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Land Use and Measure 49
Measure 49, passed with 62% of the statewide vote in November 2007, is the latest adjustment to Oregon's land use laws and specifically amends Measure 37.
Launch the Measure 49 Map Viewer
In 2004, Oregon voters passed Measure 37 with 61% of the vote. The measure required state and local governments to either waive land use regulations or compensate landowners when a regulation reduces a property's fair market value. However, the scale of proposed Measure 37 development, especially in the Willamette Valley where 60 percent of the claims were filed, alarmed conservationists and farm groups. They worked with Democratic legislators to write Measure 49 during the 2007 legislative session and refer it to voters.
Measure 49 gives landowners who have filed Measure 37 claims the right to build homes as compensation for land use regulations imposed after they acquired their properties. Claimants may build up to three homes if allowed when they acquired their properties. Claimants may build up to 10 homes if allowed when they acquired their properties and they have suffered reductions in property values that justify the additional home sites. This measure protects farmlands, forestlands and lands with groundwater shortages in two ways. First, subdivisions are not allowed on high-value farmlands, forestlands and groundwater-restricted lands. Claimants may not build more than three homes on such lands. Second, claimants may not use this measure to override current zoning laws that prohibit commercial and industrial developments, such as strip malls and mines, on land reserved for homes, farms, forests and other uses.
Supporters of Measure 49 say that it fixes flaws in Measure 37 that allow large housing subdivisions, big-box stores, and strip malls where they don't belong. Opponents say Measure 49 is an attempt to repeal Measure 37 and eliminate property owner protection from future regulations.
Beginning in December 2007, the Department of Land Conservation and Development sent information to Measure 37 claimants about their options under Measure 49. Those who chose to proceed under Measure 49, and who met the standards in the law, received a certificate allowing them to build. Those who were denied a Measure 37 claim may be eligible to build as well.
Measure 49 provides that development started or completed under a Measure 37 claim may be allowed to continue, if it meets the definition of a "vested right."
Other Resources
This list provides links to information related to Ballot Measure 49, Ballot Measure 37, and land use planning in Oregon in general.
- Measure 49 explanatory statement
https://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Pages/electionhistory.aspx - Land use planning, general information
- How have land-use regulations affected property values in Oregon?
(Oregon State University Extension Service)
Examines ways in which land-use regulations in general and Oregon's land-use planning system in particular may affect property values.
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/6138/sr1077.pdf?sequence=1 - Oregon department of land conservation and development
Includes reports and information on land use planning in Oregon.
https://www.oregon.gov/lcd/Pages/index.aspx
- How have land-use regulations affected property values in Oregon?
- Land use planning, specific regions
- Projecting building densities and land use change
(Coastal Landscape Analysis and Modeling Study)
Describes and projects the past and future spatial distribution of humans throughout the Oregon Coast Range region based on projected increases in human populations in western Oregon and on other socioeconomic and geographic factors.
http://www.fsl.orst.edu/clams/prj_hmn_use_indx.html - Willamette basin alternative futures analysis
(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
Summarizes results from an alternative futures analysis conducted in the Willamette River Basin in western Oregon. Alternative futures analysis provides a long-term, large-area perspective on the combined effects of multiple policies and regulations that affect the environment and natural resources within a geographic area.
http://www.fsl.orst.edu/pnwerc/wrb/proj_summary.pdf
- Projecting building densities and land use change
- Measure 37
- The economics behind measure 37
(Oregon State University Extension Service)
Introduces two approaches to evaluating whether compensation is due under Measure 37.
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/6138 - Three methods for evaluating measure 37 Claims
(Oregon State University Extension Service)
Compares the ability of three approaches to correctly determine the validity of Measure 37 claims.
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/20484
- The economics behind measure 37
Sources
Ballot Measure 37 (2004) and Proposed Ballot Measure 49