Bull Mountain, Oregon | |
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Unincorporated community | |
Top of Bull Mountain
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Location within the state of Oregon | |
Coordinates: 45°25′12″N 122°48′56″W / 45.42000°N 122.81556°WCoordinates: 45°25′12″N 122°48′56″W / 45.42000°N 122.81556°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Oregon |
County | Washington |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 9,133 |
Time zone | Pacific (PST) (UTC-8) |
• Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
ZIP codes | 97223, 97224 |
Area code(s) | 503 |
Bull Mountain is a unincorporated community and census-designated place in Washington County, Oregon, United States. Bull Mountain is located mostly on a hill for which the community is named. It is bordered on the east by Tigard, on the south by King City, and Beaverton lies to the north. The north-eastern part of the Bull Mountain hill is now within the Tigard city limits, as the city has steadily annexed portions of the unincorporated region on its boundary. In 2010, the community became a census-designated place with a population of 9,133. Fire protection and EMS services are provided through Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue.
The Bull Mountain area has been considered candidate for annexation by the City of Tigard, which includes Bull Mountain in its ultimate planned boundary. The debate over Bull Mountain's future has been rather acrimonious.
In 2004, Tigard proposed to annex the entire area under Oregon Revised Statutes Or. Rev. Stat. § 195.205 (2005) (Urban Service Provider Annexation method) instead of Or. Rev. Stat. § 222.125 (2005) method. At the time, Or. Rev. Stat. § 195.205 was ambiguous regarding the method of counting votes, and Tigard had planned to use a single combined voting method where the unincorporated votes would be counted with the votes of the city voters, and thus the unincorporated voters would be heavily outnumbered. This variation of gerrymandering outraged many of the residents of the unincorporated area, and triggered a campaign against the annexation. A group called "Friends of Bull Mountain" (FOBM) was then formed. The group retained legal counsel Larry Derr and challenged the combined voting method under the provisions of Or. Rev. Stat. § 268 (2005) requiring separate double majority vote counting for annexations within the Portland Metro Urban Growth Boundary.