ORS Chapter 197 — Comprehensive Land Use

ORS 197.251. Compliance acknowledgment; commission review; rules; limited acknowledgment; compliance schedule. (1) Upon the request of a local government, the Land Conservation and Development Commission shall by order grant, deny or continue acknowledgment of compliance of comprehensive plan and land use regulations with the goals. A commission order granting, denying or continuing acknowledgment shall be entered within 90 days of the date of the request by the local government unless the commission finds that due to extenuating circumstances a period of time greater than 90 days is required. (2) In accordance with rules of the commission, the Director of the Department of Land Conservation and Development shall prepare a report for the commission stating whether the comprehensive plan and land use regulations for which acknowledgment is sought are in compliance with the goals. The rules of the commission shall: (a) Provide a reasonable opportunity for persons to prepare and to submit to the director written comments and objections to the acknowledgment request; and (b) Authorize the director to investigate and in the report to resolve issues raised in the comments and objections or by the directors own review of the comprehensive plan and land use regulations. (3) Upon completion of the report and before the commission meeting at which the directors report is to be considered, the director shall afford the local government and persons who submitted written comments or objections a reasonable opportunity to file written exceptions to the report. (4) The commissions review of the acknowledgment request shall be confined to the record of proceedings before the local government, any comments, objections and exceptions filed under subsections (2) and (3) of this section and the report of the director. Upon its consideration of an acknowledgment request, the commission may entertain oral argument from the director and from persons who filed written comments, objections or exceptions. However, the commission shall not allow additional evidence or testimony that could have been presented to the local government or to the director but was not. (5) A commission order granting, denying or continuing acknowledgment shall include a clear statement of findings which sets forth the basis for the approval, denial or continuance of acknowledgment. The findings shall: (a) Identify the goals applicable to the comprehensive plan and land use regulations; and (b) Include a clear statement of findings in support of the determinations of compliance and noncompliance. (6) A commission order granting acknowledgment shall be limited to an identifiable geographic area described in the order if: (a) Only the identified geographic area is the subject of the acknowledgment request; or (b) Specific geographic areas do not comply with the applicable goals, and the goal requirements are not technical or minor in nature. (7) The commission may issue a limited acknowledgment order when a previously issued acknowledgment order is reversed or remanded by the Court of Appeals or the Oregon Supreme Court. Such a limited acknowledgment order may deny or continue acknowledgment of that part of the comprehensive plan or land use regulations that the court found not in compliance or not consistent with the goals and grant acknowledgment of all other parts of the comprehensive plan and land use regulations. (8) A limited acknowledgment order shall be considered an acknowledgment for all purposes and shall be a final order for purposes of judicial review with respect to the acknowledged geographic area. A limited order may be adopted in conjunction with a continuance or denial order. (9) The director shall notify the Real Estate Agency, the local government and all persons who filed comments or objections with the director of any grant, denial or continuance of acknowledgment. (10) The commission may grant a planning extension, which shall be a grant of additional time for a local government to comply with the goals in accordance with a compliance schedule. A compliance schedule shall be a listing of the tasks which the local government must complete in order to bring its comprehensive plan, land use regulations, land use decisions and limited land use decisions into initial compliance with the goals, including a generalized time schedule showing when the tasks are estimated to be completed and when a comprehensive plan or land use regulations which comply with the goals are estimated to be adopted. In developing a compliance schedule, the commission shall consider the population, geographic area, resources and capabilities of the city or county. (11) As used in this section: (a) Continuance means a commission order that: (A) Certifies that all or part of a comprehensive plan, land use regulations or both a comprehensive plan and land use regulations do not comply with one or more goals; (B) Specifies amendments or other action that must be completed within a specified time period for acknowledgment to occur; and (C) Is a final order for purposes of judicial review of the comprehensive plan, land use regulations or both the comprehensive plan and land use regulations as to the parts found consistent or in compliance with the goals. (b) Denial means a commission order that: (A) Certifies that a comprehensive plan, land use regulations or both a comprehensive plan and land use regulations do not comply with one or more goals; (B) Specifies amendments or other action that must be completed for acknowledgment to occur; and (C) Is used when the amendments or other changes required in the comprehensive plan, land use regulations or both the comprehensive plan and land use regulations affect many goals and are likely to take a substantial period of time to complete.