Board briefed on land-use changes
From our weekly issue dated March 10, 2010
During a Thursday, March 4 meeting, the Josephine County Board of Commissioners was advised of recent changes to the state“s land-use laws.
The meeting with Planning Director Michael Snider was held in the commission conference room at the courthouse in Grants Pass.
Snider said that during its recent February session, the Legislature passed amendments to Measure 49, a land-use law passed by voters in November 2007.
The new amendments will expand the ability of property owners to file Measure 49 claims, Snider said.
Around 800 applicants throughout Oregon filed with their respective counties and not the state, Snider said. They can now file for one new dwelling or lot.
There also are some 700 Measure 49 claimants whose requests were denied because they purchased their properties between 1975 and 1985, Snider said, when the state planning goals were established on an interim basis.
Snider said there “probably are a good number of them in Josephine County.“
Those claimants can now develop one lot if their property is 20 acres or less, two lots for 20 to 40 acres, and a maximum of three lots for 40-plus acres, Snider said.
The state will notify eligible property owners of the changes, Snider said, adding that there is a June deadline for the state to process all Measure 49 claims.
At the local level, Snider said, “We have been processing those at a fairly decent clip. It“s producing some work for us. That“s a good thing.“
Approximately 10 claims are either in the pre-application or application process in Josephine County, Snider said.
He also addressed implementation of House Bill 2229, which was passed by the Legislature in 2009. That bill enables counties to revisit their land-use codes and potentially eliminate sections that are stricter that those established by the state.
Snider said that he recently attended a state planning directors meeting in Salem. Representatives from the property rights group Oregonians in Action were present, along with Dept. of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) Director Richard Whitman, representatives from the environmental group 1000 Friends of Oregon and Mike McArthur, executive director of the Association of Oregon Counties.
HB 2229 involved a “lot of political compromises,“ Snider said, adding that he and many other planners thought the bill was “too convoluted“ and costly.
Under HB 2229, there is no time limit set on how long the state can take to review a county“s plan, Snider said.
DLCD has announced its intention to establish administrative rules for HB 2229“s implementation, Snider said, but counties are reluctant to move forward with the process until those rules are set.
Conversely, Snider said, the state won“t know what rules to establish until counties file their plans.
Now that the state is aware of the counties“ reluctance, Snider said, it will “court“ some of them to begin the process.
DLCD was scheduled to talk to officials from Jackson County on Thursday, March 11, he said.
Former longtime Josephine County Commissioner Harold Haugen, who handles governmental relations duties for the Rogue Valley Association of Realtors, said that DLCD also plans to meet with representatives from Deschutes County.
Haugen quoted McArthur as saying that the implementation of HB 2229 will cost counties between $85,000 and $1 million.
We want to hear from you!
Add your thoughts with the link below.
Comments returning soon!
Advertisement:
