Oregon is known for its vast forests, acres of farmland and conservative urban growth boundaries. In 2004, voters passed Measure 37, a land use measure that could change the future of the Oregon landscape.

The measure requires that governments provide compensation to land owners if land use restrictions reduce the value of their properties. It also allows both the state and counties to forgo enforcement through a waiver that repeals, changes or overrides current land use restrictions in lieu of compensation.

“Measure 37 has disabled the tools used over the past four decades to prevent sprawl and preserve agricultural and forest land in Oregon,” says Shelia A. Martin, Ph.D., director of the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies at Portland State University (PSU). “The moment it passed, there was an immediate recognition that if it could happen in Oregon, it could happen in a lot of places, including Washington.”

To date, almost 3,000 claims have been filed in Oregon counties across the state with claimants requesting compensation totaling $4 billion.

A lack of funds has prevented claims from being paid. Instead, landowners are being offered waivers.

Waivers give current landowners the option to develop their land in accordance with the regulations that were in place when the land was first purchased. In some cases, this allows land that is zoned for exclusive farm use to become a major residential development, commercial strip mall or a gravel pit.

According to Martin, it is quite complex for landowners to develop their properties. The waiver grants to current landowners rights that cannot be transferred. In other words, even though a landowner has the right to develop, the land cannot be sold to developers.

“Voters were not cognizant of the transferability issue until the measure passed,” says Martin. “A lot of voters got behind it thinking their claims would be paid and their land could be sold to developers.”

Despite the fact that there has been little or no development as a result of Measure 37 thus far, the database of claims assembled by the institute at PSU illustrates the issues that could arise in the future.

One claim, filed by a landowner in the St. Johns neighborhood of North Portland, requested either a waiver to increase the allowable development on his land from 19 units to 75 units or compensation totaling $500,000. A claim filed in Washington County requests permission to subdivide 73 acres of farmland into a residential neighborhood.

Although a significant number of claims come from landowners wanting to develop farmland, it is claims like the one filed in Deschutes County that have opponents of Measure 37 the most concerned.

A landowner near Bend, Ore. is requesting $203 million in compensation unless he is allowed to develop a 157-acre parcel of land that sits in the middle of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, in the center of the Deschutes National Forest – an area that includes some of the most spectacular geologic features in Central Oregon. The landowner wants to develop a large pumice mine, a geothermal power plant and 100 vacation homes near one of the two lakes within the Newberry National Volcanic Monument – a move that environmentalists believe will undermine its value to the community as a national park.

Eric Stachon, communications director for 1000 Friends of Oregon, a non-profit organization, says that Measure 37 favors the rights of individuals over the rights of communities.

Says Stachon, “Measure 37 is unraveling the positive benefits that land use planning has brought to the citizens of Oregon.”

– Jodi Helmer is a Portlandbased journalist.

Measure 37 may allow a landowner to develop a pumice mine, power plant and vacation homes on the pristine Newberry National Volcanic Monument.