Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon officials have met their initial timeline to start responding to people using the land use law, Measure 49. But as Rob Manning reports, Thursday’s announcement marks a modest start.

Measure 49 replaced the controversial property compensation initiative Measure 37 last fall.

Now, long-time property owners know they can sell something they build, but their development rights have been limited.

To get going under Measure 49, claimants sent responses to the state, this spring. Over the last few months, thousands of requests have come in, overwhelmingly asking for "fast-track" approval to build up to three homes.

State officials promised the first responses in July. And, on the last day of July, they sent out approval “tickets” to three Willamette Valley property owners.

Ross Day is with property rights’ group, Oregonians in Action. His group was hoping for more.

Ross Day: “I mean we’re happy to see that they’ve issued these first tickets. But we’re mindful of the fact that this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

State officials say to process the tickets more quickly, they need more money to increase staffing.