Measure 37 is now the law of the state

The Oregon Supreme Court’s decision that Measure 37 was not unconstitutional quietly became law on Monday, March 13, when it was officially recorded in Salem.

Measure 37 is the 2004 voter-approved law requiring state, county and city governments to either pay property owners for lost value caused by past land use rule changes or to waive the land use requirements.

That Supreme Court decision overturned a lower court’s ruling that the law was unconstitutional.

With Measure 37 approved as law, governments involved in the lawsuit may proceed to accept and process property owner claims. These include the State of Oregon and Clackamas, Jackson, Marion, and Washington counties. Other counties and cities will follow this lead.

In Deschutes County, commissioners had continued to rule on claims during the time the issue was being reviewed by the Supreme Court. To date, the county has closed 50 claims with 10 of these in the Sisters area. With most of these claims, land use rules were waived allowing the owners to develop their properties.

Some 17 claims remain pending in Deschutes County with only one in the immediate Sisters area. That property is located at 17815 Highway 126 at the southeast corner of Highway 126 and George Cyrus Road east of Sisters.

Aaron Jones, Rebecca Jones, and Tumalo Farms LLC filed a claim in March of 2005 seeking either compensation for the loss of fair market value, alleged to be $6.75 million, or waiver of land use regulations.

They were seeking approval to subdivide 173 acres to create 121 lots, ranging in size from 1.25 acres to 6.5 acres.

“The claim was put on hold at the request of the claimant, who has not as yet requested that we put it back in the pipeline,” said Tom Anderson, director of Deschutes County Community Development.