Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
With the passage of Measure 49, Cascade Timber Consulting is waiting on the state before developing what it still can of some 4,000 acres in Measure 37 claims.
Measure 49 was passed by voters in November to revise the provisions of Measure 37 of 2004, which required regulatory agencies to pay property owners or waive land use regulations for certain property owners.
Property owners could make claims under Measure 37 for land use regulations that were adopted after they purchased their property. For example, land zoned farm-forest could be developed as housing by a property owner who held the land prior to the creation of the zoning or the governing jurisdiction could choose to pay the property owner for the loss of value.
Measure 49 changed those provisions. Exactly how it impacts CTC isn’t clear yet.
“We’re waiting for notification from the state,” CTC President Dave Furtwangler said.
The limit for development by any single property owner is 20 lots, Furtwangler said. “That’s where we’re at. We’ll have the opportunity to develop 20 lots.”
Measure 49 included some devious provisions as well, Furtwangler said. “It requires you to spread them out.”
A fast track option allows a property owner to develop three lots, but they cannot be on lots adjacent to each other, he said. Neighboring lots count as a single lot for the purposes of Measure 49.
CTC made 33 claims with just less than 4,000 acres, Furtwangler said. “We had never really planned on developing all of them, but we wanted the option.”
The backers of Measure 49 “sold us all a bill of goods,” Furtwangler said. “They made it seem like they were giving people the option to develop.”
While waiting on the state, “we’re trying to make our determination which parcels make sense to have development on,” Furtwangler said. Outside of measures 37 and 49, CTC also will look at other ideas.
During the Measure 37 process, Furtwangler said, CTC learned that it has some property it can develop under existing rules. Some property provides opportunities to develop recreation while other properties are surrounded by homes, allowing CTC the opportunity to build some homes.
During the run-up to the election, the legislature shut down a “big-look” committee, Furtwangler said. The bipartisan committee was supposed to look at private property and land-use rules and see if there were updates needed.
The funding was pulled because it would be inappropriate during an election on land use, Furtwangler said. He would like to see this committee funded again, but since Measure 49 passed, it leaves little incentive.
CTC manages approximately 145,000 acres of timber land owned by the Hill family.