News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
State rules that could make it extremely difficult to partition farm land are being tested in two cases in Deschutes County.
County Hearings Officer Karen Green heard two separate applications Tuesday, August 4, each seeking to create two non-farm parcels out of an approximately 40-acre parcel in Tumalo.
The county has established a 20-acre minimum size for non-farm parcels in the exclusive farm use zone. The state Department of Land Conservation and Development says that minimum size is not valid.
DLCD based its position on a Land Use Board of Appeals case, Dorvinen V. Crook County. According to DLCD's interpretation, a parcel can only be cut out from a larger piece for a non-farm dwelling if the remaining land qualifies for farm use.
Howard Paine, of the Alliance for Responsible Land Use in Deschutes County, submitted a letter opposing the partition for the same reason.
In the two Deschutes County applications, that means leaving 23 irrigated acres or a parcel that has a 1991 assessed farm value of at least $5,451. Neither of the two properties qualify.
In Sisters, the qualifications are more extensive: 63 irrigated acres or a 1991 assessed farm value of $14,900.
DLCD's Jon Jinings said that any partition of exclusive farm use land should leave a parcel that at least meets the minimum farm parcel size adopted by the county, which would require 23 irrigated acres in the Tumalo area.
County planners Kevin Harrison and Heidi Kennedy argued that the county's 20-acre minimum non-farm parcel, established in 1992, is the standard to use.
Harrison testified that DLCD twice acknowledged the county's minimum parcel size in its periodic review of a package of county land-use ordinances.
Other testimony questioned the logic of DLCD's position as it applies to Deschutes County.
Eric Dolson, of Sisters, testified that "DLCD's interpretation of the law in this case, at least in Deschutes County, turns land use planning on its head."
Dolson argued that DLCD's position would actually encourage cutting up good irrigated farm land, because the "remainder" parcels would qualify as farms.
"Another possibility is the transfer of water rights of arable land to non-arable land to allow the non-irrigated land to be partitioned," Dolson said.
Dolson, publisher of The Nugget Newspaper, owns a 120-acre parcel east of Sisters.
Gilbert Daniels, of Sisters, testified that the land is "either rimrock or scab flats that doesn't even support wild grasses.
"I just can't understand the logic, why they'd allow the partition of farmable land and not allow partition of non-farmable land," Daniels said.
Hearings officer Green said her decision on both applications should be handed down about mid-September.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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