OIA FILES LAND USE INITIATIVES, CHALLENGES OTHERS

Oregonians in Action

Posted April 8, 2002 - 

Oregonians In Action recently filed five proposed initiatives to give property owners greater protection from land-use regulations which destroy the value of their land.

At the same time, groups urging more regulation and control have filed multiple initiatives to overturn Measure 7, eliminate Oregon’s takings clause, and ruin urban neighborhoods.

OIA’s five proposals are numbered 156-160 and can be found on the Oregon Secretary of State’s website, www.sos.state.or.us. The initiatives propose the following changes to Oregon law:

156: This proposal allows voters to override LCDC regulations and adopt local zoning laws that better fit the community. Current law requires cities and counties to adopt all of LCDC’s rules, regardless of their consequences for each particular city or county. This proposal allows the voters in a local area to adopt and enforce their own zoning ordinances, even if those provisions are different from LCDC’s.

157: This proposal requires LCDC or a local government to determine who is impacted by a land-use regulation, before it is adopted, and get written permission from a majority of those landowners whose property values will be decreased more than 10% if the new regulation is adopted.

158: This proposal allows a landowner to site one single-family dwelling on a lawfully created lot or parcel, except for land in commercial and industrial zones. The proposal prohibits LCDC and local governments from forcing landowners to build multiple houses on small lots in order to get approval for one house. Many cities no longer allow homes on larger lots, and require a property owner to subdivide or partition his land into small lots in order to obtain a building permit.