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The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals has reversed a decision of the Douglas County Planning Commission that found that a parcel of land northwest of Roseburg was unsuitable for farming.
Garden Valley Estates is seeking to develop 5-acre residential lots on a 259-acre parcel at Garden Valley and Del Rio roads. The company obtained a zone change allowing it to move from an exclusive farm use grazing category to rural residential 5-acre lots after providing evidence that two-thirds of the soils contained on the land were unsuitable for profitably growing timber or for grazing.
The property was formerly part of a larger 590-acre livestock ranch. In 2005, a former owner separated the parcel that was later sold to Garden Valley Estates from the remainder of the ranch land. Following the split, the smaller parcel, which includes a home, barns and two ponds, was used for seasonal grazing.
The appeal was brought by Shelly Wetherell of Umpqua, Roseburg residents Robin and Gerald Wisdom and Oakland rancher Richard Holcomb.
The appeals board found that the Planning Department improperly considered the profitability of a cattle operation on the former 590-acre ranch — which had lost money since 1995 — when it determined the parcel no longer qualified as a “farm unit.”
Instead, it needed to determine whether the ranch was part of a recent farm unit and whether there were any significant impediments to continued or resumed joint farm use.
Although LUBA typically remands cases back to the local county when it finds errors, in this instance the board found the county's decision, which had been affirmed by the county Board of Commissioners, violated a provision of applicable law and, as such, is prohibited.
“As we understand the farm unit test, the county could not reach a sustainable conclusion that the subject property is not agricultural land under that prong, based on this record or any likely amendment to the present record,” the appeals board wrote in its 29-page decision.
The ruling could be appealed to the Oregon Court of Appeals.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrtoday.com.
Garden Valley Estates is seeking to develop 5-acre residential lots on a 259-acre parcel at Garden Valley and Del Rio roads. The company obtained a zone change allowing it to move from an exclusive farm use grazing category to rural residential 5-acre lots after providing evidence that two-thirds of the soils contained on the land were unsuitable for profitably growing timber or for grazing.
The property was formerly part of a larger 590-acre livestock ranch. In 2005, a former owner separated the parcel that was later sold to Garden Valley Estates from the remainder of the ranch land. Following the split, the smaller parcel, which includes a home, barns and two ponds, was used for seasonal grazing.
The appeal was brought by Shelly Wetherell of Umpqua, Roseburg residents Robin and Gerald Wisdom and Oakland rancher Richard Holcomb.
The appeals board found that the Planning Department improperly considered the profitability of a cattle operation on the former 590-acre ranch — which had lost money since 1995 — when it determined the parcel no longer qualified as a “farm unit.”
Instead, it needed to determine whether the ranch was part of a recent farm unit and whether there were any significant impediments to continued or resumed joint farm use.
Although LUBA typically remands cases back to the local county when it finds errors, in this instance the board found the county's decision, which had been affirmed by the county Board of Commissioners, violated a provision of applicable law and, as such, is prohibited.
“As we understand the farm unit test, the county could not reach a sustainable conclusion that the subject property is not agricultural land under that prong, based on this record or any likely amendment to the present record,” the appeals board wrote in its 29-page decision.
The ruling could be appealed to the Oregon Court of Appeals.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrtoday.com.
