Marty Durlin

Online Editor

By a margin of 62 percent, Oregon voters yesterday approved Measure 49, referred to the electorate by the legislature to fix problems with the property-rights law known as Measure 37, which voters adopted by a margin of 61 percent in 2004.

Measure 37 ordered governments to either compensate landowners for land-use restrictions adopted after they acquired their property, or to waive those rules. The law generated more than 7,500 claims on 750,000 acres.

“Thousands of these claims propose something other than a few homes — subdivisions of dozens, hundreds and even thousands of homes are proposed, as are strip malls, destination resorts, gravel and mines and other inappropriate developments,” said a press release from Yes on 49.

Measure 49 protects farmlands, forestlands and lands with groundwater shortages in two ways. First, subdivisions are not allowed on high-value farmlands, forestlands and groundwater-restricted lands. Second, claimants may not use this measure to override current zoning laws that prohibit commercial and industrial developments, such as strip malls and mines, on land reserved for homes, farms, forests and other uses.

“Fairness and balance have been restored to the land use system in Oregon,” said Bob Stacey, executive director of 1,000 Friends of Oregon, an organization dedicated to preserving land use planning in the state.

It “staves off what we know eventually would have become a crisis for Oregon’s farmland, forests and groundwater,” said Russ Hoeflich, executive director of The Nature Conservancy in Oregon.

Oregonians In Action and various supporters drummed up support for Measure 37 during the 2004 election using the case of Dorothy English, a then-92-year-old woman, as a cause celebre. Enacted zoning regulations prevented English from dividing her land into pieces that could go to each of her children.

For an in-depth look at “takings” legislation, see Ray Ring’s HCN cover story, Taking Liberties.