Page 80 - Rural Tourism Report Washington County

CHAPTER 4: RURAL TOURISM REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Right to Farm Law

According to the Oregon Department of
Agriculture, the Right to Farm Law (adopted
1993, updated 1995 and 2001) declares farm
and forest practices critical to the welfare
of Oregon’s economy. The law limits local
governments and special districts from
Alpacas at Oakwood Gardens. Photo courtesy of Oakwood Farms
administratively declaring certain farm and
In 2007 the Oregon Legislature directed Metro and forest products nuisances or trespasses,
Washington, Clackamas, and Multnomah counties to and protects farmers from impacts of court
work together to implement a new land use review decisions based on noises, smells, dust, or
process for determining future UGB expansions other nuisances customarily associated with
throughout the Portland metropolitan region. A agriculture (ORS 30.930).
new set of administrative rules (OAR 660-Divison
27) guided each county’s consideration of criteria

or “factors” in determining which lands were most
suitable to urban uses (“Urban Reserves”) and State/Regulatory Implementation Framework
which lands were most suitable to farm, forest, and Recognizing that the Right to Farm Law prevails,
resource protection (“Rural Reserves”). The urban state statutes provide for a range of allowable
and rural reserve designations do not change current uses and activities on rural lands. Many that have
land use designations or currently-allowed land been adopted by Washington County already
uses but are intended to provide clarity to the UGB allow for a certain level of rural tourism, while
expansion process while allowing public and private adoption of others could offer additional potential.
parties to plan for long-term investments . State statutes are prescriptive on what types of
62
activities can occur on lands outside the UGB, and in
The resulting urban and rural reserves were particular on farm/forest resource lands. These uses
formalized by means of intergovernmental are listed, primarily, within ORS 215.213. Certain

agreements between Metro and each county. uses, such as farm stands and some wineries
Washington County now has more than 260,000 are allowed outright, requiring a land use review
acres of rural reserves that will be preserved for but not requiring that prospective impacts to
farm, forest, and natural resource purposes for nearby farms be addressed. Others, like room and
decades to come . board arrangements and commercial activities in
63
conjunction with farm use (e.g. berry-processing
facilities) can only be approved subject to findings

62 www.oregonmetro.gov/urban-and-rural-reserves
63 The Metro reserves effort was a regionally contentious issue litigated by multiple parties that subsequently was to the Oregon Court of Appeals. The latter deliber-
ated for over a year before issuing a decision in February 2014. For Washington County, the decision directed Metro and county staff to reconsider and re-apply the rural
reserve criteria in OAR 660-027-0060. In a compromise, HB 4078, passed by the Oregon Legislature in March 2014 and signed by the governor the following month,
eliminated the need for Washington County to address the Court of Appeals decision by legislatively adjusting its urban and rural reserves.

76 WASHINGTON COUNTY RURAL TOURISM STUDY