It’d be amusing, if the issues weren’t so serious, how Measure 37 supporters are acting so offended because
Oregonians approved Measure 49 last November.
Oh my god! It’s unfair! The voters changed Oregon’s land use laws!
Cry me a river. But don’t expect me to feel sorry for you. Don’t you see how hypocritical all this bemoaning is?
Many thousands of Oregonians, including neighbors of ours, figured that when they bought land to build a house the zoning of surrounding acreages wouldn’t be changed willy-nilly.
For example, if a large tract of farm land was next door, they expected that it would stay as EFU (exclusive farm use) unless an open and fair rezoning process was followed.
But along came Measure 37 in 2004. Now there was a special privileged class of landowners: people who could ignore land use laws because they owned property before the laws went into effect.
This was like allowing those who owned a car before a lower speed limit went into effect to drive as fast as before, while everybody else had to obey the new law.
When the speeders started to have lots of crashes, you’d expect there would be a push to have all drivers follow the same rules, by and large.
And that’s what happened with Measure 49.
It went a long way toward restoring fairness to Oregon’s land use system. Now only three home sites can be on a Measure 37 claim that consists of farm, forest, or groundwater limited land.
Neighbors of the claim have had their property rights restored, because now there’s a balanced process to guide development instead of giving free rein to large subdivisions to pave over irreplaceable resource land.
Change happens. Democracy happens. The same people complaining about the changes Measure 49 has brought about were happy when Measure 37’s changes were approved.
Come on, guys. You can’t say “we don’t want to be bound by Measure 49” when you were pleased to follow Measure 37. A law is a law. Deal with it.
An Albany Democrat Herald
editorial reflects this ridiculous illogic.
During its February session, the legislature should make an effort to repair the injustice created by the passage of Measure 49, at least where it affects private individuals.
These are the people who assumed that Measure 37 on land-use claims, passed in 2004, was the law, especially since the Supreme Court upheld it in 2006, and who therefore filed applications and went through a lengthy process to claim the waivers the measure allowed.
Earth to Democrat Herald: After 1973 people assumed that SB 100, which established Oregon’s pioneering land use system, was the law. There were several attempts to change it. They failed. It was still the law.
Then Measure 37 came along and the law changed. Now, Measure 49 has changed the law again. In a democracy you shouldn’t expect that a law will stay the same forever.
Here’s some testimony along this line that I presented to the legislature’s Land Use Fairness Committee last year. I make wonderful sense.
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