Legislative Policies for the 2005 Legislative Session

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The City of Eugene strongly supports that the legislature clarify important elements of Two other proposals have been supported by the City of Eugene that were also intended implementing Measure 37 that were not put before the voters. ' to address problems with current statutory requirements for land use application processing. One proposal would have eliminated the requirement that comprehensive Recommendation: plan provisions, including refinement plan policies, be added to the zoning code in order to be used in evaluating limited land use decisions. Reprinting the full text of the plan ] . Authorize minimum requirements for filing M37 claim with governmental entity. policies added 41 pages of text to the Land Use Code. Another proposal would have provided some discretion in meeting the requirements of ORS 197.307 for "clear and 2. Define "accrual. objective standards" for needed housing. None of these proposals have moved forward in the 2001 or 2003 Legislative Sessions. 3. Establish how to value "reduction in value," Recommendation: 4. Judicial Review of other government's action on a claim. 1. Support legislative changes which clarify the requirements for determining a land 5. Resolve State vs. Local claims. use application to be complete and increase the time line for city processing of land use applications, especially when theapplicant's proposal is changed 6. For new regulations, provide Goal 5 type classification process. substantially during the review process. 7. Establish how to handle new annexations and past annexations. 2. Support legislative changes which would allow adopted plan policies to be incorporated by reference in the Land Use Code rather than reprinted in the code 8. Ensure jurisdiction can waive even after M37 claim filed in court. and which would allow some discretion in standards for "needed housing." 9. Ensure government can litigate validity of claim when first filed if beneficial to 3. Oppose legislation that would prohibit or restrict the ability of local governments do so. to delegate land use decision-making authority to a hearings official or planning commission. f ] 0. Allow fees for local governments to recover actual processing costs. 3. 20-YEAR LAND SUPPLY 2. LAND USE APPLICATION REVIEW PROCESS HB 2709, which passed in the 1995 Legislative Session and is codified as ORS 197.296, Bills introduced in previous legislative sessions have.attempted to limit local government requires cities to include enough residential land within their urban growth boundaries authority to process land use applications. One of-these biNs, which passed, instituted the (UGBs) to meet residential needs for the next 20 years. Intended to reduce land prices by "120-day rule"; a bill to prohibit local government use of a hearings official failed. increasing the amount of land available for housing, the bill required that projections of the 20-year need for residential land be based on the development that occurred since the The 120-day rule, established by legislation in 1993, requires local permit issuers to reach last periodic review or during the last five years, whichever is greater. This ignores a "final decision" within 120 days of the time a land use application is submitted and changes in policy and land use code provisions to facilitate more compact development. deemed complete, Failure to meet the deadline allows the applicant to seek a writ of The City supports the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) mandamus from the circuit court, ordering the local government to issue the permit. The requirement fora 20-year buildable lands inventory, but continues to oppose the 120-day rule applies equally to atwo-lot partition and a 200-unit planned unit requirement that the housing needs analysis be based only on actual past development. development. The planning concerns related to planned unit developments are far greater than those applied to partitions, yet the same deadline applies to both. Since the passage of HB 2709, commercial realtors have argued for comparable legislation for commercial and industrial land. HB 3557, which passed in the 2001 Prior to 2003, an applicant could request a time extension for an application decision in Legislative Session, called for establishment of a working group to address issues related order to provide time for submission of pertinent information. The City of Eugene to the need for commercial and industrial land.. supported SB 94 in the 2003 Session, which modified the criteria for determining when an application to a city is deemed complete for the purposes of time limit for action by the city. The bill also limits the total of all extensions to 245 days. City of Eugene Legislative Policies, 2005 Session 29 City of Eugene Legislative Policies, 2005 Session 30 i