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Couple's case illustrates dilemma of court
ruling
Stern files for re-election
Native's role in `Jarhead' is another step
in career
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M-37 is stop and go in county |
Yamhill County Counsel John Gray
issues his opinion on how the Board of Commissioners should proceed
with Measure 37 claims |
By Gunnar
Olson, Newberg
Graphic reporter
E-mail Gunnar at
golson@eaglenewspapers.com
|
The road
around Oregon’s land-use laws has gotten to be like downtown Dundee
during rush hour since a Marion County judge two weeks ago ruled
Measure 37 unconstitutional.
Stop. Go. Stop. Go.
So it continued this week in Yamhill County, when Counsel John Gray
issued his opinion on how the county should proceed with Measure 37
claims. At first it seemed like another “Go.”
“I believe the county should continue to accept Measure 37 claims,”
he wrote in a six-page memo presented Monday to the county
commissioners. His legal opinion was that the ruling didn’t bind
Yamhill County because Yamhill County wasn’t a defendant in the
case.
But just as quickly as it looked like there was room for Yamhill
County claimants to inch ahead, there they were — brake lights.
“However,” Gray went on, “even though the board may continue to
waive Yamhill County land-use regulations, it cannot waive state
land-use regulations.”
For the state, he wrote, is undoubtedly bound by the ruling. And
there aren’t many Measure 37 claims at the county that wouldn’t also
need a waiver from the state.
In fact, he wrote, as a result of the ruling, state regulations
“continue to apply ... to roughly 98% of the Measure 37 claims the
board has previously approved.”
The bottom line is: A person can sit in traffic leaving the engine
running, in hopes of being a little farther ahead when — if —
traffic clears up; that is, when or if the Oregon Supreme Court
reverses the ruling.
Or a person can stay at home and listen to traffic reports on the
radio, thereby saving the expense of an idle drive, but at the
possible cost of arriving at the destination later than desired.
Either way, headway will be slow in the making. Gray cites
“conventional wisdom” in saying that the Supreme Court ruling could
be eight to 18 months out.
Commissioner Mary Stern characterized Gray’s advice as telling
people they can file, “but warning them that without the state’s
ability to approve the claim, that there’s nothing they can do.”
“We’re going to caution people that if they don’t want to pay $250
to file (a claim in Yamhill County), they can wait until the case is
resolved,” she said.
Stern, an attorney, credited Gray as “probably the most learned
county council there is in our state right now” and said she and the
other commissioners respected his opinion. Yet even he said his
opinion is subject to change.
“Because this issue is clearly in a state of flux,” he wrote in
conclusion of his memo, “please do not be surprised if my thinking
changes as the situation evolves.” |
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From
Nov. 2,
2005, Newberg Graphic
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