ORS Chapter 197a — Land Use Planning: Housing

ORS 197a.285. Priority of land to be included within urban growth boundaries; rules. (1) A city outside Metro shall comply with this section when determining which lands to include within the urban growth boundary of the city, including when amending an urban growth boundary under ORS 197A.270 (5)(a), 197A.310 or 197A.312. (2) The Land Conservation and Development Commission shall provide, by rule, that: (a) When evaluating lands for inclusion within the urban growth boundary, the city shall establish a study area that includes all land that is contiguous to the urban growth boundary and within a distance specified by commission. (b) The city shall evaluate all land in the study area for inclusion in the urban growth boundary as provided in subsection (4) of this section, except for land excluded from the study area because: (A) It is impracticable, as provided in subsection (3) of this section, to provide necessary public facilities or services to the land. (B) The land is subject to significant development hazards, including a risk of land slides, a risk of flooding because the land is within the 100-year floodplain or is subject to inundation during storm surges or tsunamis, and other risks determined by the commission. (C) The long-term preservation of significant scenic, natural, cultural or recreational resources requires limiting or prohibiting urban development of the land that contains the resources. (D) The land is owned by the federal government and managed primarily for rural uses. (E) The land is designated as rural reserve under ORS 197A.230 to 197A.250. (c) When evaluating the priority of land for inclusion under paragraph (b) of this subsection: (A) The city shall evaluate the land within the study area that is designated as an urban reserve under ORS 197A.245 in an acknowledged comprehensive plan. (B) If the amount of land appropriate for selection under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph is not sufficient to satisfy the need for the land, the city shall evaluate the land that is subject to an acknowledged exception under ORS 197.732 or land that is nonresource land and select as much of the land as necessary to satisfy the need for land using criteria established by the commission and criteria in an acknowledged comprehensive plan and land use regulations. (C) If the amount of land appropriate for selection under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this paragraph is not sufficient to satisfy the need for land, the city shall evaluate the land within the study area that is designated as marginal land under ORS 197.247 (1991 Edition) in the acknowledged comprehensive plan and select as much of the land as necessary to satisfy the need for land using criteria established by the commission and criteria in an acknowledged comprehensive plan and land use regulations. (D) If the amount of land appropriate for selection under subparagraphs (A) to (C) of this paragraph is not sufficient to satisfy the amount of land needed, the city shall evaluate land within the study area that is designated for agriculture or forest uses in the acknowledged comprehensive plan that is not predominantly high-value farmland, as defined in ORS 195.300, or does not consist predominantly of prime or unique soils, as determined by the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, and select as much of that land as necessary to satisfy the need for land: (i) Using criteria established by the commission and criteria in an acknowledged comprehensive plan and land use regulations; and (ii) Using the predominant capability classification system or the predominant cubic site class, as appropriate for the acknowledged comprehensive plan designation, to select lower capability or cubic site class lands first. (E) If the amount of land appropriate for selection under subparagraphs (A) to (D) of this paragraph is not sufficient to satisfy the need for land, the city shall evaluate land within the study area that is designated as agricultural land in an acknowledged comprehensive plan and is predominantly high value farmland and select as much of that land as necessary to satisfy the need for land. A local government may not select land that is predominantly made up of prime or unique farm soils, as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, unless there is an insufficient amount of other land to satisfy its land need. (3) For purposes of subsection (2)(b)(A) of this section, the commission shall determine impracticability by rule, considering the likely amount of development that could occur on the lands within the planning period, the likely cost of facilities and services, physical, topographical or other impediments to service provision and whether urban development has occurred on similarly situated lands such that it is likely that the lands will be developed at an urban level during the planning period. When impracticability is primarily a result of existing development patterns, the rules of the commission shall require that the lands be included within the study area, but may allow the development capacity forecast for the lands to be specified at a lower level over the planning period. The rules of the commission must be based on an evaluation of how similarly situated lands have, or have not, developed over time. (4) For purposes of subsection (2)(b)(C) of this section, the commission by rule shall determine the circumstances in which and the resources to which this exclusion will apply. (5) Notwithstanding subsection (2)(c)(E) of this section, the rules must allow land that would otherwise be excluded from an urban growth boundary to be included if: (a) The land contains a small amount of resource land that is not important to the commercial agricultural enterprise in the area and the land must be included to connect a nearby and significantly larger area of land of higher priority for inclusion within the urban growth boundary; or (b) The land contains a small amount of resource land that is not predominantly high-value farmland or predominantly made up of prime or unique farm soils and the land is completely surrounded by land of higher priority for inclusion into the urban growth boundary. (6) When the primary purpose for expansion of the urban growth boundary is to accommodate a particular industry use that requires specific site characteristics, or to accommodate a public facility that requires specific site characteristics and the site characteristics may be found in only a small number of locations, the city may limit the study area to land that has, or could be improved to provide, the required site characteristics. Lands included within an urban growth boundary for a particular industrial use, or a particular public facility, must remain planned and zoned for the intended use: (a) Except as allowed by rule of the commission that is based on a significant change in circumstance or the passage of time; or (b) Unless the city removes the land from within the urban growth boundary. (7) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the commission may adopt rules that specify circumstances under which a city may exchange land within the urban growth boundary of the city for land that is outside of the urban growth boundary and that is designed to avoid adverse effects of an exchange on agricultural or forest operations in the surrounding area. [Formerly 197A.320] (Alternative Urban Growth Boundary Amendment Process for Cities Outside Metro)