Morrow County to codify recent state farm-and-forest rule changes into local code

Greg (planning staff) told the Board of Commissioners at a work session that county planning staff will codify recent state rulemaking and case-law clarifications affecting farm and forest land uses into the county code. "I know we're not all looking forward to another code update, but this one, hopefully is really straightforward and also compulsory," Greg said, adding that the state changes went into effect Jan. 1 and the county has implemented them administratively since then.

The codification covers the county's EFU zone (section 3.01), forest use (section 3.02), and Article 1 definitions, planning staff said. The changes include both new provisions created by the state rules and clarifying edits to reflect case law. Staff told commissioners the packet distributed to the planning commission and the board highlights about two dozen redlined pages for review.

Why it matters: staff said adding the state rules to county code will make requirements more transparent to landowners and the public. Greg said the changes are largely mandatory following a state rulemaking process that began in 2022, and that if the county leaves references only to administrative rules the public will have to look elsewhere to understand requirements.

Details discussed at the session included: - Farm processing and definitions: staff identified small but specific changes such as naming rabbits among allowed farm processing items and clarifying what counts as "processing" and "products or byproducts" tied to farm use. - EFU and forest changes: staff pointed to new or clarified standards for nonfarm dwellings and nonfarm uses, including an income-verification requirement for applicants seeking a farm-dwelling exception. Planning staff said tax-return documentation "shall submit" language is now in the code for proving income thresholds used to qualify for farm dwellings (the packet cited an $80,000 threshold for high-value farmland and $40,000 on non-high-value land as examples discussed in the session). - Home occupations and agritourism: the update adds clearer limits meant to keep home occupations secondary to residential use and to tie agritourism events to supporting farm operations. Staff emphasized the changes are intended to close loopholes that had allowed higher-intensity uses in some counties. - High-value farmland protections and composting: the draft text follows state case law in restricting certain uses (including some composting operations) on high-value farmland while allowing expansion of existing uses in limited circumstances. - Clarifications and user-friendliness: staff said they intentionally put longer references to OAR/ORS in citations rather than copying multi‑page administrative text into the county code to avoid creating an unwieldy ordinance.

Several procedural items were flagged for follow-up: whether some administrative-review paths should instead be permitted outright (planning staff will confirm with the county attorney and state references), whether income-verification tax documents must be made public (staff will check peers' practices in other counties), and small editorial fixes (grammar, cross-references and section numbering) before formal adoption.

Greg closed by saying staff will return with a formal proposal: "Planning Commission wants to do this in August. So we'll come back to you for formal in September," and asked commissioners for any additional direction before that filing.

Ending: Staff will revise the draft based on the session's questions, verify statutory references and thresholds with legal counsel and peer counties, and present a formal ordinance package to the board later this year for possible adoption.