75th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2009 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 707
House Bill 2228
Ordered printed by the Speaker pursuant to House Rule 12.00A (5).
Presession filed (at the request of Governor Theodore R.
Kulongoski for Department of Land Conservation and Development)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
Establishes pilot program to conserve resource lands by
facilitating transfer of residential development rights from farm
or forest property to other property.
Declares emergency, effective on passage.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to transfer of development rights from resource lands;
and declaring an emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. { + The Legislative Assembly finds that:
(1) Working farms and forests make vital contributions to
Oregon by providing jobs, timber, agricultural products, tax base
and other social and economic benefits, by helping to maintain
soil, air and water resources, by reducing levels of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere and by providing habitat for wildlife
and aquatic life.
(2) Population growth, escalating land values, increasing risks
due to wildfire and invasive species, and changes in land
ownership and management objectives, with a resulting increase in
conflict caused by dispersed residential development, require
that new methods be developed to facilitate continued management
of private lands zoned for farm use, forest use and mixed farm
and forest use for agricultural production and timber harvest.
(3) It is the public policy of the State of Oregon to:
(a) Encourage and explore alternative methods to encourage the
continued management of private farm and forest lands for timber
and agricultural production.
(b) Protect water quality, wildlife habitat and other important
natural resources by limiting location of dispersed residential
development on farm and forest lands.
(c) Provide for an orderly and efficient transition from rural
to urban land uses by establishing locations at which residential
development rights transferred from farm or forest lands may be
used. + }
SECTION 2. { + (1) There is established the Oregon Transfer of
Development Rights Pilot Program in the Department of Land
Conservation and Development. Working with the State Forestry
Department, the State Department of Agriculture and local
governments and with other state agencies, as appropriate, the
Department of Land Conservation and Development shall implement
the pilot program.
(2) The Land Conservation and Development Commission shall
adopt rules to implement the pilot program. Notwithstanding ORS
197.225, the rules need not be in compliance with the statewide
land use planning goals.
(3) In adopting rules to implement the pilot program, the
commission shall:
(a) Establish procedures or requirements reasonably necessary
to make a pilot project consistent with statewide land use
planning goals.
(b) Establish a maximum ratio of transferable development
rights to severed development interests in a sending area for
each pilot project. The maximum ratio:
(A) Must be calculated to protect lands planned and zoned for
farm use, forest use or mixed farm and forest use and to create
incentives for owners of land in the sending area to participate
in the pilot project; and
(B) May not exceed three transferable development rights to one
severed development interest.
(c) Require participating owners of land in a sending area to
grant conservation easements, or otherwise obligate themselves,
to ensure that additional residential development of their
property does not occur.
(d) Require that a pilot project be established prior to 2013.
(4) The commission, by rule, shall establish a process for
selecting pilot projects from among potential sites nominated by
local governments. The process must require local governments to
nominate potential sites by submitting a concept plan for each
proposed pilot project, including proposed amendments to the
comprehensive plan and land use regulations necessary to
implement the pilot project.
(5) When selecting a pilot project, the commission must find
that the pilot project is:
(a) Reasonably likely to provide a net benefit to the forest
economy or the agricultural economy of this state; and
(b) Designed to avoid or minimize adverse effects on
transportation, natural resources, public facilities and
services, nearby urban areas and nearby farm and forest uses.
(6) The commission may select up to:
(a) Four pilot projects for the transfer of development rights
from lands in a sending area that are currently planned and zoned
for forest use or mixed farm and forest use; and
(b) Two pilot projects for the transfer of development rights
from lands in a sending area that are currently planned and zoned
for farm use or mixed farm and forest use.
(7) A sending area for a pilot project:
(a) May not exceed 10,000 acres; and
(b) Must, for at least one pilot project, contain a critical
mass of lands that are planned and zoned for farm, forest or
mixed farm and forest uses and have a relatively low density of
residential development.
(8) The commission may establish additional requirements for
sending areas.
(9)(a) Except as provided otherwise in paragraph (b) of this
subsection, a local government participating in a pilot project
shall select a receiving area for the pilot project based on the
following priorities:
(A) First priority is lands within an urban growth boundary;
(B) Second priority is lands that are adjacent to an urban
growth boundary and subject to an exception from the statewide
land use planning goals for agricultural lands or forestlands;
(C) Third priority is lands that are adjacent to an urban
growth boundary and not subject to an exception from goals for
agricultural lands or forestlands;
(D) Fourth priority is lands that are not adjacent to an urban
growth boundary and subject to an exception from goals for
agricultural lands or forestlands;
(E) Fifth priority is lands that are planned and zoned as
marginal lands or as nonresource lands; and
(F) Sixth priority is rural lands not described in
subparagraphs (B) to (E) of this paragraph.
(b) The commission may:
(A) Authorize a local government to select lower priority lands
over higher priority lands for a receiving area in a pilot
project only if the local government has established, to the
satisfaction of the commission, that selecting higher priority
lands as the receiving area is not likely to result in the
severance and transfer of a significant proportion of the
development interests in the sending area within five years after
the receiving area is established.
(B) Notwithstanding the priorities established in this
subsection, select one pilot project in which all or part of the
receiving area is on lands that are planned and zoned for forest
use or mixed farm and forest use and are not located adjacent to
an urban growth boundary, if:
(i) The receiving area does not exceed 100 acres; and
(ii) The commission finds that farm or forest use of the lands
within the receiving area are already impaired by residential
uses and additional residential development in the receiving area
can be accommodated in a manner that protects or improves farm or
forest management in areas in or adjacent to the receiving area.
(c) If lands described in paragraph (a)(B) or (C) of this
subsection are selected for use as a receiving area in a pilot
project, the minimum residential density of development must be
at least 10 dwelling units per net acre.
(d) If lands described in paragraph (a)(D), (E) or (F) of this
subsection are used as a receiving area in a pilot project, the
receiving area may not exceed 100 acres.
(10) The commission may establish additional requirements for
receiving areas. + }
SECTION 3. { + (1) Notwithstanding contrary provisions of the
statewide land use planning goals or the acknowledged
comprehensive plan and land use regulations implementing the plan
and notwithstanding limitations on land division and residential
development in ORS chapter 215, the local government may allow
residential development in a receiving area consistent with
administrative rules governing the Oregon Transfer of Development
Rights Pilot Program and a concept plan approved by the Land
Conservation and Development Commission if:
(a) For a pilot project that includes farmlands or mixed farm
and forest lands in the sending area or receiving area, the State
Department of Agriculture has approved the concept plan;
(b) For a pilot project that includes forestlands in the
sending area or receiving area, the State Forestry Department has
approved the concept plan; and
(c) The local governments with land use jurisdiction over lands
included in the sending area and receiving area for the pilot
project have:
(A) Approved the concept plan; and
(B) Adopted comprehensive plan and land use regulations
consistent with subsection (2) of this section.
(2) When the commission has approved a proposed concept plan
and pilot project, the local government with land use
jurisdiction over the affected sending area and affected
receiving area shall adopt overlay zone provisions and
corresponding amendments to the comprehensive plan that identify
the additional residential development allowed through
participation in the pilot project. The Department of Land
Conservation and Development shall review the overlay zones and
corresponding comprehensive plan amendments for compliance with
the goals, as defined in ORS 197.747, in the manner of periodic
review under ORS 197.628 to 197.650.
(3) Notwithstanding ORS 197.296 and 197.298 and statewide land
use planning goals relating to urbanization, a local government
may amend its urban growth boundary to include adjacent lands in
a receiving area, consistent with the administrative rules
implementing the pilot program and an approved concept plan, if
the net residential density of development authorized in the
receiving area is at least 10 dwelling units per acre.
(4) Local governments or other entities may establish a
development rights bank, or other system, to facilitate the
conveyance of transferable development rights. + }
SECTION 4. { + (1) The Department of Land Conservation and
Development, the State Forestry Department, the State Department
of Agriculture, a local government participating in the Oregon
Transfer of Development Rights Pilot Program or a third-party
holder identified by the Department of Land Conservation and
Development may hold, monitor or enforce a conservation easement
or other property interest to ensure that lands in sending areas
do not retain residential development rights transferred under
sections 1 to 4 of this 2009 Act.
(2) An entity that is eligible to be a holder of a conservation
easement under this section may acquire, from a willing seller in
the manner provided by ORS 271.715 to 271.795, the rights to
carry out a use of land authorized under rules of the Land
Conservation and Development Commission that implement the pilot
program. + }
SECTION 5. { + The Department of Land Conservation and
Development shall prepare and deliver a report to the
Seventy-seventh Legislative Assembly:
(1) Evaluating the Oregon Transfer of Development Rights Pilot
Program established in sections 1 to 4 of this 2009 Act; and
(2) Recommending whether the pilot program should be continued,
modified, expanded or terminated. + }
SECTION 6. { + This 2009 Act being necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency
is declared to exist, and this 2009 Act takes effect on its
passage. + }
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