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has received broad support during the Oregon Legislature‘s 2011 session. Some real estate professionals say it would help compensate for a longtime industrial land shortage, and Gov. John Kitzhaber believes it would create jobs and help stabilize the economy.

But as the bill moves closer to the Senate floor, opponents are challenging that support.

The bill, which would create an expedited state permitting process on land deemed regionally significant for industrial use, is set to be heard for a third time in front of the Senate Business, Transportation and Economic Development Committee this afternoon. SB 766 is likely to move to the Senate floor afterward, but citizens are being made aware by conservationists that they believe the bill would ruin the state’s land-use system.

鈥淲e see (SB) 766 as the worst threat to urban conservation efforts and urban communities in the last decade,鈥� said Bob Sallinger, conservation director for the Audubon Society of Portland. 鈥淲e think it’s a horrible bill 鈥� and view it as a Christmas tree for commercial stakeholders.鈥�

The bill would establish a new statewide review body, the Economic Recovery Review Council, which would be in charge of overseeing the expedited process. A developer who has an industrial opportunity lined up for a property within the urban growth boundary could submit the project to the review council. It would then determine whether the land and the project would be suitable for the expedited process.

The process guarantees that land-use approvals and state permitting would be complete within 63 days, barring an appeal. Moreover, any appeals made would bypass the state’s Land Use Board of Appeals and go directly to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Also, notices of proposed land-use changes and permitting would be sent only to property owners within 100 feet of the development site boundaries. Additionally, those notified would be the only ones allowed to appeal.

鈥淭he bill has nothing to do with creating jobs, protecting the (urban growth boundary) or streamlining an extensive process,鈥� Sallinger said. 鈥淚t’s all about creating a way to skip the public process and make it virtually impossible to create new environmental protections.鈥�

The purposes of the city of Portland’s North Reach River Plan and Airport Futures effort, for example, could be defeated if SB 766 were to pass. Developers could circumvent review processes if they decided to use the expedited process.

This is also where others are taking issue with the bill.

The city of Redmond fundamentally supports the bill’s intent, according to Heather Richards, the city’s community development director. But she believes the bill would actually lengthen the permitting process and limit local control for cities like Redmond that already have an expedited one in place.

鈥淚t is hard to imagine that a state review body would be able to review and permit a project without the local jurisdiction’s participation, and in the case of regionally significant industrial areas, without the region’s support and participation,鈥� she said in her testimony to the Senate committee.

The city of Redmond instead supports two other bills 鈥� and 鈥� that would let local decision making and review expedite entitlement and permitting for high-value employment sites, not just industrial sites.

Sallinger, meanwhile, believes an SB 766 amendment, which would allow properties within the urban growth boundary that aren’t zoned for industrial use but are deemed regionally significant to use the process, is a direct attempt to circumvent the city of Portland’s public process to determine the future of West Hayden Island.

West Hayden Island is an 800-acre undeveloped plot of land on Hayden Island that was brought into the urban growth boundary in the 1980s to be used for marine industrial opportunities. It is not part of the city and not zoned. The city has deemed it significant as both an economic and natural resource, but there is public debate over how much should be preserved for environmental protection and how much should be developed. SB 766 could end that debate.

鈥淭he loud and clear message from this bill and the people that have been supporting it is that the interest of the public doesn’t matter,鈥� Sallinger said. 鈥淚t’s all about industry, all about business.鈥�

If the bill were to receive majority approval from the Senate, it would then be returned to the House for final confirmation before being sent to the governor.