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Board keeps written record open on farm-and-forest housekeeping code updates; follow-up requested
Summary
At a public hearing on state-led farm-and-forest rule changes, the board closed oral testimony and left the written record open for seven days while staff and applicants clarify how a new farm-impact test will be applied in county code.
The Deschutes County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing on proposed housekeeping amendments to county code prompted by the state's Farm and Forest Modernization Project rulemaking and closed the oral record while leaving the written record open for seven days.
Nicole Mardell, senior planner, told the board the changes adopt statewide clarifications from the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) rule package adopted in late 2024, which staff have already been applying. She described updates including a codified farm-impact test for conditional uses in Exclusive Farm Use (EFU) zones, clearer agritourism-event standards, a refined definition of private parks, and a number of technical conforming changes.
Attorney Adam Smith asked the board to leave the written record open for seven days to investigate whether the county's proposed text applies the new farm-impact test more broadly than intended. Smith told the board: "I would recommend that, you leave the record open so we can kinda work through that issue. It's a new new issue that's coming up with a couple of projects in real time." Planning Manager Will Groves agreed there was potential wording ambiguity and recommended taking a week to make a precise correction rather than an immediate change: "If you move it 8 words that phrase 8 words to the left, it fixes the problem. But let's, let's take a week and make sure that we don't, shoot from the hip and make a, inappropriate fix here."
Commissioners closed the oral testimony, left the written record open until 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, and indicated staff would return with refined language or clarifications. The board received no agency comments and the planning commission recommended approval earlier in the year.
Staff said most changes incorporate known state case law into local code and that staff have been applying the new rules on a case-by-case basis; the housekeeping package primarily clarifies review standards and cross-references state statute and rule when practical.
No final code changes were adopted at the meeting; the item will be scheduled for follow-up after the written record period.
