3.3 Oregon Land Use Planning

Origins: Senate Bill 100 (1973)

Oregon built one of the nation's most comprehensive land use planning systems with Senate Bill 100 in 1973. The system forces local governments to plan in step with statewide priorities, and it is a heavily tested Oregon-specific topic.

Key Agencies

The 19 Statewide Planning Goals (OAR Chapter 660)

Local comprehensive plans must be consistent with these goals; the DLCD "acknowledges" a plan once it complies.

Key Point: Goals 16-19 are coastal goals and apply only to coastal jurisdictions; Goal 15 applies only along the Willamette River. Inland cities still must address the remaining applicable goals.

Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs)

The Urban Growth Boundary is Oregon's signature land use tool, required by Goal 14 (Urbanization). Every city draws a line separating land where urban development is planned from surrounding farm and forest land.

In the Portland metro area, Metro (the regional government) manages a single regional UGB and expands it periodically to maintain roughly a 20-year supply of buildable land.

Worked example: Two five-acre parcels sit a quarter-mile apart. The one inside the UGB can likely be subdivided and served by city sewer, supporting many homes. The one outside in an Exclusive Farm Use (EFU) zone may allow only a single dwelling tied to farming. Same size, very different value — exactly the kind of advice an Oregon licensee must give.

Local Land Use Controls

Comprehensive Plans

Each city and county adopts a comprehensive plan that is consistent with the 19 goals, guides zoning decisions, and is periodically reviewed and updated.

Zoning Categories

Permits and Adjustments

Property Rights: Measures 37 and 49

Measure 37 (2004) required governments to pay landowners or waive regulations that reduced property value. Measure 49, approved by voters in November 2007, replaced most of Measure 37: it limited regulatory-takings compensation and instead let qualifying owners build a small number of homesites (typically up to three) rather than large developments.

Exam Tip: Measure 49 is the current rule — it narrowed Measure 37. If a question asks which measure controls today's homesite claims, the answer is Measure 49 (2007).

How Land Use Shapes a Licensee's Duties

Because zoning and the UGB control what a buyer can actually build, Oregon licensees should never promise a use that the comprehensive plan or zoning does not allow. Direct buyers to verify zoning, the UGB status of the parcel, EFU limits, and any pending plan amendments with the city or county planning department before they rely on a development assumption.

Police Power vs. Eminent Domain

Land use regulation flows from the government's police power — the authority to regulate for public health, safety, and welfare without paying owners (zoning, the UGB, building codes). That is different from eminent domain, the power to take private property for public use, which requires just compensation. Measures 37 and 49 sit at the boundary between regulation and a compensable taking.

Exam Tip: If a question describes a regulation that merely limits use, that is police power (no payment). If it describes the government acquiring the land itself, that is eminent domain (compensation required).