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"Big Look" Land Use Task Force Makes Progress

Progress continues to be made by Oregon’s “Big Look” task force, a 10 member committee formed to conduct a comprehensive review of Oregon’s land use system. 

The task force, appointed by Governor Ted Kulongoski, House Speaker Karen Minnis, and Senate President Peter Courtney, is charged with making a report to the 2007 and 2009 legislatures on needed changes to Oregon’s land use regulations.

OIA President Dave Hunnicutt was invited by the task force to testify at the task force’s May meeting.  Hunnicutt presented a letter to the task force making a series of recommendations to fundamentally alter planning in Oregon.  Included were the following recommendations:

1.                  Restore community control:  Our current system places control over community planning in the hands of the state, which has neither the ability nor the expertise to make decisions about planning in individual counties and cities.  Planning works best when community planning decisions are made at the local level.

2.                  Challenge everything:  Senate Bill 100, which created Oregon’s unique and controversial centralized planning system, is over three decades old, and is based on assumptions made in 1973, when Oregon was a much different state.  The task force should not assume that any decision made in 1973 was correct, or makes sense in a completely different era.

3.                  Improve predictability:  Property owners making land use applications face a minefield of procedural rules and regulations, and the possibility of lengthy appeals by opponents.  Once a zoning ordinance is adopted, there should be clear guidelines as to what is allowed, and appeals should be limited to those who are truly impacted by the outcome.

4.                  Quit calling all rural land “farmland”:  LCDC Goals 3 and 4 define “farmland” and “forestland” so broadly that 97 percent of the state’s privately owned rural lands are zoned for farm or forest use.  The task force should distinguish between what is truly farm and forest land and what is not, and decide whether the counties or state should make these determinations.

5.                  Respect individual rights:  Due to its emphasis on tight state control and little local planning, Oregon’s system has generated far more controversy than any other zoning law in the United States, and had a far greater impact on the rights of private property owners than any other state system.  The task force should look for ways to protect private property owners from excessive regulations. 

6.                  Politicize the process:  Too many important land use decisions in Oregon are delegated to LCDC, a seven member commission without any accountability to Oregonians who have to live with the rules and goals they create.  This is not democratic or representative government.  Zoning decisions should be made by our representatives, not those who are insulated from the people.

OIA Education Center President Bill Moshofsky or Hunnicutt are attending each of the task force meetings to assist the task force if needed.  Both are optimistic that the task force will provide an unbiased review of Oregon’s current system, and make recommendations for change, regardless of opposition by some.

Big Look Land Use Task Force