Settlement reached to prioritize farm use on farmland near Sisters
LandWatch recently reached a settlement with an applicant seeking a permit from Deschutes County to operate a commercial events center in conjunction with a honey production and processing facility on farmland just outside of Sisters.
In 2022, we raised concerns with a Deschutes County administrative decision to approve primarily commercial uses on agricultural land outside of Sisters. The application for a meadery (honey wine) production facility included a number of commercial activities and entertainment events. When we saw the County had approved the application, we were concerned over several issues.
As outlined in our submitted comments, our concerns were not over the Ranch’s farming practices or vision for future farming practices. LandWatch supports the farming economy across our region, including support for beekeeping and related farming practices.
Our concerns specifically focused on the magnitude of commercial activities proposed in the application, and we challenged the administrative approval of commercial uses on farmland:
“To be clear, we are adamant supporters of farming in Deschutes County, which includes beekeeping, honey production, and honey products processing. As we explain below, the administrative decision here approves an array of commercial activities that would be out of balance with any farm uses on the subject property, and is disallowed by Oregon law.” -Rory Isbell, Central Oregon LandWatch Staff Attorney & Rural Lands Program Manager
On October 29, 2022, a Hearings Officer issued a decision in agreement with our position. The Hearings Officer agreed that the proposed commercial activities were not “incidental and subordinate” to farming activities and thus violated Oregon land use laws meant to protect farmland for farm use. Put another way, the Hearings Officer found that the proposed commercial activities would overwhelm the existing farm activities.
Why do land use laws limit commercial activities on farmland?
Oregon land use law allows for supplemental income opportunities that support existing farming operations. These laws are designed to keep the costs of farmland down for current and future farmers by allowing supplemental uses only if they are truly supplemental, otherwise market speculation will raise the cost of farmland under the false presumption that farmland can be used for primarily commercial uses.
Once a farm has farming-related income, it can apply for supplemental uses that support its farming practices. Prior to that, commercial uses are not allowed if there is no related farm income to supplement.
This policy is meant to prevent farmland from being converted to commercial development, reducing the amount of available land for farming and driving up the cost of farmland.
We were concerned with Deschutes County's decision to approve an array of commercial activities on agricultural land that were not supplemental to current farming practices. This application put the cart before the horse.
To protect the remaining farmland in Central Oregon from being converted into commercial development, Oregon land use law stresses that significant farm use must be demonstrated (i.e., proof of substantial profit from agricultural activities) as the primary use of farmland. That was not demonstrated in this application.
What was agreed on in the settlement?
We prevailed before the Deschutes County Hearings Officer in opposing this application because it did not comply with Oregon’s long-standing protections for farmland. At the applicant’s request, we worked with them to craft a proposal that would uphold farmland protections in Deschutes County while allowing this applicant to pursue their farm-commercial business.
We worked with this applicant because we saw a path for them to expand their farm use of the property (beekeeping activities), support the regional farming economy with a market for honey production, and also earn a supplemental income from small commercial events and activities. In our settlement talks, the applicant agreed to cap the amount of income from commercial activities at 25% of income from farm activities, to keep farming the primary use of the land. We proposed reducing the number and size of commercial events to ensure that the property’s dominant use is not as an events venue. We proposed and the applicant agreed to sourcing honey for mead production only from Deschutes and seven other neighboring counties, ensuring the mead production facility truly supports our regional farm economy, and not far-away markets. We came to an agreement to delay any commercial events until the farm earns substantial income in honey and mead sales, ensuring that a viable farm use is established prior to commercial events.
As an organization committed to preserving our region's agricultural land and supporting its farm economy, this is an important decision for our region. In Deschutes County, opening up our remaining farmland to commercial uses would ultimately harm farming economies by driving up the cost of land and inviting market speculation, which is what Oregon's land use system was designed to prevent. We are happy we could come to a settlement that would uphold these values in Deschutes County.