Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society |
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LOCAL REMAND HEARINGS LOCAL REMAND HEARINGS
August 15, 2012, Updated September 11, 2012
The Josephine County Rural Land Development Code (RLDC) 33.130(D), Remand Hearings (http://www.co.josephine.or.us/Files/complete_code_2005.pdf), has illegally limited citizen involvement (CI) in land use remand hearings since 2007 (see Exhibit 1 for more background). This is a local county issue and an Oregon statewide CI issue since Siporen v. City of Medford, 55 Or LUBA 29 (2007). It had been formally submitted to the Josephine County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) by the Hugo Land Use Committee (HLUC), Rogue Advocates, and the Goal One Coalition on November 30, 2010, and in 2011 by Rogue Advocates on two separate 2009 remand proceedings that had not been initiated by the county as of August 15, 2012 (Sommer v. Josephine County, 58 Or LUBA 505 (2009) and Walker v. Josephine County, 60 Or LUBA 186 (2009)). As far as the HLUC knows the BCC had not acknowledged the three request letters as of August 15, 2012, nor acted on them in any way (i.e., the HLUC believes the county is not in compliance with Oregon Statewide Goal 1: Citizen Involvement, OAR 660-015-0000(1), Component 2, Communication, nor it own local Citizen Involvement Program (CIP)/Ordinance No. 93-13, Section A.1.b.). On August 15, 2012 Rogue Advocates again challenged the legality of RLDC 33.130(D), which limits the parties at remand proceedings to those that had standing at LUBA. Rogue Advocates was quite clear that it believed from ORS 197.763(7) that when the record is reopened (including in remand hearings) to admit new evidence, arguments or testimony, any person may raise new issues which relate to the new evidence, arguments, testimony or criteria for decision-making which applies to the matter at issue. Siporen v. City of Medford, 55 Or LUBA 29 (2007) goes further in clarifying ORS 197.763(7). It identifies that a remand hearing is open for all interested participants to testify. A party who otherwise has standing to participate in a local governments land use public hearings under the governments land use legislation may not be denied standing to participate in public hearings following a remand from LUBA, simply because he or she failed to participate in the LUBA appeal. The following exhibit web links have specific communications on the Oregon statewide CI local remand hearings issue. Links
Exhibit 10. Future Oregon Statewide Citizen Involvement Local Remand Hearings Issue Correspondence |
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