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Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society

 

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Common Land Use Issues & Problems
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Apathy
Technocracy
The Need For Predictability
Federal and State Mandates
The Overburdened Citizen
Oregon CI Advisory Committee

 

LEGAL CONSTRAINTS

March 6, 2006

Land Use Committee
Hugo Neighborhood Association
Members of the CAC/NA Coalition

Common CI Issues & Problems In Josephine County

A common theme to all the citizen involvement (CI) issues and problems in Josephine County is a CI program that can be improved.1 According to the Oregon Citizen Involvement Advisory Committee (CIAC) the first 10 of the following CI issues and problems are common statewide.2

1. Common Land Use Issues & Problems
2. Funding
3. Staffing
4. Time
5. Legal Constraints
6. Apathy
7. Technocracy
8. The Need for Predictability
9. State and Federal Mandates
10. The Overburdened Citizen
11. Oregon Citizen Involvement Advisory Committee

Oregon CIAC Legal Constraints Observations & Suggestions

CIAC Legal Constraints Observations3 "Many of the same laws that create opportunities for CI also limit those opportunities. For example, ORS 197.830 allows concerned citizens to appeal local land use decisons to the state’s Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). But the same law also set limits on who can appeal, how much time they have to appeal, and so on. Such laws try to strike a balance between two extremes: a closed planning system that gives citizens little or no access, and a wide-open system that provides unlimited and continuous access."

"Both extremes would be unfair and ineffective. The closed system gives citizens no voice in decisions that will affect them, and it leads to short-sighted planning and decision making. The wide-open system fails to protect the rights of land owners and developers. It leads to paralysis in planning and decision making, as there is always one more hearing, appeal, or citizen to be heard."

"In trying to maintain an appropriate balance between the extremes described above, the State of Oregon has adopted laws on hearings, notice, appeals, and other aspects of planning and CI. The number of those laws and their complexity are greater today than ever before. The citizen who wants access to the planning process in the 1990s faces a more complex set of rules."

More Information

More CIAC Observations3 "Ten years ago, for example, a citizen could appeal a local land use decision to LUBA simply by showing that she would be affected by that decision in some way. Today, that same citizen would have to demonstrate that she participated in the local land use decision. If she did not oppose it locally, she would have no standing to appeal to LUBA. A person unaware of that "raise it or waive it" requirement loses the opportunity to be involved in one important phase of the planning process."

CIAC Suggestions3 "Inform citizens of their rights and obligations through workshops, flyers, newsletter articles, and other means. Train staff so that they know about these rights and obligations and can communicate them to citizens."

More Information. Would you like to learn more? Contact a member of the Hugo Land Use Committee.

Disclaimer. This brochure is as much about providing information and provoking questions as it is about opinions concerning the adequacy of findings of fact and land use decisions. It does not provide recommendations to citizens and it is not legal advice. It does not take the place of a lawyer. If citizens use information contained in this paper, it is their personal responsibility to make sure that the facts and general information contained in it are applicable to their situation.

1. Josephine County Ordinance 93-13.
2. Oregon Citizen Involvement Advisory Committee (CIAC). July 1992. Putting the People Into Planning. Salem, OR. Web Page - http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~pppm/landuse/docs/toc.htm
3. Rohse, Mitch & Ross, Kim. 1992. Putting the People Into Planning. Funding. by DLCD for CIAC. pps. 41 - 42. Salem, OR.

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