Lawsuit challenges constitutionality of property rights measure

1/14/2005, 3:38 p.m. PT

By NIKI SULLIVAN

The Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A land-use watchdog group and several county farm bureaus announced Friday they are challenging the constitutionality of Measure 37, which demands governments compensate landowners for value lost because of regulations or waive the regulation.

The lawsuit filed in Marion County Circuit Court by 1000 Friends of Oregon and the Linn, Washington, Marion and Yamhill county farm bureaus claims Measure 37 violates the Oregon constitution by granting special privileges to landowners based on how long they've owned their property.

The measure requires governments to compensate property owners when new land use regulations diminish property value or waive enforcement of the regulations. Only people who owned the property before the regulations went into effect qualify.

Reflecting years of frustration with Oregon's ground-breaking 30-year-old land-use laws, the measure passed in all but one Oregon county and garnered 61 percent of the vote.

Bob Stacey, executive director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, said the measure is so constitutionally flawed that the courts should throw it out.

"Measure 37 actually creates inequality and unfairness," Stacey said. "It gives a privileged class of property owners special rights."

Oregon's constitution forbids any laws that grant privileges to certain citizens that do not equally benefit all others. The lawsuit argues that Measure 37 violates this clause by allowing property owners who have been on the land the longest different rights than new property owners.

Aside from the argument raised in the lawsuit, 1000 Friends has opposed the measure because they feel it will undermine Oregon's land-use planning system, which protects farmland, timberlands, and open spaces from urban sprawl.

Stacey cited Measure 37 claims filed across the state to build a casino, homes on the shores of Wallowa Lake in the northeastern corner of the state, and housing subdivisions in Hood River Valley pear orchards.

"We're on the brink of marring the state's most special places," Stacey said.

Instead of waiving land-use restrictions, Stacey said he favors "some form of compensation" for property owners whose land has lost value due to restrictions.

Larry Wells, President of the Marion County Farm Bureau, agreed, saying the worst part of the measure was that it allows landowners to "go back and do with that land what they could've done when they bought it."

He said it also pits neighbor against neighbor by granting different rights based on when property is purchased.

David Hunnicutt of Oregonians in Action, which sponsored Measure 37, did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.