King City Recall Election Results Extremely Close, Leaning Toward Recall of Sitting City Councilors

The small Washington County city is split over a planned expansion of its urban growth boundary.

RUSTED ROOT: The Tualatin River winds through several Washington County towns, including King City. (Tada Images/Shutterstock)
By Nigel Jaquiss

The preliminary results in a heated battle over the proposed recall of the mayor and three members of the King City City Council show recall proponents with a slight edge over those opposing the recall.

As of 4 pm today, the votes looked like this:

King City recall results.

At issue in the election: whether to recall Mayor Jaimie Fender and City Councilors Kate Mohr, Laurie Petrie, and Smart Ocholi. Those officials voted to approve an expansion of the urban growth boundary in King City, which is located just south of Tigard on Highway 99W.

The recall effort has its roots in a 2018 decision to expand the small Washington County city’s urban growth boundary by 528 acres. (The city’s population is 5,000.) Officials proposed the expansion in an area called Kingston Terrace. The expansion necessitated the creation of a master plan and transportation plan, a public process that concluded in 2023.

But some local residents objected strongly to the path of the UGB expansion and put the recall on the ballot Feb. 13.

Emotions ran high as ballots trickled in. Whatever the outcome, the battle might serve as a cautionary tale for state lawmakers, who are currently considering a housing package proposed by Gov. Tina Kotek, the most controversial plank of which calls for one-time urban growth boundary expansions for cities that can prove they have a shortage of land available for housing development.

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