141-125-0140 Lease or License Application Review and Approval Process (1) Upon receipt of an application for a lease or license, the Department will determine: (a) If the application is complete; (b) If the subject area is available for the requested use; (c) What method will be used to determine the amount of compensation payable to the Department pursuant to OAR 141-125-0150 and 0160; (d) If a lease or license under these rules is the required form of authorization, and (e) If additional information is required concerning the: (A) Proposed use of the state land; and (B) Applicant’s financial status, or past business or management practices, or both. (2) The Department will then advise the applicant of its determination concerning each of the five factors in OAR 141-125-0140(1). Applications determined by the Department to be incomplete, or for an area in which the use would be incompatible will be returned to the applicant with a written explanation of the reason(s) for rejection. (3) If an application rejected for incompleteness is resubmitted within 90 calendar days from the date the Department returned it to the applicant (as determined by the date of postmark) with all deficiencies noted by the Department corrected, no additional application fee will be assessed. (4) If more than one application for a specific area is received by the Department for the same or conflicting uses subject to authorization by a lease, the Department may: (a) Determine which proposed use best fulfills the policies specified in OAR 141-125-0110, and accept and proceed with that application and deny the others; or (b) If neither use is determined by the Department to be demonstrably better, make the subject area available to the public by auction. (5) Upon acceptance by the Department, the application will be circulated to various local, state and federal agencies and other interested persons including tribal governments, adjacent property holders, affected lessees and permitees, and easement holders for review and comment. As a part of this review, the Department will specifically request comments concerning: (a) The presence of state or federal listed threatened and endangered species (including candidate species), and archaeological and historic resources within the requested area that may be disturbed by the proposed use; (b) Conformance of the proposed use with local, state, and federal laws and rules; (c) Conformance of the proposed use with the local comprehensive land use plan and zoning ordinances; (d) Conformance with the policies described in OAR 141-125-0110 of these rules; and (e) Potential conflicts of the proposed use with existing or proposed uses of the requested area. (6) The Department may post a notice of an application and opportunity to comment at a local government building, public library, or other appropriate locations in order to ensure that minority and low-income communities are included and aware of a proposed use. The Department shall make paper copies of an application available to any person upon request. (7) After receipt of comments concerning the proposed use, the Department will advise the applicant in writing: (a) If changes in the use or the requested lease or license area are necessary to respond to the comments received; (b) If additional information is required from the applicant, including but not limited to a survey of: (A) State or federal listed threatened and endangered species (including candidate species) within the requested area; and/or (B) Archaeological and historic resources within the requested area. (c) If the area requested for the lease or license will be authorized for use by the applicant through a lease or license, and (d) Whether the subject area will be made available to the public through competitive bidding pursuant to OAR 141-125-0150. Only requests for leases may be subject to competitive bidding. (8) If the Department decides to issue a lease to the applicant without competitive bidding, or a license, the Department will notify the applicant in writing of: (a) The amount of compensation pursuant to OAR 141-125-0160 that the applicant must remit to the Department to obtain the authorization; (b) Any insurance and surety bond required by the Department pursuant to the requirements of OAR 141-125-0180; and (c) A draft copy of the lease or license (9) The Department will not grant a lease or license to an applicant until: (a) It has received all fees and compensation specified in these rules, and evidence of any required insurance and surety bond; and (b) The requirements of OAR 141-125-0170(4) of these rules have been met; (10) In addition to the provisions of OAR 141-125-0140(8), a special use authorization issued by the Department will not be valid until the holder has received all other authorizations required by the Department (such as a Removal-Fill Permit under ORS 196.800 to 196.990) and other applicable local, state, and federal governing bodies to use the state-owned land in the manner requested. (11) The Director may refer any applications for a lease or license to the Land Board for review and approval. (12) If an application is received and accepted by the Department for a lease on state-owned submerged and submersible land, the Department will, pursuant to the requirements of ORS 274.040, offer a preference right to lease to the eligible party as defined in OAR 141-125-0120(31) and (32), hereafter referred to as the preference right holder. The Department will take the following steps to offer this preference right: (a) If the proposed lease area consists of a single parcel, or two or more contiguous parcels owned by the same person, the Department will extend the boundaries of the single parcel or combined group of single-ownership parcels perpendicular to the thread of the stream creating a single lease parcel that fronts and abuts the upland ownership. (b) If the proposed lease area consists of parcels having different owners, the Department will subdivide the requested lease area into smaller parcels by extending lines perpendicular to the thread of the stream from the boundaries of, or within the boundaries of the adjacent riparian tax lot so that there is a separate lease parcel for each parcel of property that fronts and abuts the lease area. (c) In accordance with the proposed use(s), the Department will calculate in a manner consistent with OAR 141-125-0160 a minimum annual compensatory payment for each lease parcel. (d) The Department will notify each preference right holder in writing that a lease application has been approved by the Department and provide 30 calendar days from the date that the letter is postmarked for the preference right holder to exercise the preference right to take the lease at the established minimum annual compensatory payment. (e) If the preference right holder has accepted the offer of a preference right to lease and has executed the lease form and all other documents and remitted the required minimum annual lease rental payment within the required 30 calendar day period, the Department will execute the lease. (f) If the preference right holder does not exercise the preference right to take a lease applied for by another person, the Department will prepare and publish an advertisement for bids pursuant to ORS 274.040 and hold a public auction pursuant to OAR 141-125-0150. The highest qualified bidder will be awarded the lease. The minimum bid amount will be set by the Department. Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 273.045 Statutes/Other Implemented: OR Const. Art. VIII, Sec 2 & 5 History: DSL 6-2024, amend filed 12/10/2024, effective 12/13/2024 DSL 1-2017, f. & cert. ef. 1-12-17 DSL 3-2015, f. 11-9-15, cert. ef. 12-1-15 DSL 3-2008, f. & cert. ef. 10-15-08 DSL 1-2002, f. 2-7-02, cert. ef. 3-1-02