Rogue Advocates is seeking a Program Manager (PM) with experience in land use laws tomanage its Land Use Watchdog program. Most of our programmatic work has centered onlitigation and providing testimony (verbal/written) to appropriate agencies and planningdepartments which we have a strong track record of success. The PM monitors Jackson andJosephine counties’ planning departments for any land use proposals that …
Mail Tribune, November 28, 2022 –– A local land-use watchdog group has published a guide aimed at making Oregon’s often complicated land-use system easier to understand. If more people understand the state’s land-use rules — which involve urban growth boundaries and a host of laws intended to preserve the state’s farm and forest lands — more people will be equipped …
Land Use Program Manager Devin Kesner and Board President Jamie Talarico discussed our new publication, Participating in Land Use Planning, and tips for getting involved with local land use planning, on the Jefferson Exchange on Jefferson Public Radio. We talked about barriers to getting involved, the basics of our land use planning system, and more! Listen to the interview here: …
Public participation is powerful and central to the sustainable functioning of our government. Land use planning is dependent on the public being involved in the planning process. With enabling more public participation as our motivating force, we’ve put together a new publication to make participating in the land use realm more accessible. We know firsthand how challenging it can be …
As a first step to address wildfire risk and hazards, the 2021 legislature passed Senate Bill 762, a comprehensive wildfire preparedness and resiliency bill. Under the bill, the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) was tasked with developing recommendations for changes to Oregon’s land use planning rules to make our communities safer from wildfire and adjust Oregon’s land use …
Subscribe Past Issues As we know all too well in the Rogue Valley, Oregon has faced devastating losses to human life and property from wildfires that have been severely exacerbated by climate change. The Rum Creek Fire is the latest reminder of the devastating risks posed by wildfires in our region. The fire threatens over 7,000 structures, has claimed one …
Facing sustained opposition from Rogue Advocates and community members, Jackson County made its final decision to deny an application for an aggregate mining operation on nearly 64 acres a few miles north of Shady Cove on Highway 227. The application was seeking approval for mining, crushing, sizing, stockpiling, hauling, and blasting, all within close proximity to surrounding residences as close …
In a June 26 Guest Opinion in the Mail Tribune, former President of Friends of Jackson County (which merged with Rogue Advocates in 2011) reflected on 30 years of ensuring sustainable development in the Rogue Valley: “In the 1970s through the early 1990s, many Jackson County rural landowners requested rezoning of agriculturally zoned land that had what they called “poor …
Source: Kevin McNamara/KTVL On June 29th, 2022, Rogue Advocates’ Board member Steve Rouse was featured on KTVL News regarding a gravel mine proposed just north of Shady Cove and Trail. Jackson County originally denied the application based on adverse impacts to residences located as close as 100 feet from the operation that will involve blasting, mining, crushing, and hauling up …
News Coverage KDRV, Josephine County zoning change reversed by State Board, published on June 10, 2022 KTVL, Advocacy groups win land-use appeal against private developer in Merlin, published on June 15, 2022 Press Release Grants Pass, OR, June 8, 2022—The Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) ruled in favor of Rogue Advocates and 1000 Friends of Oregon that the Josephine …
Have you heard of the Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities Rulemaking? These rules have the potential to change the way our cities develop (for the better) and are worth learning more about! The rules could make our cities more livable, walkable, and have a big impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the state. These new rules proposed by the Land …
Oregon’s 2022 short legislative session ended on Friday, March 4, lasting just a few weeks. We want to highlight and celebrate the passage of some important new legislation in the land use, affordable housing, and environmental sustainability realms: Providing Funding for the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program: Grants to Keep Working Farms and Ranches in Sustainable Production The Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program, …
Josephine County, Oregon––Rogue Advocates and 1000 Friends of Oregon have appealed a Josephine County land use decision to re-designate and rezone nearly 90 acres of forest land to rural residential to allow a residential subdivision with 5-acre minimum parcel sizes. Over 15,500 acres in Josephine County have already been re-designated as non-resource lands, with local decision-makers repeatedly failing to consider …
Ashland, OR. As a result of Rogue Advocates’ successful May 2021 appeal of the Grand Terrace annexation, the City of Ashland was forced to acknowledge the multitude of ways in which the annexation’s approval violated the City’s laws. But rather than require that the applicant conform to Ashland’s annexation code––which mandates that newly-annexed areas provide “safe and accessible” bicycle, pedestrian and …
**2/14/22 UPDATE: The bill is dead after not passing out of Committee! Still check out the post below to learn about the types of threats our land use planning system faces. HB 4118 bypasses Oregon’s land use planning processes and inappropriately pits farmland against affordable housing. House Bill (HB) 4118 allows private landowners to request cities to expand its urban …
Josephine County Parks (JCP) is pursuing plans to upgrade Whitehorse County Park, a quiet park along the Rogue River located on land zoned Exclusive Farm (EF) just outside of Grants Pass. The upgrade involves for paving over significant portions of the park and removing almost 350 trees in order to accommodate 20 RV sites and 10 tent sites. Whitehorse County …
Rogue Advocates submitted public comment in advance of the December 17 meeting on the latest draft rules developed for the Land Conservation and Development Commission’s (LCDC) Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities Rulemaking. The comments urge LCDC to ensure that its final rule reflects the urgency and severity of the climate crisis and corrects Oregon’s historic failure to meet its GHG emission reduction goals. Governor Kate Brown’s Executive Order 20-04 directed state agencies, including LCDC, …
