For the urban reserve, it’s too soon to tell. No zoning has been established for the area yet. If the area is brought into the urban growth boundary, Beaverton will work with community members to create a community plan and development rules for the area.
If the city’s current development rules were used, the answer is: Yes, that is an option. So it might happen sometimes.
In its current development rules, Beaverton allows adjustments to provide housing opportunities while encouraging natural resource protection.
For example, Beaverton’s development rules allow for density transfers if the site is part of a Planned Unit Development (PUD). A PUD allows modification of the development rules to preserve natural resources or address unique site conditions such as natural resources. A PUD may be applied to residential properties that are 2 acres or larger.
Planned Unit Development design rules promote flexibility by allowing developers to cluster buildings while leaving the remaining property without buildings, such as by establishing open space, protecting natural resources or providing recreation/open space. In most cases, lot sizes can be reduced up to 50 percent to preserve natural resources within a development. For example, if a property were designated for 7,000-square-foot lots, this would allow lots as small as 3,500 square feet on the developed portion of the property so natural resources could be preserved on the other part of the property.
Overall, this produces the same or similar number of units per acre while allowing natural resources to be preserved.
It is possible this process could be modified for the urban reserve, but that depends on the outcome of the community plan.