247-25-000110-TA - Clear and Objective Housing Text Amendments (Title 17 Subdivisions)
Background
Beginning in 2017, the Oregon State Legislature passed a series of bills to encourage efforts to expand the supply of housing statewide. The passage of Senate Bill (SB) 1051 prohibited cities from denying applications for housing developments within urban growth boundaries, provided those applications complied with “clear and objective standards, including but not limited to clear and objective design standards contained in the county comprehensive plan or land use regulations."
In 2023, ORS 197A.400 (formerly ORS 197.307) was established by House Bill (HB) 3197. The newly established ORS 197A.400 will become effective on July 1, 2025, and expands the state-mandated clear and objective standards beyond lands within an urban growth boundary to include unincorporated communities designated in a county’s acknowledged comprehensive plan after December 5, 1994, nonresource lands, and areas zoned for rural residential use as defined in ORS 215.50.
These provisions require local governments to apply only clear and objective standards, criteria, and procedures to applications for housing projects and may not discourage housing through unreasonable delay. Application of typical discretionary standards (e.g. “adequate public facilities,” “effective mitigation”, etc.) is prohibited. These standards are intended to address the concern that use of discretionary criteria leads to uncertainty, inconsistent administration, and delays that do not serve the goal of efficiently providing an adequate supply of housing.
Proposal Summary
Planning staff have identified areas of the DCC that are not in compliance with statute and drafted packages of text amendments to address each issue. These packages will be broken into distinct segments to provide the public, the Deschutes County Planning Commission and the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners the opportunity to review and vet the proposed changes in a more structured and confined way.
Where possible, planning staff have endeavored to draft amendments that are a policy-neutral conversion of existing discretionary language to non-discretionary language. This ensures the original intent and desired outcome is preserved. When not possible, in certain limited cases alternative standards or criteria have been proposed. Additionally, while not exclusively associated with housing developments, as part of this process certain amendments have been proposed to broadly remove ambiguity from implementing sections of the DCC, maintain conformity across all development standards, and ensure review clarity for staff and members of the public.
The second amendment package proposed and covered herein (following the first amendment package focusing on Definitions, Accessory Uses, and Dimensional Standards) will address the following areas of the DCC:
- Title 17 provisions related to Subdivisions and other land divisions
Proposal Status & Public Hearing Information
The first public hearing to review the proposed amendments will be held before the Deschutes County Planning Commission on Thursday, March 27, 2025. Members of the public may listen, view, and/or participate in this hearing either in person, or by using Zoom at the following link: bit.ly/dcpczoom
Additional remote attendance information for all public hearings, including specific start times for agenda items, can also be found at www.deschutes.org/meetings approximately one week prior to each meeting. Videos of past meetings are available at the same link.
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Staff Contact
Tarik Rawlings, Senior Transportation Planner
Tarik.Rawlings@deschutes.org
(541) 317-3148
