In 2008, the Rock Creek basin in Clackamas County, western Oregon, was poised for rapid urban growth. In order to protect the habitat and water quality of Rock Creek and its tributary during this time of growth, the Rock Creek Sustainability Initiative (RCSI) was established to guide coordinated redevelopment planning. Oregon Consensus facilitated a collaborative effort by the City of Happy Valley, Sunrise Water Authority, and Clackamas County Water Environment Services to create a sustainable development test project to measure a suite of sustainable development practices on a local level.
The RCSI project area encompassed approximately 400 acres in the City of Happy Valley that were incorporated within the Urban Growth Boundary in 2002, and designated as a regionally significant industrial area for medium to large scale campus industrial development. The RCSI’s goal was to establish is an economically vibrant core employment zone constructed in a manner that protects ecological function and provides the community with an equitable return on the investment of natural capital used in the development of the project area. Read more about the RCSI project at the City of Happy Valley website.