The battle over whether to keep the Clackamas County city of Damascus incorporated or dissolve it continues.
Gov. Kate Brown signed Oregon Senate Bill 226 into law last month, looking to officially disincorporate Damascus. Damascus city officials are filing a petition with the Oregon Supreme Court to challenge that.
“It is a city. It would be like asking anybody in any other city, Why is it important for that city to continue to exist?” Damascus Mayor James De Young said. “Damascus has a wonderful future.”
Damascus incorporated as a city in 2004. Since then, residents have tried to disincorporate several times, but ran into restrictions in state law that stopped them.
Residents first voted to disincorporate in 2013, but voter turnout wasn’t high enough. According to state law, half of all eligible voters needed to participate for the vote to count, which didn’t happen. Damascus residents called on the Oregon Legislature, which then exempted Damascus from that voter threshold requirement.
Residents voted again to disincorporate in 2016, this time successfully. The city dissolved with millions of dollars going to the county to cover public services. Earlier this year, however, supporters of the city challenged that exemption from the Legislature before the Oregon Court of Appeals and won, restoring Damascus' city status.
“[SB 226] ignores the decision of the appellate court,” De Young said. “It asks the secretary of state to go back and ratify the results of the election, and the result of that would be that Damascus would cease to exist again.”
De Young said he and other officials want to preserve Damascus’ history by keeping it an incorporated city. He said cities in the surrounding area have begun moving in on Damascus.
“It has a heritage that goes back to 1851,” De Young said. “It is being threatened by the incursions of Happy Valley on our west, taking over already one-tenth of our total acreage, and Damascus has the right to determine its own future — not Happy Valley or Gresham or any other city.”
