Hegele v. Crook County

78 P.3d 1254, 190 Or. App. 376, 2003 Ore. App. LEXIS 1500
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 5, 2003
Docket2002-139; A121356
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 78 P.3d 1254 (Hegele v. Crook County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hegele v. Crook County, 78 P.3d 1254, 190 Or. App. 376, 2003 Ore. App. LEXIS 1500 (Or. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

LINDER, J.

Petitioner Charles Hegele applied to respondent Crook County for approval of a comprehensive plan amendment to place his aggregate mine on the county’s Goal 5 inventory of significant aggregate sites. Petitioner also sought a conditional use permit to mine the site. The county determined that petitioner’s aggregate site was not a significant resource and denied the application to place the site on its inventory. On petitioner’s application, the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) reversed that determination and remanded the case for further proceedings. LUBA did not, however, agree with petitioner about how the county was to identify conflicts between the proposed use of the aggregate site and existing residential uses in the vicinity. We write to address whether, for purposes of identifying conflicts pursuant to OAR 660-016-0005,1 a local government may consider both the visual impact of a Goal 5 aggregate site on nearby residential uses and the impact of those residential uses on the Goal 5 aggregate site.2 LUBA appears to have concluded [379]*379that a local government may engage in such a “two-way conflict” analysis for purposes of identifying conflicts. We disagree with LUBA’s analysis on that point, and we write to explain the correct analysis. We affirm, however, LUBA’s order remanding this matter to the county court.

The subject property is a 276-acre tract that is zoned for exclusive farm use (EFU-2) and is located in the Lone Pine Valley (the valley), an area of Crook County. Of the 276 acres, approximately 100 acres are located on the valley floor and are irrigated and cultivated for alfalfa production. The remainder of the property slopes uphill along the eastern flank of the valley. Petitioner proposes to mine a 24-acre site along the toe of that eastern flank, in the south-central area of the property. The surrounding land, also zoned EFU-2, consists of irrigated farms on the valley floor and dry hillsides used for limited grazing. There are 20 farm dwellings within one mile of petitioner’s property. The nearest neighboring dwelling is approximately 1,500 feet from the proposed mine.

As noted, petitioner applied for a comprehensive plan amendment to place a 24-acre portion of his property on the county’s inventory of significant aggregate sites. Petitioner also applied for a conditional use permit to operate the proposed mine. The county planning commission denied petitioner’s applications, and petitioner appealed to the county court. After conducting a hearing de novo, the county court affirmed the denial of petitioner’s applications on the ground that petitioner had failed to demonstrate that the proposed resource was significant enough to be included on the county’s Goal 5 inventory of significant aggregate sites. The county court based that determination on (1) conflicts between the proposed mining activities and surrounding uses; and (2) its finding that there was no “public need” for an additional aggregate site in the county.

Petitioner appealed the county court’s decision to LUBA. LUBA agreed with petitioner that the county erred in refusing to include petitioner’s proposed aggregate site on the county’s inventory. Petitioner also argued to LUBA that, in [380]*380identifying conflicting uses for purposes of OAR. 660-016-0005, the county could consider only the impact of surrounding uses on the Goal 5 resource site and not the impact of the proposed Goal 5 resource site on surrounding uses. Petitioner pressed that issue because, in rejecting the request for a comprehensive plan amendment, the county had appeared to rest its decision on alternative grounds: (1) that the proposed aggregate site should not be placed on the county’s inventory; and (2) that the proposed aggregate site would negatively impact other permissible uses in the zoning district, particularly the scenic values of residential uses in the entire Lone Pine Valley. LUBA reached the question of what conflicting uses the county could consider, because the answer to that question would have direct bearing on remand — i.e., on the planning steps that the county had to take in light of the decision that the proposed aggregate site properly had to be placed on the inventory.

The portions of LUBA’s analysis describing petitioner’s argument and LUBA’s answer to it are helpful to set forth at some length:

“Further, petitioner argues that * * * the county erred in considering such residential uses to be ‘conflicting uses’ for purposes of OAR 660-016-0005. According to petitioner, the focus of OAR 660-016-0005 in the context of a PAPA [post-acknowledgment plan amendment] to mine mineral or aggregate resources is not to identify surrounding uses impacted by extraction of the resource, but rather to identify surrounding uses that could ‘negatively impact’ extraction of the resource. To the extent impacts on residential uses can be considered, petitioner argues, the threshold for such impacts must be high enough to involve negative impacts to the proposed mining itself. In other words, petitioner argues, impacts on residential uses must rise to the level of nuisance or trespass claims that might be filed against the proposed mining, before residential uses may be said to be ‘conflicting uses.’ Petitioner submits that the visual impacts identified in the county’s decision do not rise to that threshold.
* * * *
“* * * [W]e generally agree with the county that nothing in OAR 660-016-0005 limits either the size of [381]*381the impact area or the types of conflicting uses that can be considered. The county evidently considers visual impacts of the proposed mining on residential use in the valley to be a ‘conflicting use.’ * * * We disagree with petitioner that conflicts with residential uses may be considered under OAR 660-016-0005 only if they rise to the level of nuisance or trespass claims against the proposed mining. OAR 660-016-0005(2) makes it clear that both ‘impacts on the resource site and on the conflicting uses must be considered in analyzing the ESEE consequences,’ and does not impose any explicit threshold on either set of impacts. The ESEE analysis examines economic, social, environmental, and energy consequences of the conflicts between the resource site and other uses. The scope of analysis under OAR 660-016-0005(2) is quite broad, which suggests that the scope of conflicts that may be considered is far broader than the nuisance or trespass concerns that petitioner cites as the applicable threshold.”

Hegele v. Crook County, 44 Or LUBA 357, 375-77 (2003) (emphasis in original). Ultimately, LUBA remanded petitioner’s application to the county for further proceedings.

Petitioner seeks judicial review of LUBA’s final order, challenging, inter alia, LUBA’s apparent determination that, at the conflict-identification stage, a local government is not limited to considering only the impact of surrounding uses on the Goal 5 resource site. Specifically, petitioner argues that, at the conflict-identification stage, a local government may consider only the impact of the surrounding uses on the Goal 5 resource site and may not consider the impact of the Goal 5 site on the surrounding uses. In response, the county argues that petitioner’s understanding of the conflict-identification process under OAR 660-016-0005 is “hyper-technical” and that neither LUBA nor the courts have so limited the initial identification of conflicts.

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Bluebook (online)
78 P.3d 1254, 190 Or. App. 376, 2003 Ore. App. LEXIS 1500, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hegele-v-crook-county-orctapp-2003.