Bill opens ag land to more housing

Unusable farmland can now be partitioned for residential purposes under House Bill 3326. The law, which has been effective since January 1, 2002, has met the praise of Realtors and county planners alike.

The law will allow some new lots to be created in the Sisters country.

According to Sisters Realtor Tim Bailey, HB 3326 will lower property costs.

"It allows more properties with desired seclusion to exist," he said.

Bailey, who has recently been involved in the partitioning of a 200-acre parcel in Sisters, says that many of the EFU parcels that could be divided in the Sisters area exist in the winter deer range, which is north and east of Sisters. In this area, parcels may not be divided to less than 40 acres in size.

"HB 3326 was proposed to relieve an inadvertent effect of 3661," said Kevin Harrison, head of the Community Planning Department for Deschutes County.

In 1993, HB 3661 was passed as a means to preserve prime farmland in the state of Oregon. The bill was prompted by the partitioning and development of non-farm dwellings on farmland in the Willamette Valley.

The bill, however, did not discriminate between the Willamette Valley and Eastern Oregon. Further court decisions limited the ability of landowners to partition their unusable farmland in Eastern Oregon.

In the Dorvinen vs. Crook County court decision of 1998, HB 3661 was interpreted to demand that in any division of an EFU parcel, the parent parcel must meet the statutory minimum parcel sizes of 80 acres farmland or 160 acres range land.

In 2000, the Friends of Douglas County vs. Douglas County Court decision determined that both the parent parcel and the new parcel must meet the statutory minimum parcel size.

HB 3326, sponsored by Reps. Ben Westlund (R-Tumalo) and Tim Knopp (R-Bend), was signed into law by Governor Kitzhaber July 2, 2001. It applies to EFU lands outside the Willamette Valley. It allows landowners to make a one-time partitioning of parcels lawfully created before July 1, 2001.

"HB 3326 produced a benefit and relief for folks," said Damian Syrnyk of the Deschutes County Community Development Department. "A lot of people were concerned that we were going to partition off prime farm land."

Syrnyk states that the bill actually provides a benefit to people who own prime farmlands. Partitioning off unusable portions of land enable them to refinance or sell should they need to recover from a heavy farm loss.

Farmland parcels over 80 acres and range land parcels over 160 acres may be divided into as many as three parcels. The parent parcel must remain over 80/160 acres. The minimum lot size of a new parcel is five acres. Ninety percent of the new parcel must have soil deemed unproductive for farm use.

For farmland property 40 to 80 acres in size and range land properties 40 to 160 acres, only one new parcel may be created. The parent parcel must remain over 40 acres in size and the new parcel must not have established water rights for irrigation.

While the changes could have some effect in the Sisters country, Syrnyk said that of the six applications the county is looking at, most are for properties southeast of Bend.