab them in the back. But in rare cases, people come forth to become candidates not because they want to but because they have to. In the case of the four candidates running for office in North Plains, Oregon, we find community members who are part of a larger coalition that came together to stop our Governor, State Senator Jean Sollman, and their own Mayor and Council from doubling the size of their town without a vote or their consent.
Read more HERE at the Hillsboro Herald.
Opinion: Get involved in local politics
Judge upholds North Plains residents’ vote on growth plans
SEPTEMBER 10, 2024 | THE OREGONIAN
A Washington County judge on Friday upheld North Plains voters’ May decision to reject the city’s growth plan at the ballot box.
But the broader implications of Judge Andrew Erwin’s ruling are not yet clear. He declined to rule on whether the decision to expand the city’s growth boundary was legislative, and therefore subject to voter referendum, or an administrative decision that voters aren’t entitled to overturn.
The North Plains saga caught the attention of Oregon politicos who feared that allowing land-use decisions by ballot measure could hinder efforts to increase homebuilding statewide by making it harder for cities to annex new developable land.
Read more HERE at The Oregonian.
North Plains voters and referendum process win the day In court
SEPTEMBER 7, 2024 | THE HILLSBORO HERALD
The Hillsboro Herald has been covering the story of North Plain’s growth for months now. It has implications for all of us in Oregon and for the rights of a community to have any say in its future. The Mayor and Council of North Plains forced unwanted and unrequired growth upon its people and claimed their support. Once made, their decision to more than double the size of North Plains was quickly rebuked by a referendum to allow the people to vote on the growth. At the state level, Hillsboro Senator Janeen Sollman sponsored a billto ensure North Plains could grow based on the Council’s decisions and that no citizen or town could ever vote on growth issues again.
Read more HERE at the Hillsboro Herald.
North Plains arguments focus on Oregon land use implications
AUGUST 12, 2024 | CAPITOL PRESS
In the legal battle over a small Oregon town’s expansion, both sides are asking a judge to issue a ruling with big implications for statewide land use law.
On Aug. 12, Washington County Circuit Judge Andrew Erwin heard oral arguments in a lawsuit that pertains specifically to the city of North Plains.
However, the case is ultimately expected to decide whether Oregon voters can override municipal “urban growth boundary” expansions statewide.
“We all know this is going up to the Court of Appeals,” Erwin said during the arguments, held at the county courthouse in Hillsboro, Oregon.
Read more HERE at Capitol Press.
Massive North Plains growth case heard by county judge with ruling pending
AUGUST 12, 2024 | THE HILLSBORO HERALD
Growth in North Plains, Oregon, was back in Court today. Washington County Judge Andrew Iriwn presided over a very technical court case pitting the City of North Plain’s leadership against its people—at least the 72% of them who clearly told their leaders NO to doubling the size of their town. Both sides made their case, and while the Herald was not in attendance today, we are publishing the press release below that was sent to us by the Friends of North Plains Smart Growth.
Read more HERE at the Hillsboro Herald.
North Plains leadership rushes growth relook, causing further rifts in the community
AUGUST 8, 2024 | THE HILLSBORO HERALD
Community rifts in North Plains have escalated to a fever pitch as the city grapples with a proposed urban growth boundary expansion. The Aug. 5 city council meeting was a microcosm of the deep divisions that have fractured the once-quiet town. In a long meeting, many expressed their deepest concerns and feelings about this battle over growth, which has been pushed onto the residents for the past year or more. It ended, so it seemed, with citizens rejecting the massive 855-acre expansion, with 72% of voters saying a defiant NO to North Plains Mayor Teri Lenahan and her Council.
Read more HERE at the Hillsboro Herald.