Oregon Public Broadcasting

A state task force reviewing Oregon’s land-use laws has issued its final report.  The 45-page document makes recommendations to the state legislature on future land-use in Oregon.  Pete Springer reports.

The “Big Look” task force has been working for the last three years, reviewing Oregon’s land-use laws and taking public comments on possible changes to those laws.

In its final report, the panel recommends a more regional approach to land-use. 

One idea is to allow two or more counties to approach the state jointly about zoning concerns.

John Evans is the Big Look Project Manager. 

He says the task force heard from a lot of Oregonians who don’t believe Salem lawmakers always know where the best farmland is in rural Oregon.

Evans says those folks wanted to be able to have a say about land-use standards.

John Evans “So that’s great.  You do that, but you’ve got to run it by -- you’ve got to in a sense prove it to the Land Conservation and Development Commission.  So they would, as a region, adopt their own standards but that set of standards would have to be approved by the state.”

The House Land Use Committee will review the task force recommendations before the full House votes on them.