Renew America Success Stories

Oregon's Statewide Land Use Planning

Description

Oregon's Statewide Land Use Planning program is among the most famous in the nation.  Created in 1973, the plan coordinates city and county planning agencies to ensure consistent, environmentally-sound land use practices across the state.  Through a combination of zoning laws that protect forest and farm land, establish urban growth boundaries and provide for some development, Oregon serves as a model for other states looking to reduce costs and pollution and stop urban sprawl.

Before 1973, land use planning in Oregon was a wholly local matter.  Some cities and counties planned and zoned their lands, while others did not.  Some of these plans were effective, some were not.  Some plans were coordinated with those of other jurisdictions, some were not.  This mosaic of differing approaches to planning promised to plague the state with uncoordinated development and urban sprawl, threatening Oregon's scenic beauty and contributing to environmental degradation. The state's coordinated land use planning effort has, instead, led to the adoption of measures to stem sprawl and preserve natural resources.

Under the plan, each city has adopted an urban growth boundary that marks the limits of urban development over the next two decades.  In addition, each county has created tough conservation zoning laws on its farm and forest lands, protecting a total of 25 million acres of land.

The success of the Oregon program rests, in part, on the belief that sound conservation planning requires effective planning for development. It is not enough to prohibit development in specific areas.  Offices, stores factories and homes must be built somewhere and an effective land use plan acknowledges this reality.

Statewide planning has increased restrictions on private land, but Oregonians have recognized that such an increase is a small price to pay when compared with much greater costs from urban sprawl, inefficient public services, polluted water and air, and the loss of the land and resources needed to sustain Oregon's outstanding quality of life.

Program Highlights

Goals of Oregon's Statewide Land Use Planning Program

• To conserve farm land, forest land, coastal resources and other natural resources vital to the state's economy and environment.
• To encourage efficient development and provision of public services.
• To coordinate the planning activities of local governments and state and federal agencies.
• The enhance the state's economy.
• To establish and maintain a planning process that is open and accessible to Oregon's citizens.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The statewide planning process receives the cooperation of Oregon's 241 cities.

Budget: Funds for the program come from the state's general fund and from federal funds for coastal zone management. (The state contributes 2/3 of the total budget while the federal share is 1/3.)  The state's budget for the planning program (including coastal planning) has averaged $3.6 million annually.

Community Served:  The three million residents of Oregon.

Measures of Success:

About 16 million acres of farm land have been protected from development under the plan, including minimum lot sizes of 20 to 320 acres to ensure farms large enough to support commercial agriculture.

Roughly nine million acres of forest land have been protected from urban development.

All 241 Oregon cities are surrounded by urban growth boundaries.  Since no urban growth can occur outside such boundaries, urban sprawl is eliminated.

Oregon's planning program has served as a model for several other state programs, including Vermont, Maine, Florida and Georgia.

 Published: May 1997

Success stories designed by Mark W. Nowak

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