One year ago today, Governor Kulongoski signed House Bill 3298 the Metolius Protection Act of 2009 into law, finalizing a multi-year process to prevent destination resorts and other inappropriate development in the Metolius area and designating more than 400 square miles of land as Oregon’s first-ever Area of Critical Statewide Concern.

One week ago, the first real attempt to challenge the act emerged with a proposal for 15 units of “fishing accommodations” on the Metolius arm of Lake Billy Chinook that not only runs afoul of the legislatively approved management plan for the Metolius, but amounts to a perverse interpretation of land use statutes that would pose new threats for significant rivers throughout the state.

The proposal (Case File 09-CU-06/09-AR-10/09-V-02) is for a 15-unit subdivision of privately-owned single family detached homes up to 1,600 square feet in size.

The issue in regards to the Metolius is that the area’s management plan prohibits the approval of developments with greater than 10 residences. Do the single-family dwellings in the proposed development count as residences? If not, then the limitations of the ACSC may be substantially weaker than intended and the potential for new development opportunities in the Metolius area may re-emerge.

The statewide issue is that thus far, “fishing accommodations” (which are a conditional use allowed in forest zones within a quarter mile of Class 1 waters) have been understood to be a single “guest rooms” to be used “for sleeping purposes”. To our knowledge, no one’s ever attempted to call privately-owned detached dwellings with kitchens, bathrooms, etc. “guest rooms.”

If allowed to stand, such a precedent could ultimately lead to hundreds, perhaps thousands of new residences along the Metolius and other Class 1 rivers throughout the state such as the Umpqua, the McKenzie, the John Day, or the Illinois.

LandWatch, together with Friends of the Metolius, have challenged this application. Our joint comments are attached.

For more information, contact us at metolius (at) centraloregonlandwatch.org. The record is closed for now, but if the issue is taken up at the County Board level, we'll let you know how you can provide comments.