FAQs About the Jackson County Regional Problem Solving Process
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What is the Status of the Jackson County Regional Problem Solving (RPS) Process?
On November 23, 2011, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners officially signed an ordinance adopting the RPS plan.
The cities have not yet adopted the plan, and the State has not yet approved (“acknowledged”) it. The plan won’t be final until that happens. See "What Happens Next?” below, or read a description of the process here.
How Does Regional Problem Solving Fit Into the Oregon Land Use System?
Oregon’s statewide land use planning program was created following the 1973 passage of Senate Bill 100. State regulations governing land use are currently found in the 19 Statewide Planning Goals (created and maintained by LCDC), Statutes (created and maintained by the legislature), and Administrative Rules (created and maintained by LCDC).
Local regulations are found in the form of Comprehensive Plans (roughly equivalent to the statewide Goals) and Development Ordinances (roughly equivalent to the Statutes and Administrative Rules).
As a general rule, local regulations must be at least as restrictive as those of the state. (They can be more restrictive, but not less.) Regional Problem Solving (RPS) is one of the very few exceptions to that rule.
How Does RPS Work?
Statewide Planning Goal 2 requires coordination between jurisdictions when creating and implementing planning documents. Traditionally this has meant that one city must coordinate its plans with the county in which it is located. Coordination between several counties and/or multiple cities, although allowed and encouraged, is not as common.
RPS was created with passage of ORS 197.652 to 658 (or the “RPS statute”) during the 1996 special session of the legislature as a way to encourage that type of coordination. It was recognized that getting multiple jurisdictions to agree to a single plan might be politically difficult, so the authors of the bill offered a carrot: If all of the participants in the RPS process agreed on the problem, the solutions, and a means for implementing the plan, the state may approve local regulations “that do not fully comply with the administrative rules of the commission,” or the Administrative Rules. (See the RPS statute, ORS 197.656(2))
The stated purpose for this concession was that it allowed a region some flexibility in identifying one or more problems, and developing creative resolutions tailored to the unique attributes of the region. Full compliance with the Goals and with all Statutes is still required.
How is Jackson County Using RPS?
What became the RPS process in Jackson County began in the mid 1990s with an effort called OurRegion. This was an effort begun by citizens and agriculturalists who sought to identify the best agricultural lands left in the valley and figure out how to grow the cities around those lands.
Local governments became more involved, and in 2000 the Rogue Valley Council of Governments received grant funding for an RPS project, defining the local participants as Ashland, Talent, Phoenix, Medford, Central Point, Jacksonville, Eagle Point, and Jackson County.
These participants reached an agreement on the problems they faced, and developed a set of Goals and Policies for the project. The second Goal is to “Conserve resource and open space lands for their important economic, cultural, and livability benefits.” Despite this goal, the emphasis of the project soon changed from identifying where to not grow and going elsewhere, to planning where to grow and trying to mitigate the impacts.
What are Urban Reserves?
The mechanism chosen for this plan was the establishment of Urban Reserves. Every city in Oregon has their city limits. State law requires that every city also establish an Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), which is to contain enough land to meet the city’s growth needs for 20 years. Although only a handful have done so, Oregon cities are also permitted to create a supply of land to meet their urbanization needs up to 30 years beyond those of the UGB, or 50 years out from the present. This is done through creation of Urban Reserves. Division and development on lands designated as Urban Reserves is restricted to minimize future conflict when that land is brought into the city and urbanized.
Establishment or expansion of a UGB is controlled by Statute. Establishment of Urban Reserves is mentioned in Statute, but controlled by Administrative Rule. This rule is one that the Jackson County RPS process is seeking to avoid having to comply with fully.
How do Lands Get Designated as Urban Reserves or as Part of UGBs?
The process for establishing Urban Reserves is set forth in Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 660-021-0030. This rule requires that a city seeking to create or expand its Urban Reserves first consider land that is zoned non-resource (ie, is not agricultural or forest land). Only if that land is not sufficient to meet the needs of the city can the city then look to low-quality resource lands. As a last resort, if none of the other lands can meet the needs of the city, the city can consider high-quality resource lands.
The adopted RPS plan proposes to not have to comply with that priority scheme—effectively considering non-resource and resource lands as the same when establishing Urban Reserves. The plan includes about 8,500 acres of land proposed for Urban Reserves. Nearly 80 percent of that land is resource land (primarily agricultural—both low- and high-quality).
In order to expand its city limits, a city must first look at lands within the UGB. If it needs to expand its UGB, the city must do so through a process set forth in statute. ORS 197.298 states that if a city needs to expand its UGB it must first consider its Urban Reserve areas as top priority for inclusion in the UGB. Only if the needs of the city cannot be met on those lands can they then consider non-resource lands, then low-quality resource lands, and then—as a last resort—high-quality resource lands.
The significance of the approach being taken in Jackson County is that without Urban Reserves, if a city seeks to expand its UGB it would consider resource lands, and specifically high-quality resource lands, as a last priority. However, if it has Urban Reserves, and if those Urban Reserves include high-quality resource land, then that land becomes the first priority into the UGB, rather than the last. By avoiding compliance with the prioritization regulations when creating Urban Reserves, the region is effectively moving some of the lowest priority lands (high quality resource land) from last priority to first priority when it considers where to build next.
How is the Quality of Agricultural Lands Judged?
Determining the relative quality—or “capability” as used in regulations—of agricultural land can be difficult. Much of the resource land included in the adopted RPS plan is of lower capability. However, much is in the other category as well.
The RPS statute requires an RPS project to establish a committee of experts to identify land that is “part of the region’s commercial agricultural or forestland base.” By any standard, this land would be among the areas that the initial OurRegion participants would have identified as off-limits for urbanization, and it is also land that is in the very last priority for inclusion in urban reserves if the priority of lands scheme in the Administrative Rules is followed. There are about 1,200 acres of this land in the adopted plan. (Those lands appear in red on this map.)
This land is being jumped to the top of the priority list for inclusion in the next round of UGB expansions in the valley.
Are There Other Problems With the Adopted Plan?
Yes. One of the most egregious is that Medford—by far the largest city with fully half of the region’s population—has committed to the lowest future density among all participating cities. The density they have agreed to is the bare minimum that the Rogue Valley Transportation District (RVTD) has stated is necessary to provide for “intermediate” bus service—far short of what is necessary for a sustainable transit system. This is inexcusable for a plan that looks 50 years into the future.
Other problems include the amount of land in the Phoenix urban reserves (far more than will ever be shown to be needed in future UGB expansions); the amount of land that the project’s experts said were “critical to the region’s agricultural economy” that is, nonetheless, included as future urban land for the cities; and the way that “unbuildable land” was used to inflate the amount of land “needed” for future urbanization. Read more about these problems here.
Is There Anything Good in the Adopted Plan?
Absolutely. There are several requirements that the participants imposed on themselves for future urban growth boundary expansions and future development. Some of these are quite progressive and can serve as models for other parts of the state. These include uniform standards for buffering the effects of urbanization on adjacent farmland, the creation of a task force that will develop additional mitigation measures to minimize the impacts of urbanization on the agricultural economy and on the ability of irrigation districts to serve agricultural customers, requirements for coordinated planning of transportation facilities and urban development, and others. Read more detail here.
What Happens Next?
In January of 2010 the Jackson County Planning Commission began a 1 ½ year public hearings process. That process ended with a recommendation that the Board of Commissioners adopt the plan with certain modifications. In September and October of 2011, the Board of Commissioners held another set of hearings. On November 23, 2011, the Board approved, or “adopted,” the plan, accepting some of the Planning Commission’s recommended changes, rejecting others, and making a few of their own.
The plan is now being prepared for a detailed review by the state. The Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) will prepare an analysis of the plan and its compliance with state regulations and policies early in 2012. The Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) will then hold a public comment session, and will then direct the county as to what—if any—changes are required. See the schedule for comments to DLCD and LCDC.
After LCDC gives feedback, the cities must then hold their public hearings. They will adopt their own versions of the plan, and also new land use ordinances that describe how the plan will be implemented in each city. The plans adopted by the cities must be the same as the plan adopted by the county (with any modifications required by the state).
Next the plan must be sent to the State for formal approval—or “acknowledgement.” The County must put a package together to send to the state. At the same time, the County is required to send “notice” to everyone that testified or sent a letter in the local hearings processes. Any person who participated in the local process (either at the county or at any one of the cities) can participate in the state process—but any issue that was not raised at the local level cannot be raised at the state level.
After the state receives notice of the local decision, anyone who participated at the local level can file written comments, or “objections,” with the state. (There is a strict time-limit on when those comments must be received. Contact us for more information on this process and the applicable timelines.) The Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) must then respond to those comments. Further written comments are possible.
The state will then hold its own set of hearings before the LCDC. A strict read of the regulations suggests that only persons who filed written comments, or “objections,” and who participated in the local hearings can testify at those hearings. Assuming LCDC acknowledges the plan at that time, it is approved unless it is appealed to the Court of Appeals. It is likely that this will not take place until early 2013.
A more detailed description of this process, with scheduled dates for each step, can be found here.
How Successful Has RPS Been in Oregon?
As of the end of 2011, RPS does not have a good track record in Oregon. A very small project involving a land-swap between a few parties in Deschutes County was successfully completed. A larger project in Lane County (similar to the Jackson County project) fell apart due to political differences. Another larger project involving Polk and Yamhill Counties, the Grand Ronde Tribes and others resulted in a plan that was denied by the state because some of the participants involved had withdrawn from the process in disagreement. (See Polk County v. Department of Land Conservation and Development, at pp. 4-7.)
Because of this history, the 2009 Legislature passed HB 2229, which implemented the Big Look Commission’s recommendations for modifying RPS. Among other changes, the new policies require that both the participants and the problems be approved by LCDC before the project begins, and sets a three-year time limit on concluding the project. Because it was initiated prior to the passage of this legislation, these new rules do not apply to the Jackson County RPS Project.
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