The nation’s oldest statewide planning program is evolving to reflect the changing interests of its community. Earlier this summer Oregon passed House Bill 2229, adopting many recommendations put forth by the Big Look Task Force.
The Big Look Task Force, created in 2005 by Senate Bill 82, was charged with reviewing the Oregon Statewide Planning Program. The task force was responsible for making recommendations to the legislature on the effectiveness of Oregon’s land use planning program and the roles and responsibilities of state and local governments. (For more background information on the catalyst for the task force’s work, read the first article of this two-part series on Oregon Land Use Planning)
The State of Oregon established the nation’s first comprehensive land use planning system in 1973 with Senate Bill 100. The bill identified the original statewide planning goals, established land use restrictions for counties, and called for cities to establish urban growth boundaries and adopt comprehensive plans. The bill also created the state’s Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) to make policy decisions and the State Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) to serve as the administrative arm of the program.
As a result of this initiative—according to a 2008 report titled "The Oregon Land Use Program: An Assessment of Selected Goals" and prepared by the Institute for Natural Resources at Oregon State University—Oregon has preserved 89 percent of non-federal resources land in western Oregon and 97 percent in eastern Oregon from urban uses since the 1970s, and has achieved one of the lowest land conversion rates in the country. The Big Look Task Force found that the establishment of urban growth boundaries has also led to downtown revitalization, a decrease in residential racial segregation and increased use of alternative transportation modes in urban areas. While Oregonians generally support the land use system, strong concerns remain over how inflexible the planning regime is and whether it impedes economic development and private property rights. A major debate continues on whether local governments should be entrusted with more flexibility to adapt to their respective landscapes.
Effective Aug. 4, 2009, House Bill 2229 adopted four main principles embodied by the 19 statewide land use planning goals to provide a healthy environment, sustain a prosperous economy, ensure a desirable quality of life, and equitably allocate the benefits and burdens of land use planning. The principles and statewide planning goals are to be considered whenever the legislature enacts land use regulations, or when a public body adopts or interprets comprehensive plans, land use regulations and specific administrative rules. The bill also requires LCDC to consider regional variations and economic impacts when adopting new rules.
In the interest of correcting mapping errors and updating outdated land use designations, counties may petition to amend—with approval of LCDC—specific land designations if the land no longer meets the “agricultural lands” or “forest land” definitions set forth in the planning goals. For instance, if the soil conditions of a parcel are not well-suited to farming or timber production, a county may elect to redesignate the parcel for a more intensive use such as rural residential, provided it doesn’t interfere with resource production on surrounding lands. If a county seeks to amend designated farm or forestland, an inventory of ecologically significant natural areas or resources must be conducted. In addition, programs must be created to protect these areas or resources from any new land uses arising out of the redesignation.
The bill also authorizes LCDC to participate in any “collaborative regional problem-solving process” initiated by a county and at least one other local government in the region. LCDC may also conduct a policy-neutral audit of Oregon’s land use program—including statewide land use planning goals and rules governing the commission—in order to streamline the land use planning system and increase public understanding of land use restrictions.
The law echoes many of the task force’s initial recommendations. The “Big Look 2009 Final Report” recommends a focus on creating a more flexible and simplified land use system that promotes sustainability by coordinating land use planning, economic development and transportation, and utilizing more collaborative approaches that consider regional variations and encourage citizen participation. The law incorporated the task force's recommendation to encourage greater regional government control. Specifically, a county may institute a regional problem-solving process if it collaborates with another local government entity. Local governments may adopt specialized rules for what lands are designated as farm or forest land if LCDC approves their plans.
Although most of the Big Look Task Force's major recommendations were adopted by the legislature, secondary recommendations were not incorporated into the law. The task force's multi-phased approach included recommendations to address climate change by reducing green house gases, expand the certified industrial site program and reform infrastructure finance to ensure adequate funding for building public facilities with new development. The legislature directed LCDC to further review the land use system and reduce complexity when possible.
Highlighting the success of Metro, Portland metropolitan area’s regional government, and Washington’s Growth Management Act’s integration of economic consideration into land use planning, the task force recommended “[a] state-level system to update the land use system regularly to reflect changes in societal values and visions for our communities…Updates to our land use system should be integrated with similar state planning efforts for transportation, infrastructure and economic development.”
