91ÊÓƵ

Oregon state officials can’t do much to enforce comprehensive planning laws for cities. There isn’t even much in the way of a precedent.

“The (Department of Land Conservation and Development) hasn’t issued an enforcement order in quite a long time, and we’re finding we don’t have a lot of enforcement powers,” said Jennifer Donnelly, a metro-area regional representative for the DLCD.

The Land Conservation and Development Commission last month voted to initiate enforcement proceedings against the city of Damascus for failing to adopt a state-mandated comprehensive plan – nearly 10 years after it incorporated. Many residents in the rural community have long struggled to accept the impending growth triggered in 2002, when the urban growth boundary was expanded. The city has since missed numerous deadlines and state-issued extensions to complete its planning.

Today, a hearings officer is scheduled to review those circumstances and propose recommended actions against the city. Even in their severest form, any orders wouldn’t be much punishment. Legally, the state can only withhold state revenues – which in Damascus’ case amounts to approximately $300,000 annually – or create a moratorium for building permits, Donnelly said.

City officials, meanwhile, are leading two separate comprehensive planning efforts, which they intend to put before voters in May in a winner-take-all showdown of sorts. The action follows a council decision earlier this year to vote down a draft plan that was several years in the making.

“My whole thing is weighted more toward private property rights,” Damascus Mayor Steve Spinnett said. “And the other working group, which is led by (Council President) Andrew Jackman … my assumption is his (plan) will be weighted more toward the environment. Both (plans will) include both property rights and good stewardship over the environment, but each may have a slant … I always think competition is good, and it will make us real honest about the whole process, and then we’ll put both plans on the ballot in May, and may the best plan win.”

Spinnett said he disliked certain aspects of the previous draft plan, such as a requirement that called for 25 percent of new development being set aside for open space; he believes that would be too much. Spinnett is an advocate for the rights of Damascus property owners, including companies like Gramor Development.

Gramor, he said, has expressed interest in developing some of that property and believes the city should partner with it to make that happen. Calls made to the company to learn about those plans were not returned.

Progress in Damascus, however, often can be stymied. Voters rejected the first draft plan in 2011. Then citizens tried to shrink the border of the UGB, and disincorporate the city; both of those measures failed.

Jackman said his work group in planning efforts is relying heavily on a survey that was conducted shortly after voters rejected the first plan to discern why. He said the survey revealed that environmental protection and property rights were both major, if not competing, concerns of citizens.

“I’m just trying to pull people together – people who are experts in their field for whatever reason, whether they’re developers or fire chiefs or what have you,” Jackman said. “Just to kind of go through some of the critical points in the survey, and (figure out) how that would be reflected in the built environment, and what the consequences of those might be.”

Donnelly said a third option might be for voters to vote on the draft plan that councilors rejected recently.

Following the hearing officer’s recommendations for enforcement, the LCDC in February will decide what actions it will take against the city.

Rob Hallyburton, community services division manager for the DLCD, said one of the past times the state took enforcement action against a city was in 1982, when Happy Valley refused to issue permits for multifamily housing. The details of that case are a bit foggy now.

“I don’t think there’s anybody left around here that was directly involved in it,” Hallyburton said. “It’s so old I’m not even sure it’s on the computer system … I don’t think we’re going to find any earlier precedents of enforcement action that would be instructive for Damascus. That’s a big part of the problem we’ve been having.”

Spinnett thinks the state would be better off postponing that process until after the May vote. He acknowledged that the city is behind schedule, but said its disparate sides are finally moving forward together.

“We’re drastically going from rural to urban just like that, and having to bring along 4,800 different parcels with, I think, about 3,700 different property owners is a dramatic land use change,” he said. “Unfortunately, it brings out the worst in people. It shouldn’t have to be this way, but we’re navigating some troubled water. The good news is a lot of the negativity on council and all that stuff is behind us … Things really smoothed out. Both sides are talking to each other now. Andrew Jackman is an environmentalist, but at least he’s an honest one.”