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County to rewrite land law By PETER WONG Jackson County commissioners made it official Monday that they want to rewrite the county's land development ordinance to let landowners know sooner whether their proposals are legal. They also propose to revamp the county's comprehensive land-use plan, which is nearly 20 years old, and has been changed many times since the county finished it in 1980 and the state approved it in 1983. "I've had people bet that we cannot get all of it done in two years," said Commissioner Jack Walker, the liaison with planning services since Jan. 1. "But I have bet them that we will. It is my goal and it is the board's goal." The order that commissioners adopted Monday confirmed statements by county officials Sept. 2, when Planning Director Laurel Prairie-Kuntz was reassigned to rewrite the plan and Roads and Parks Director Joe Strahl was put in charge of planning. The order establishes a steering panel under the planning commission to direct the effort to rewrite the land development ordinance. The ordinance is to be consistent with current state requirements and the county plan. "One of the biggest problems we have in this county is that we have a process that slows up the issuance of permits because of a lack of understanding of our ordinance," Walker said. "I think what we want is to simplify it, to get a clear and definitive interpretation of the minimum state land-use requirements -- and for any county requirements that go beyond those, to clarify the reasons for having them." Walker said that landowners who apply for changes in land use should know what they need to do to comply with state and county requirements -- and if they do not comply, what steps they can take to do so. Walker said the state Department of Land Conservation and Development, Land Use Board of Appeals and the courts return county land-use decisions for interpretations of the county ordinance, "and we would waste weeks, months and even years clarifying our own ordinance." Ramona Osburn of Jacksonville, a member of the pro-planning Jackson County Citizens League, said it is too early to tell from the commissioners' order whether the rewriting of the ordinance and plan will go beyond simplification and revisions. "We are concerned if they make it more toward development and less toward preservation," said Osburn, whose group supports state requirements to confine most development within cities and protect rural lands for farming and forestry. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA