Illinois Valley News

Residents throughout Josephine County soon will get to sound off on the county“s land-use codes during a public meeting series.

The county Land Development Committee has scheduled the meetings to hear public input regarding possible land-use changes. Earlier this year, the board of county commissioners passed an ordinance establishing the committee.

Its formation was made possible by the 2009 passage of House Bill 2229 by the Legislature. It enables counties to examine their land-use codes and eliminate the portions that are stricter than state codes. Counties also can rezone parcels of land that possibly are misclassified.

The committee met in the county public works building in Grants Pass Monday evening, May 10 to finalize the public meeting schedule and discuss issues regarding standing in land-use cases, and the county“s road standards.

Planning Director Michael Snider stated that 95 percent of land-use decisions are made in the planning office without public hearings, but with the consideration of submitted written comments.

Once a land-use matter is put before the board of commissioners, Snider said, that body has the final local say on appeals. From there, he continued, it goes to the state Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA).

Snider said that LUBA rules state that anyone who participates in any phase of the land-use process has the right to an appeal. The planning department is required to provide notice to anyone within a certain distance of an applicant“s property, he said. Anyone who receives a notice is a party to a land-use decision, he said, but persons not notified also can be included if they can prove their property interests are affected in some way.

Persons have 21 days to appeal after finding out about a pending land-use decision, Snider said, but can do so for up to three years.

Another way to obtain status is to claim to be “aggrieved“ by the decision, he said. He added that state statute provides a “low threshold“ for persons to be included in that category.

He stated that concerns regarding issues of standing have come up often throughout the years, but that the Legislature never has changed those rules. However, Snider said, attorney fees can be assessed against persons who file frivolous appeals to LUBA.

Committee Chairman Harold Haugen, a former longtime Josephine County commissioner, said that appeals incur a “tremendous cost“ to counties and staff.

“It can be used in a very abusive fashion,“ he said.

Homebuilder Gordon Longhurst, also a committee member, said that construction timetables are limited by weather conditions. An appeal that takes 150 days to process can turn into a yearlong process and become quite costly to builders as a result, Longhurst said.

He asked Snider if planning staff would be able to determine if an appeal has merit prior to consideration.

Snider responded that “ministerial“ decisions can be made in-house by staff, but that the trend has been toward quasi-judicial decision making, which requires processes and incurs more costs.

Sometimes, Snider said, land-use conflicts between neighbors can be resolved at the local level, but that can be “labor intensive“ and time consuming.

Although the system is “balanced away“ from case-specific adjustments, Snider said, the county can appraise which decisions can be made in a ministerial fashion. He cautioned that cases processed in a ministerial way would require extremely clear standards.

Taking that approach would be a “big, significant challenge,“ Snider said, but it “could be explored.“

Public Works Manager Charles DeJanvier addressed the issue of road standards. He said that state law allows counties to have their own standards. But if counties don“t have them, he said, they must comply with standards set by state or federal government agencies.

The two goals of the county road standards are public safety and consideration of long-term maintenance costs, DeJanvier said.

Longhurst said that streets under the limited residential classification can serve a maximum of five lots. The difference between that and the county road standard can be “thousands of dollars,“ he stated.

DeJanvier related that fire codes also are involved, as emergency vehicles must be able to obtain access to any residence. He added that at any time, the commissioners can order the public works department to maintain any road that is in the public right-of-way.

Gravel roads might initially be less expensive to build than asphalt roads, DeJanvier said, but they are a “completely different animal to maintain,“ because of dust and drainage issues.

Haugen called for the formation of a subcommittee dedicated to examining road code issues that would coordinate with the public works and planning departments. That subcommittee will report back to the full committee within the next two months.

The full committee will meet next on Monday, June 14 at the public works building, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Public input meetings tentatively will be held Mondays: May 17 at Lincoln Savage Middle School at 8551 New Hope Road near Murphy; June 7 at Cave Junction City Hall; Aug. 2 at Merlin Community Center; and Sept. 13 at Anne G. Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass. All are set for 6 to 8 p.m., and will feature a brief overview from the planning department followed by public comments.

Citizens can email comments in advance to planning@co.josephine.or.us.

We want to hear from you!
Add your thoughts with the link below.

Comments returning soon!

Back to top of story