75th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2009 Regular Session
Enrolled
Senate Bill 763
Sponsored by Senator SCHRADER, Representative NOLAN; Senators
BATES, DEVLIN, DINGFELDER, HASS, MORRISETTE, Representatives
BAILEY, CLEM, GARRETT, GREENLICK, ROBLAN
CHAPTER ................
AN ACT
Relating to transferable development credits; and declaring an
emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. { + (1) The Legislative Assembly finds that:
(a) Working farms and forests make vital contributions to
Oregon by:
(A) Providing jobs, timber, agricultural products, tax base and
other social and economic benefits;
(B) Helping to maintain soil, air and water resources;
(C) Reducing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; and
(D) Providing habitat for wildlife and aquatic life.
(b) Natural resources, scenic and historic areas and open
spaces promote a sustainable and healthy environment and natural
landscape that contributes to the livability of Oregon.
(c) 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 between resource uses and dispersed residential
development, require that new methods be developed to facilitate
the continued management of private lands zoned for farm use,
forest use and mixed farm and forest use for the purposes of:
(A) Agricultural production and timber harvest; and
(B) Preservation of natural resources, scenic and historic
areas and open spaces for future generations.
(2) The Legislative Assembly declares that transferable
development credit systems:
(a) Complement the statewide land use planning system in Oregon
and encourage effective local implementation of the statewide
land use planning goals.
(b) Provide incentives for private landowners, local, regional,
state and federal governments and other entities to permanently
protect farm land and forestland, including a land base for
working farms, ranches, forests and woodlots, significant natural
resources, scenic and historic areas and open spaces.
(c) Benefit rural land owners, including owners of working
farms, ranches, forests and woodlots, that voluntarily provide
stewardship of natural resources on private lands.
(d) Provide voluntary and effective methods to help improve the
livability of urban areas and to mitigate and adapt to global
climate change. + }
Enrolled Senate Bill 763 (SB 763-A) Page 1
SECTION 2. { + As used in this section and section 3 of this
2009 Act:
(1) 'Conservation easement' has the meaning given that term in
ORS 271.715.
(2) 'Governmental unit' means a city, county, metropolitan
service district or state agency as defined in ORS 171.133.
(3) 'Holder' has the meaning given that term in ORS 271.715.
(4) 'Lot' has the meaning given that term in ORS 92.010.
(5) 'Parcel' has the meaning given that term in ORS 92.010.
(6) 'Receiving area' means a designated area of land to which a
holder of development credits generated from a sending area may
transfer the development credits and in which additional uses or
development, not otherwise allowed, are allowed by reason of the
transfer.
(7) 'Resource land' means:
(a) Lands outside an urban growth boundary planned and zoned
for farm use, forest use or mixed farm and forest use.
(b) Lands inside or outside urban growth boundaries identified:
(A) In an acknowledged local or regional government inventory
as containing significant wetland, riparian, wildlife habitat,
historic, scenic or open space resources; or
(B) As containing important natural resources, estuaries,
coastal shorelands, beaches and dunes or other resources
described in the statewide land use planning goals.
(c) 'Conservation Opportunity Areas' identified in the ' Oregon
Conservation Strategy' prepared in September of 2006 by the State
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
(8) 'Sending area' means a designated area of resource land
from which development credits generated from forgone development
are transferable, for uses or development not otherwise allowed,
to a receiving area.
(9) 'Tract' has the meaning given that term in ORS 215.010.
(10) 'Transferable development credit' means a severable
development interest in real property that can be transferred
from a lot, parcel or tract in a sending area to a lot, parcel or
tract in a receiving area.
(11) 'Transferable development credit system' means a land use
planning tool that allows the record owner of a lot, parcel or
tract of resource land in a sending area to voluntarily sever and
sell development interests from the lot, parcel or tract for
purchase and use by a potential developer to develop a lot,
parcel or tract in a receiving area at a higher intensity than
otherwise allowed.
(12) 'Urban growth boundary' has the meaning given that term in
ORS 195.060.
(13) 'Urban reserve' has the meaning given that term in ORS
195.137. + }
SECTION 3. { + (1) One or more governmental units may
establish a transferable development credit system, including a
process for allowing transfer of development interests from a
sending area within the jurisdiction of one governmental unit to
a receiving area within the jurisdiction of another governmental
unit.
(2) If the transferable development credit system allows
transfer of development interests between the jurisdictions of
different governmental units, the process must be described in an
intergovernmental agreement under ORS 190.003 to 190.130 entered
into by the governmental units with land use jurisdiction over
the sending and receiving areas and, for purposes of
administration of the process, the Department of Land
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Conservation and Development. The intergovernmental agreement
may contain provisions for sharing between governmental units of
the prospective ad valorem tax revenues derived from new
development in the receiving area authorized under the system.
(3) A transferable development credit system must provide for:
(a) The record owner of a lot, parcel or tract in a sending
area to voluntarily sever and sell development interests of the
lot, parcel or tract for use in a receiving area;
(b) A potential developer of land in a receiving area to
purchase transferable development credits that allow a higher
intensity use or development of the land, including development
bonuses or other incentives not otherwise allowed, through
changes to the planning and zoning or waivers of density, height
or bulk limitations in the receiving area;
(c) The governmental units administering the system to
determine the type, extent and intensity of uses or development
allowed in the receiving area, based on the transferable
development credits generated from severed and sold development
interests; and
(d) The holder of a recorded instrument encumbering a lot,
parcel or tract from which the record owner proposes to sever
development interests for transfer to be given prior written
notice of the proposed transaction and to approve or disapprove
the transaction.
(4) A transferable development credit system must offer:
(a) Incentives for a record owner of resource land to
voluntarily prohibit or limit development on the resource land
and to sell or transfer forgone development to lands within
receiving areas.
(b) Benefits to landowners by providing monetary compensation
for limiting development in sending areas.
(c) Benefits to developers by allowing increased development
and development incentives in receiving areas.
(5) The governmental units administering a transferable
development credit system must:
(a) Designate sending areas that are chosen to achieve the
requirements set forth in this section and the objectives set
forth in section 1 of this 2009 Act.
(b) Designate receiving areas that are chosen to achieve the
requirements set forth in this section and the objectives set
forth in section 1 of this 2009 Act.
(c) Provide development bonuses and incentives to stimulate the
demand for the purchase and sale of transferable development
credits.
(d) Require that the record owner of development interests
transferred as development credits from a sending area to a
receiving area cause to be record, in the deed records of the
county in which the sending area is located, a conservation
easement that:
(A) Limits development of the lot, parcel or tract from which
the interests are severed consistent with the transfer; and
(B) Names an entity, approved by the governmental units
administering the system, as the holder of the conservation
easement.
(e) Maintain records of:
(A) The lots, parcels and tracts from which development
interests have been severed;
(B) The lots, parcels and tracts to which transferable
development credits have been transferred; and
Enrolled Senate Bill 763 (SB 763-A) Page 3
(C) The allowable level of use or development for each lot,
parcel or tract after a transfer of development credits.
(f) Provide periodic summary reports of activities of the
system to the department.
(6) A receiving area must be composed of land that is within an
urban growth boundary or, subject to subsection (7) of this
section, within an urban reserve established under ORS 195.137 to
195.145 and that is:
(a) Appropriate and suitable for development.
(b) Not subject to limitations designed to protect natural
resources, scenic and historic areas, open spaces or other
resources protected under the statewide land use planning goals.
(c) Not within an area identified as a priority area for
protection in the 'Oregon Conservation Strategy' prepared in
September of 2006 by the State Department of Fish and Wildlife.
(d) Not within a 'Conservation Opportunity Area' identified in
the 'Oregon Conservation Strategy' prepared in September of 2006
by the State Department of Fish and Wildlife.
(7) Land within an urban reserve:
(a) May be the site of a receiving area only if:
(A) The receiving area is likely to be brought within an urban
growth boundary at the next periodic review under ORS 197.628 to
197.650 or legislative review under ORS 197.626; and
(B) Development pursuant to the transferable development
credits is allowed only after the receiving area is brought
within an urban growth boundary.
(b) That is selected for use as a receiving area may be
designated for priority inclusion in the urban growth boundary,
when the urban growth boundary is amended, if the land qualifies
under the boundary location factors in a goal relating to
urbanization.
(8) The governing body of a governmental unit administering a
transferable development credit system may, directly or
indirectly through a contract with a nonprofit corporation,
establish a transferable development credit bank to facilitate:
(a) Buying severable development interests from lots, parcels
or tracts of resource land in a sending area.
(b) Selling transferable development credits to potential
developers of lots, parcels or tracts in a receiving area.
(c) Entering into agreements or contracts and performing acts
necessary, convenient or desirable to achieve the requirements
set forth in this section and the objectives set forth in section
1 of this 2009 Act.
(d) Managing funds available for the purchase and sale of
transferable development credits.
(e) Authorizing and monitoring expenditures associated with the
system.
(f) Maintaining records of the transactions, including dates,
purchase amounts and locations of severed development interests
and development pursuant to transferred development credits, that
are sufficient to manage and evaluate the effectiveness of the
system.
(g) Providing periodic summary reports of activities of the
system to the governing body of a governmental unit administering
the system.
(h) Obtaining appraisals of development interests and
transferable development credits as necessary and pricing
transferable development credits for purchase or sale.
(i) Serving as a clearinghouse and information source for
buyers and sellers of transferable development credits.
Enrolled Senate Bill 763 (SB 763-A) Page 4
(j) Accepting donations of transferable development credits.
(k) Soliciting and receiving grant funds for the implementation
of this section and section 2 of this 2009 Act.
(9) A holder of a conservation easement shall hold, monitor and
enforce the conservation easement to ensure that lands in sending
areas do not retain development credits transferred under this
section and section 2 of this 2009 Act. + }
SECTION 4. { + The Department of Land Conservation and
Development shall make a report, in the manner described in ORS
192.245, to the Seventy-seventh Legislative Assembly:
(1) Evaluating the transferable development credit systems that
have been established under sections 2 and 3 of this 2009 Act;
and
(2) Recommending whether the program should be continued,
modified, expanded or terminated. + }
SECTION 5. { + 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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Passed by Senate May 5, 2009
...........................................................
Secretary of Senate
...........................................................
President of Senate
Passed by House June 3, 2009
...........................................................
Speaker of House
Enrolled Senate Bill 763 (SB 763-A) Page 5
Received by Governor:
......M.,............., 2009
Approved:
......M.,............., 2009
...........................................................
Governor
Filed in Office of Secretary of State:
......M.,............., 2009
...........................................................
Secretary of State
Enrolled Senate Bill 763 (SB 763-A) Page 6